Color is out in force this summer. In this piece, Arthur Douglas Thayer, Editorial Correspondent for The Trend Curve, gives you the inside track on the newest and the best color directions from the Atlanta Rug Market, including the latest on three top color families. For other insights from Atlanta, the Las Vegas Market, Showtime, the Chelsea Flower Show, NeoCon and the streets of St. Tropez, read the August issue of The Trend Curve. If you don’t already subscribe to The Trend Curve, just visit www.trendcurve.com and click on the Trend Store link to order, or email Janice for details.
At the Atlanta Rug Market, the penchant for not only prettier, but also extremely livable, color combinations was seen across the board, with beautiful hues the primary element motivating new introductions. This theme was demonstrated primarily in the quest for antique looks, where slipping one dark element into an otherwise soft neutral rug gave the effect of all colors fading but one. It ties into the increasing high-end technique of pairing low and dense pile with aubrush (a dyeing process to make a yarn color look aged by subtly space dyeing it) in opened-up, background areas of a design.
At the same time, tonality, with many levels of the same color, from dark to medium light, also took on larger importance. This was especially true with the neutral range, and evidence indicates that Green, Terracotta, Red and Yellow will follow.
Yellow came on strong in a range of personalities. For A clear and clean sunshine cast, view Benjamin Rug¹s creative take on a poppy field in bloom. The artwork started as a photo, then went through a Photoshop filtration process, ending with vibrant Yellows and Reds, accented by smoky Gray, on an Ivory ground.
A softer approach came from buttery and sandy shades that warmed up Terracotta and Chocolate color schemes and replaced neutral as a background. This signals an important shift. In the past, Green would have enjoyed this role. But now Greens are giving way to Yellows as the fresh neutral alternative.
Of course, Greens are not gone. They also work as background alternatives to neutrals. Still recognizable as green, the muted personalities updating this family told a subtle story that is highly salable. The noteworthy soft Green ground here is Thomas O¹Brien¹s lattice piece at Safavieh.
Mulberry, a Brown-cast middle level Purple used tonally at Tamarian, is a pivotal new color and is recommended. This directional hue was also mixed with Ivory for a cleaner contemporary look. Tamarian¹s wool with silk accents hit the color mark. In this family of color, note Pink as a fun contemporary hue working with Orange, Red, Ivory and Chocolate as in Flower Power at Delos.