On-Trend Color and Design for home and Interior

Can I show you something? It's about colors and design, and all about me/us... 

It's about our new corporate identity. And I have another piece of news, at the end of this post.

When I started as a freelancer decades ago, I had simply taken my name as my "brand." And a neat logo and corporate identity on nice cards, stationery, etc. And I was lucky to find my astriddavidse.com URL was available.

For over 10 years, I no longer work alone. Apart from our amazing freelance team of five, I have three fabulous in-house designers; Kelly, Neeltje and Yodi, we form a team in which we complement and replace each other.

With Martin joining us, almost 9 years ago, we have developed further in marketing and communication and the design team is kept free of administrative, legal and logistical matters.

So we thought it was time for a different name and new logos:

Vincent van Gogh, our favorite Dutch painter, changed his use of color rigorously in the relatively short period in which he painted.

There are several theories about this. One is that Vincent had an eye defect that caused him to perceive bright colors at a subdued level.

Another idea was that the Parisian Impressionists inspired him. They were also known at the time for using brighter colors.

Data research by Artnome.com points to the sunnier climate of the southern French area Provence as the cause.

By taking an "average" photo of each period at a pixel level, this could be determined quite accurately. What is clear is that in the "Provence period" when he is living in the south of France, van Gogh really goes all out with brighter colors, especially the shades of yellow.

More on this research by Artnome.com can be found here.

Hope you are doing well these days. Black Friday, Cyber Monday...
No such thing in our shop.

But last week, we gave our Color Concept clients a booster. A colorful one. For free.

As we work with color palettes daily, we usually compose more color palettes than we can fit in our seasonal Color Concept packages of 9 color harmonies.

I think it's a waste to leave great color harmonies in our digital archives. So, it's a habit to give these as a bonus to our clients: in this case, the AW22/23 Booster Bonus Color Concept "Macarons & Coffee".

A warm and soft-colored shot of coffee variations and delicious, sweet macarons. Here's an impression of how that looks.

Do you use Pantone ?

As Pantone states:

Pantone Provides A Universal Language Of Color That Enables Color-Critical Decisions Through Every Stage Of The Workflow For Brands And Manufacturers.

They started in 1963, when printing company Pantone Inc. revolutionized the game with the world's first color matching system. But they were not the first...

300 years earlier, in the (golden) 17th century, a Dutchman who is only known as "A. Boogert" made a book about colors in the art of painting.

And not just any book: 800 pages with all the colors he could think of. And each color variation he made by hand.

He added descriptions on how to make a color, written with a pencil and ink.

Isn't that remarkable?

Colors are so important for our business, and we all have to follow "the trends". These trends in colors now are universal. It's connected to the global marketplace.

Clusters of similar trend colors can be found in very different sources, like trend fora, blogs, etc., and in all languages and countries.

As there are many colors in lots of variations to work with, much attention goes to "Color of the Year" announcements. We all like simplicity in this world with so many options.

Take the latest colors of the year, as introduced a few months ago by Pantone:

Did you enjoy Summer? Looking forward to Autumn? Found you an exciting trend color that goes perfectly with brownish Autumn tones. As an ex-fashion girl, I see purple in fashion doing beautiful things.

I know, purple is really a fierce color, so that does not fit easily into my selection of beautiful, trendy, and yet 'salable' colors for interiors and home textiles.

The less extrovert cousin in that color spectrum is lilac. It's still a bit daring, but I see great options!

Especially if you're a home fashion brand that wants to show a fresh update, there are certainly options to make your collection stand out with lilac.

Here are some examples of how we applied the two lilacs of my Color Concept Palette 'Free Spirit' in Design Mady, Kiara, and Hazel:

It's a tradition to give our Color Concept customers an extra color group. On top of the 9 color groups that are normally included in each Color Concept season.

Now that we cannot go to fairs, we need to find most inspiration online. So, here's an extra color inspiration for you, even if you have not bought our latest Color Concept, you can download this special Color Group. You can find the download link to our website later in this post.

Because Italy has been so badly affected by the Coronavirus, we dedicate our new color group to the beautiful Italian landscape. If I'm correct, Italy is opening up for visitors in the next weeks. So, have a look at the colors you can see when you are there.

Behind the designs, let me introduce you to our designteam! 

Our design team has grown considerably in recent years. In total, we now offer designs made by 10 different designers.

Some customers choose designs from one specific designer. Especially when they have a very specific style and remain very loyal to it.

And of course, we are very proud of the fantastic talents in our team. It's time we put them in the spotlight. We start with Astrid. Astrid #2 that is...

More than ever, the world is online now. The only way to get things done in our business, I guess.

For you too? Getting any business done right now?

The challenge is to adapt to the new reality of not traveling and meeting physically.

Easy enough for us. Offering designs online was already the best option available to our clients. And our curated Trend Color Harmonies can be bought online.

We did not see this virus crisis coming. But we did see how working online with us was already growing every year. Luckily, we invested in a website to show our portfolio online.

Here is a screenshot how this looks.

Did life turn upside down? Are you concerned about loved ones? Scared?

This whole situation is confusing and gives me a strange feeling. A combination of restlessness, anxiety, curiosity, and I'm also excited about what to do next.
Our freedom to do what we want suddenly changed, probably for more than a few weeks. We are not used to that.

But let's not give in to fear and endless news watching. This situation will pass. Our lives go on and, let's be realistic, it's not the Zombie-Apocalypse.