Farrow & Ball on the increasingly blurred line between interior design and fashion trends

Farrow and Ball — the cult and enduring paint company whose colors often set trends in the home fashion — introduced 11 new shades this month.

The UK-based brand only releases new paint shades every four years, leaving enough time to be influenced by changes in the wider culture. This latest cycle has provided quite the inspiration - a global pandemic has changed the way most people interact with their living spaces and therefore, interior design. The houses were launched as part of a larger fashion statement, and the women responsible for developing Farrow & Ball's new colors felt empowered to meet this moment with bold new colours.

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Colour curator Joa Studholme, said, "I spend a lot of time in people's homes and I helps them choose colors. The first thing I do is look at what people are wearing as an indication of their color tolerance. Compared to five years ago, it's chalk and cheese. Five years ago it was about layering grays and not wanting to express yourself too much and now it's about creating memories. »

The colorist, "started thinking about [our new colors] during lockdown and it was kinda like revamping our wardrobe - checking out what colors we wanted to wear or upgrading with our existing colors. It was a matter of sifting through and making adjustments."

Among the new colors are Bamboozle, a modernist red-orange and Whirlybird, a cheerful green and lively. There are also fashion references, like Selvedge, a dusty medium blue inspired by raw denim, and Tailor Tack, a warm beige with a slight pink undertone that was developed as an ode to the sewing thread used in high fashion ateliers. . They join established F&B colors like Studio Green, Sulking Room Pink and Railings, names that designers tout as brands in their own right.

The new Tailor Tack color from Farrow & Ball, inspired by the yarn used in Haute Couture workshops.

Studholme, as well as Farrow & Ball's creative lead, Charlotte Cosby, said the optimism quiet in their new colors and the button-down attitude was deliberate.

Studholme said that Farrow & Ball's new color formality comes from the idea that, " it's like how we put on a shirt and skirt after wearing sweatpants for years. The same applies to our homes, people want more formal spaces."

Cosby added: "I think we would all agree that with the amount bad things happening in the world, we all need a little optimism.Throughout the ages, we've needed a little color to get us out of a recession.If you look at the Kingdom -United in the 60s, there are plenty of bright colors. At home, you can control this mood and feeling."

The two women are seeing a new trend emerge in home color - an increasing number of people are painting the inside of their cabinets with bright accent colors. "It's like having a hot pink lining in a black suit," Studholme said, referring to the increasingly blurred line between...