Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
In early 2020, a collaboration began with Idar-Oberstein’s Constantin Wild to create an exclusive 2022 Forecast Color Palette to commemorate his family enterprise’s 175th year anniversary to take place in 2022. Katinka Champion shares the inspiration behind her palette, created to foreshadow future color trend drivers and to bring together some of Wild’s exquisite and rare gemstones sourced from all over the globe.
Developed from the perspective of the gem and jewelry industry, the palette features thoroughly researched and inspirational color predictions. With research gained from color-professional webinars and trade publications, much of the color noise found online has been distilled down to create a tool that can be used by gem professionals.
There are several color consulting agencies globally that provide color forecasts and palettes, which can be used to market their clients’ specific products. Many of these companies, such as Pantone, are active members of and acquire global forecasting data from Color Marketing Group (CMG), a not-for-profit association for color professionals.
Each year, CMG hosts global ChromaZone® forecasting workshops in spring to early summer, holding them online since the start of the pandemic.
The association facilitates the workshops through Zoom and Basecamp platforms to retrieve the color forecast data from the workshop participants. Each attendee gives a PowerPoint presentation to share their industry’s key color stories as well as color trend drivers that affect their color usage two years out. By implementing these virtual platforms, CMG was able to gather color trend data, and create their “normal” regional global forecasts.
In May 2020, at one of CMG’s virtual ChromaZone® workshops, I presented the 2022 Forecast Color Palette and my 2021 Forecast Color Ring Palette collaboration. The workshop’s participants were perhaps a touch too optimistic about COVID-19, thinking that, by now, we would be celebrating the end of the pandemic. For many, however, they are not yet ready to embrace the Bright and Happy colors. In December 2020, when Pantone released its 2021 Pantone Color of the Year, the company elected to go with a pair of colors which Pantone described as: Pantone 13-0647 Illuminating and Pantone 17-5104 Ultimate Gray, a marriage of color conveying a message of strength and hopefulness that is both enduring and uplifting.
This positive color combo will still be needed in 2022, so they were featured in both my 2021 and 2022 Forecast Color Palettes.
The 2022 Color Palette showcases some fine examples of Happy gems: the warm glow of a yellow sapphire, exuding positive vibes perfect for these times, balanced with the elegance of a gray spinel with a hint of lavender.
A neon-green Paraíba-type tourmaline illustrates the vibrant neon-green hue forecast in many of the other industries’ palettes as well. Some sectors described the color as having a digital hi-tech virtual quality, while others call the hue a natural neon, occurring rarely and randomly in nature. Several of the gemstones in the Color Palette have nuanced colors that are infused with multiple hues. Some are parti-colored, the hues varying across the crystal, others are pleochroic, which, when viewed from different directions, exhibit different body colors. All are bright and happy colors, such as the bi-color imperial topaz ranging from golden yellow, to orange, to prized sherry red. Selecting the final gemstone for the palette from Wild’s vast collection of dazzling one-of-a-kind Brazilian imperial topaz was a challenge in itself.
Tanzanite, exemplifies the vivid gemmy blue hues in the palette, with a hint of violet. Its characteristic purple to blue pleochroism is responsible for these flashes of brightness.
Iolite can also exhibit a stunning eye-visible pleochroism, which too can satisfy a consumer looking for this purple-violet color at a more affordable price than tanzanite, although it might be hard to find an eye-clean gem larger then 5 carats. Iolite most likely will be free of any color treatments, and its trichroic properties can add another level of complexity and uniqueness to its color.
Violet spinel and fancy lavender sapphires equally capture Nature’s lavender flower calmness that speaks to the consumer looking for calm in their lives. Many forecasters foresee that this lavender color will experience a continual rise in popularity through 2022 and 2023. The London based trend-forecasting agency WGSN/ Coloro has named the color Digital Lavender and has already earmarked it for its 2003 Color of the Year. Apple’s iPhone 12 and iMac both sport this wonderful Digital Lavender color, which help its acceptance as a non gender specific, gender-inclusive color.
From left to right, top to bottom: 2.0-ct natural color light blue/VVS2 diamond (Le Vian Jewelry); 8.98-ct Paraíba-type African tourmaline (Erica Courtney); 9.47-ct London blue topaz (Erica Courtney); 9.47-ct aquamarine (Omi Privé); 6.85-ct Peacock Aquaprase® (Le Vian Jewelry); 9.08-ct Csarite® (Erica Courtney); 2.21-ct Madagascan grandidierite and 1.18 ctw Brazilian alexandrites (Omi Privé); 4.86-ct black opal from Lightning Ridge, Australia with 0.44 ctw sapphires and 0.45 ctw redorange spinels (Omi Privé); 2.02-ct natural color fancy dark yellowish brown/SI 1-2 chocolate diamond (Le Vian Jewelry); 4.875 ctw natural color fancy Sunny Yellow Diamonds® (Le Vian Jewelry); 4.45-ct purple garnet with 1.28 ctw pink spinels (Omi Privé); 5.25-ct fire opal (Erica Courtney). Photos are courtesy of the brand mentioned.
This year, the 2021 Forecast Color Ring Palette is a multi-brand collaboration incorporating some stunning designs from three American high jewelry brands: Los Angeles-based Erica Courtney; New York City-based Le Vian Jewelry; and Omi Privé out of Southern California. I chose four rings from each brand that support and demonstrate how the forecast palette can be used to help inspire the trade.
This Ring Palette reinforces how colors can be applied to jewelry and how the 2021 colors evolve into my 2022 Forecast. The 2021 palette incorporates many hyper pastels, which radiate a positive energy so needed this year. What is interesting is that these refreshing colors were forecast before any knowledge of the pandemic, as the forecast is projected two years out for most industries.
A resolution to the pandemic will help bring a sense of a new normal back to the world at large. This will create a sense of global joy and the stay-at-home hashtag will be a distant memory. Colors will no longer need to be only calming and nurturing, but bright and happy.
Gem photos are courtesy of Constantin Wild unless otherwise specified.
