Most of the world heard last December that Pantone declared turquoise the color of the year for 2010. Really? Excuse me? Nothing gets my back up as a Designer and someone who follows everything more than someone telling me what color to use or what is ‘in’. That said, laughing, I can tell you that periwinkle is so 2007. The plums, lavender and purples that became so big last spring, summer and fall are still in. Our beloved orange that has been big for so long is waning, but you can still get away with it even if you aren’t Hermes; however, it’s turning more yellow/gold… to name a few. A scoop – House Beautiful’s March 2010 color issue is all about the color blue. A tip – grays (not the ones from the 80’s) are raging back in a big way.

Color and pattern in interior design and decoration simply cannot help but be influenced by runway fashion, red carpet fashion, fashion in music, fashion in movies, advertising, beauty trends, and graphic design to name just a few. They are all extremely large platforms that receive extraordinary amounts of media attention and exposure – much much more limelight than design and decoration projects and trends. So, where do these trends come from?

As you probably know, there are Color Institutes out there those advertising agencies, fashion houses, car companies, and beauty companies subscribe to which try and predict color trends several seasons in advance to be ahead of the curve. Does it work? Maybe. Probably not. Sometimes.

Let’s ask again – Where do the ideas come from? Ideally, they come from the minds of talented and brilliant designers, creative directors, stylists, decorators, artists, animators, product designers and, perhaps, editors and producers who find extraordinary uses of color and pattern in undiscovered places and bring it to light on the pages of dwindling magazines pages, web sites, or airwaves.

My larger point, and I’ll paint this with a broad brush, is that, typically, interior design and decoration usually follow these trends – especially fashion – particularly when there is a lack of groundbreaking interior design & decoration. What I see happening in interior design today is largely a big yawn. A snore. Certainly, there are a few enormously talented designers working today; however, their work doesn’t always get seen. Honestly, if I see another home where the rooms are predominately furnished and painted in white and/or ecru I may drive to the Verrazano-Narrows and jump. Interior Designers and product designers in our industry should, principally, create trends in our industry and influence design in other industries – sometimes this happens. Lately and largely it has been uninteresting. It’s disappointing when this country needs so much interior design work. I see an extraordinary amount of houses and it is truly disgusting how people live. They need help and they know it and they don’t know how to access it (another issue-another blog).

I will offer some suggestions to where I look for color and pattern inspiration and it may help you, the reader, find your own revelation. I look to places where I get inspired in my life.

Here is just ONE — besides looking within myself (which is always #1), in my opinion, one of the most exciting places to be right now is the world of skating (skateboarding) & snowboarding… so, I often look to skate sneakers and skate art (the bottom of skateboards) to see what colors and combinations the artists are using. This inspires my design work. Now, because I look to these places doesn’t mean I don’t have ideas of my own. These prompt ideas and may just, perhaps, lead me down a path of genius. Try it on. It may fit you too.

P.S. An encouraging note – when thinking of color trends, as in all things, think of timeless and what will remain classic (even in modern and contemporary – i.e. David Hicks), but; after all, it’s just paint or wallcoverings – they can be relatively easily changed.