Colour, Material and Finish

 

Our latest directions for 2025 feature diverse CMF palettes for Land, Soul, Still Life and Hack.

 

Land

 

 

The narrative around climate change and environmental protection is shifting from an exercise in deprivation to one of positive action. 

Materials in this story celebrate the natural environment from wood to stone and natural fibres. Land also looks to agro-waste for biomaterials, with serendipitous outcomes in surface directions. Design and architectural projects sit at the intersection of art and science, with an emphasis on connection and knowledge sharing, workshops and collaboration. Patterns play with the macro and micro in aerial landscapes, both natural and farmed.

 

 

Soul

 

 

Soul merges climate anxiety, nature symbolism, feminism and folklore to reaffirm culture and identity. 

Visually, there is a bleak beauty to this story, referencing hostile landscapes, fens, bogs and ditches and ancient temperate forests filled with fungi, lichen, moss, twisted tree roots and wood.

Traditional practices and craftsmanship are noted, in particular the use of local materials and sustainable methods that speak to a deep connection between the artisan and the land.

 

 

Still Life

 

 

There is an inherent stillness to this story, a rejection of the frenzied speed of life, an exhortation to turn inwards and search for meaning and value in the physical, the unadorned and the everyday.

Visually, there is a gentle humility to this story with a focus on simple, unadorned silhouettes. Extraneous detail is removed but painterly effects and marks of process are preserved in final pieces.

Materials and patterns embrace handcrafted, introspective qualities, using traditional methods to create a sense of domestic comfort, while finishes mimic layers of old varnish on paintings through hand painted glazes.

 

 

Hack

 

 

With lives lived increasingly online, reality is in danger of becoming subjective.

This is a story with an online art-driven aesthetic, informed by the Metaverse, gaming and AI. This blurs the line between the tangible and the virtual, and so surfaces and finishes go from glossy to hyper-matt, pieces are made from unconventional materials to look like renders, and colours appear in real life as they would on-screen. Nothing is as it seems, perceptions are challenged.

 

 

Our 2025 CMF Directions are exclusive to Colour Hive members and included in membership.

Already a member? Click here for the full 2025 CMF Directions.

 

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The CMF Directions feature 100+ pages and more than 250 fully credited images from directional designers and creators.

The standards for all colours are referenced to the closest Pantone, NCS, RAL, plus RGB, CMYK, LAB and HEX breakdowns, and are supplied digitally.