Dulux Colour of the Year 2015: Copper Blush

 'Copper Vases' via The Jungalow

Dulux Colour of the Year 'Copper Blush' Pans via Colour Futures

'Untitled' by Unknown via Pinterest

Tom Dixon Copper Pendant Lights via Conran Shop 

Pantone and Dulux have been teaming up again I suspect, the latter following the former in their choice for a muted tone over last years jewel tone, Teal.

Part of me, is so unsure about this years Colour of the Year, from Dulux, because Copper Blush brings up two distinct sets of memories for me. First is my grans living room and the pink terracotta she's had in both houses and the textured wall paper which lay beneath the paint of one of them. It works in her house, but I'm not a fan of that colour in interior design. The other is long hot days in the workshop at university, and that strange matte plume that covers the surface of a piece of copper when you'd abused it with a blowtorch, then submerged it into a vat of pickle*.

It's one of those metals, that you push aside after a while as a jeweller, leaving it for experimentation or mock ups, before you tackle using precious metals. It's not a material you often go too when making fine jewellery, but highly polished or discoloured with age, you can't deny how attractive copperware is.

Hit a piece of copper with just enough heat and before the metal blackens, you get a rainbow coloured patina grows across the metal. Expose it to the old chip shop staples, salt and vinegar, and you get verdigris. But polish it and the blush of pink Dulux has focused on develops.

As I've looked for images, looked for products with this colour, I can't say I've changed my mind to ever painting a room in it, but my opinion is most definitely swaying towards this being a very good colour of the year for almost everything else. Which is kind of their intention:


"Replacing the cool blues and greens of recent years, a warmer spectrum of pinks, reds and oranges is emerging, reflecting a more positive global outlook. As a paint translation of this trend, our research all points to this orangey copper tone. Great on its own, the colour also combines perfectly with pinks, neutrals, whites and other orange hues, as well as metallic colours such as gold.

It reflects and complements all of the major trends that we have identified for 2015: a warmth in attitude and a renewed emphasis on sharing; the natural palette of the earth, from clay tones to sunlit highlights of yellow; the skin tones that reflect human interaction and the sepia hues of the past.

It is a colour of depth and currency that combines wonderfully with the everyday." (Souce)


Just, please, no copper tone foundations in the make up aisle.


*Pickle being a slightly noxious heated chemical bath, which you place your metalwork in after soldering to get rid of the discolouration and staining, deposited on your metal while heating. There are various types, but basically it's an acid bath and will leave pretty much every item of clothing warn near it with tiny holes. The one for copper at uni was at waist height, thus most of the holes from splashes were on sleeves and across stomachs. Should have worn an apron more often.


Link | Dulux Colour of the Year 2015
Link | Colour Futures 2015
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Listening: Bunny in a Bunny Suit - Simone White