Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Working with Colour Trends - Marsala

Colour play's an important part of our lives, so how are we influenced by colour trends? 


Each year specialists from many industries including fashion, pop culture, technology, music and travel scour the globe in search of emerging colour trends. Colour trends are not, as you might imagine, found by simply seeing what's it hot in the fashion world, they are actually inspired by global influences that reflect the spirit of the time.

Each year Pantone announces the Colour of Year. The colour is determined by a select group of people who between them, debate and eventually chose the colour on it's agreed merits.

To give you an example, in 2013 Emerald was selected as the Colour of the Year. It was felt that the colour Emerald represented growth, renewal, and prosperity and in turn could be associated with the changing  economy as it began to recover.



The 2015 'Colour of the Year' has been named Marsala - a "naturally robust and earthy wine red'.


Pantone suggest that this colour will "encourage creativity and experimentation" and is "both dramatic and at the same time grounding".








To make the colour 'Marsala' with balloons, you can use the Custom Colour Technique.  Simply insert a Qualatex® Spring Lilac balloon inside a Qualatex® Sparkling Burgundy balloon and when inflated you will have the colour Marsala!

During my research for this blog I read a few great article. I recommend looking at  Bridal Guide that shows how the colour Marsala can compliment both the warm tones, like orange, yellow or coral; or cool tones, like blue or purple, check out the article for some wedding inspiration for this colour.


Tulle & Chantilly have a great blog on how to use the colour Marsala with other colour combinations. Pantone Marsala Wedding Color Combo Ideas – Color of the Year 2015





When I first heard that the colour of the year was Marsala I was a little unsure how it would work for event decor, especially wedding's as it is quite dark and earthy, but the more I see all the inspiration boards using this colour the more I love it!

I love to use a strong colour such as Marsala to create accent detail in a design.








Inspiration for decor using the combination of Marsala with Gold.


This colour combination is predicted to be 'hot' for Autumn/Fall wedding's.


Image credits: Marsala & Gold Shimmer Garland - Etsy/ Sassy Pants Nebraska
Balloon Designs by: Fiona Fisher, Sue Bowler & Jodie White.
Place Settings - The Yacht Club at Marine Shores.

Check out Pinterest who have some very inspiring boards offering ideas for weddings using Marsala and Gold.


We have a fantastic NEW Qualatex Pinterest board - Colourama. This board shows many exciting design ideas working  with different colour combinations!



I am currently writing a series of blogs on colour and will be looking at some other great Pantone colour combination's for 2015 and how we can create some fantastic balloon decor working with these colours!

Happy Ballooning!

Sue