Financial Review Magazine

'Love, death and design' issue. Via New Black Global Trends http://www.newblack.com.au/about/

Colour is the New Black - The future is looking more colourful, says interior design trend forecaster Genty Marshall...... 'Genty Marshall explains the value of design futurism the best way possible - through David Bowie. "There's a quote that I use: 'Tomorrow belongs to those who can hear it coming." Marshall is founder of New Black Global Trends, a Melbourne-based design trend consultancy that tracks and analyses designer inspirations and consumer habits. "Whether it's a person decorating their own house or a company working on a new product development, having an awareness of trends is meant to be empowering,", Marshall says, "It's not meant to be something that dictates." Right now, 'hyper-personalisation' is in. "Last year, it was all about collaboration and community. This year it's more about helping someone become an individual." How does it work? Simply put, just grab yourself your nearest colour wheel. "Strong colour, spectrums of colour, gradient colour and harmonious colour can be just as important as the absence of colour and what that does."The attraction of bright hues is here to stay, Marshall believes. "We're seeing a huge rise in the popularity of gradient colour - fading one hue into the next. Saturation, dip-dying, bleeds and water-colour." Iridescence is back, too. "We're getting interested in it again, in surface and lighting. Moving from opaque to clear, or matte to glossy, in one piece." But just as a colour is important in stamping your individuality, Marshall says that an absence of colour is proving to be just as powerful a trend. "Designers like [Tokyo based] Nendo are using line and form without colour. I've seen some stunning pieces come through. Very minimal but beautifully resolved." As consumers have turned into tech-heads, designers are trying to engage physical phenomena as well as perception, Marshall says. Example: the market is seeing products that emit a white light similar to daylight to help reset your body clock. "Designers are finding it exciting and are producing products that mess with colour perception in a playful or healing way", he says.

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