Jackie’s Notebook: 2016 Color of the Year — Alabaster (SW 7008)

by Jackie Jordan

Wassily Kandinsky, the pioneer of abstract modern art, expressed it this way: “White resonates, like a silence that can suddenly be understood.”

We’re always encouraging you to surrender to your fear of color by splashing it all over your blank walls. However, the color white — and some debate whether it is a color at all — has a deeply rooted history filled with symbolic meanings, messages, and associations that speak to us in a profound way at this place in time.

I selected this color from our 2016 colormix™ Pura Vida palette because it represents a straightforward and necessary shift to mindfulness, well-being, and a pure and simple atmosphere. Alabaster provides an oasis of calm, simplicity, spirituality and a less-is-more visual relief. Alabaster is neither stark nor overly warm, but more exactly an understated and alluring white.

The chaos of everyday life calls for a color that is soothing and meditative yet allows us the freedom to take it in any direction that suits us. Our tendency suggests you pair it with other neutrals like soft grays, dusty blush hues, light to medium wood tones, honed Carrara marble and other natural materials. This color sometimes requires an earthy bronze or off-black to create yin yang harmony and balance.

Alabaster has no clear-cut design aesthetic, making it a versatile foundation for many design sensibilities. It elevates sleek and simple, wraps its arms around comfortable and eclectic, bridges transitional, modernizes traditional, and embodies Nordic design.

Thoroughly consider and be receptive to the idea of Alabaster walls and you may find it the best remedy to soothe your inner soul and live Pura Vida.

Find it in the Pura Vida palette from the 2016 colormix™ color forecast. Learn more about the 2016 Color of the Year.

Join the conversation about Color of the Year on Twitter and Facebook by using #SWColor.