LIVING CORAL: INTRODUCING PANTONE'S COLOUR OF THE YEAR FOR 2019
In 2019, we’re going bright, beachy, and full of life! Pantone announced that ‘Living Coral’ will be the colour of the year for 2019, and we couldn’t be more excited.
Living Coral is a vibrant pinky-orange that evokes a warm, tropical vibe. Per Pantone:
“In reaction to the onslaught of digital technology and social media increasingly embedding into daily life, we are seeking authentic and immersive experiences that enable connection and intimacy. Sociable and spirited, the engaging nature of PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral welcomes and encourages lighthearted activity. Symbolizing our innate need for optimism and joyful pursuits, PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral embodies our desire for playful expression.”
Living Coral is a colour that exists in nature and is used prominently in our online lives. It can play into both a bohemian setting and a modern one, so when it comes to the ways to incorporate this colour in tiling and room design, the options are endless!
Here at Olympia Tile, Living Coral hints and accents can be found in designs like the Marble series in Fossil Cream and the Pure Marble series in Covelano. Additionally, if you’re looking at incorporating Living Coral in your rooms and wonder what tiling designs would compliment the tone, check out our Yahly Glass series in White or the Corte Milia series in Beige. Feeling really adventurous? Contrast your Living Coral tones with tiling in our Colour & Dimension series — maybe in Citron or Turquoise?
Let Living Coral add elements of lightness, happiness, and effervescence to your space this year, and find the best compliments to the colour with a number of tiling options from Olympia Tile.
Explore product options with warm, red hues:
KITCHEN TILE SELECTIONS FOR YOUR COUNTERTOPS, WALLS, BACKSPLASHES, AND FLOORS
The kitchen is the undisputed heart of the home. The place where families congregate and connect over food, the place where bonds are formed through the passing-down of recipes, and the place where love and laughter are shared. Whether yours is one-wall or galley, with an island or without, the kitchen makes a house a home—so make sure yours is the best it can be. Your kitchen tiling can make all the difference, so let us guide you through a variety of options that you can choose from.
Countertops
Countertop tiling hit peak popularity in the 1970s and 1980s, but the style has made a resurgence in recent years. The ability to have a modern or contemporary look in countertop tiling today has injected new life into the style option.
Porcelain tiles are a great cost-effective choice, and allow you a wide range of designs—from mosaic to hand-painted to any kind of colour or pattern. Some porcelain tiles can also mimic the look and feel of stone or fabric, so creativity is key. For those more interested in the look of granite, consider purchasing tiles instead of large granite slabs for your countertops.
Countertop tiling is very durable and can serve multiple purposes—heat-resistant tile means you can place hot pots and pans directly on the counter without causing any damage. Tile countertops are also largely stain- and scratch-resistant, making it a great design option that gives you style and longevity.
We also have our new porcelain slab series Infinito, a collection of marble effect in 12mm thickness, whose rich, variable veining stands out beautifully. Classic touches blend with cutting-edge technology to create a unique innovation that offers great solutions to modern architecture to decorate commercial and residential environments with a touch of refined elegance.
Another addition to our porcelain slabs is our Portland series, the evolution continues a large size porcelain stoneware slabs, with a 6.5 mm thickness renews the collection. A fascinating appeal of cement, hand worked and enriched with technical features and a new decoration.
Backsplash and Wall
Your backsplash and wall tiling can be the key to adding a pop to your kitchen or can bring all of your style elements together in one cohesive look. Stain-resistant, easy to clean, and light reflective, subway tiles make your kitchen seem brighter and bigger while keeping it easy to maintain.
Subway tiling can range from clean and classic to colourful and avant-garde—the choice is yours! Deep blue tiles can mask spills and splashes until you’ve had time to clean up—though it’s important to remember that darker tiles are often softer than lighter-coloured ones, meaning they’re more susceptible to scratches. Beveled edges, Art Deco looks, unique grout lines, and matte or stone finishes are all current hot trends in subway tile backsplashes.
The style has expanded to using materials other than ceramic, with glass, natural stone, and metal emerging as new options. The layout you choose gives you more opportunity to make the space your own—vertical, zig-zag herringbone, or stacked layouts can make your room look bigger, wider, or add interesting accents to your kitchen.
Floor Tiles
We usually don’t think often about the possibilities for our floors, but that’s a prime space to give a kitchen some pop and personality. Considering that kitchens are high-traffic areas that serve important functional and ornamental roles, what’s the best option to go with for flooring?
Ceramic floor tiles are the most durable and low-maintenance choice, holding up well against water and easy to clean. If you drop a pot or knife on a ceramic floor, you’ll find that ceramic tiles remain unscathed. Glazed porcelain tiles offer superior protection against humidity, which is extremely important in the kitchen area.
Porcelain tiles are even more durable and water-resistant than ceramic, but they do have important points to consider. They are also heavy—so the same weight concerns with ceramic tile exist with porcelain. Porcelain is also more expensive and requires more detailed installation.
Marble, granite, and onyx are all classic tiling options that provide a beautiful look for kitchen floors. These choices can be prone to scratching and stains, so it’s important to keep those factors in mind in the kitchen space.
Travertine is becoming a popular choice for kitchen floor tiling, thanks to its natural looks (in earth tones like brown, tan, and rust) and because it’s environmentally friendly (100% recyclable and biodegradable). Travertine does require regular maintenance, but that care will allow it to be beautiful for decades to come.
Other series to consider
A_Mano is a new series at Olympia Tile, it's a good option for both walls and floors in the kitchen. A_Mano also has a decor tile option which can make for a very beautiful kitchen backsplash.
Another series of tiles that will work well in the kitchen is our Highline series. It's inspired by natural stone and is a very strong tile, well-suited to the hostile type of environemnt sometimes found in a kitchen.
Another series we recommend is the Italian Icon series, it features two mosaic options; the Caldo and the Freddo which will be great additions to backdrops. The non-mosaic tiles in the Italian Icon series are also excellent choices for kitchens, their natural hues will go well with any countertop selection.
ULTRA VIOLET, THE OFFICIAL COLOUR OF 2018
The 2018 Pantone Color of the Year is the lovely and mysterious purple; Ultra Violet. The Pantone Color Institute describes it as "dramatically provocative and thoughtful, it suggests the mysteries of the cosmos, the intrigue of what lies ahead, and the discoveries beyond where we are now." Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute explains, “we are living in a time that requires inventiveness and imagination. It is this kind of creative inspiration that is indigenous to Pantone 18-3838 Ultra Violet, a blue-based purple that takes our awareness and potential to a higher level”.
It's time once again to start planning for the year ahead, so how can you make use of this vibrant colour? The Pantone colour of 2018 is a tone that represents power, knowledge, and luxury, inspiring the imaginations of beauty gurus, designers, architects, fashionistas, and chefs. Incorporating Ultra Violet into your lifestyle could prove challenging, but is well worth the effort. Purple may not be the go-to shade for many designers yet, but its ability to create playful elements in your designs in undeniable, besides, a little mystery and intrigue never hurt.
Compared to last year’s Pantone Color “Greenery”, which was a zesty yellow-green, this year’s colour is fearless, with the potential to be used alongside neutral colors. The design opportunities are endless and this colour helps you think outside the box, allowing you to express yourself in a bold new way. Don’t limit your ideas or get stuck in your comfort zone, be daring like Ultra Violet.
We sat down with Olympia Tile Research and Product Development Expert Anila Bregasi to discuss the effect Ultra Violet will have on the colour selection in residential and commercial spaces, as well as the product selection at Olympia Tile.
What do you think about Pantone’s 2018 colour selection?
This year’s Pantone colour is beautiful, mysterious, dramatic and provocative. We've already started to see this colour everywhere now, in clothing, wall paints, tiles and many other decorative pieces around us.
What do you think about when you see Ultra Violet?
I love all the purple shades. I have lavender plants in my front yard and can’t wait for them to bloom again year after year. It makes me remember Prince, one of my favorite singers, whose personality was expressed through this colour. Being a beautiful colour it just lifts my spirit up, being mysterious and dramatic, just makes me think of the galaxy and the desire to explore what is beyond our own world.
How is Olympia Tile embracing Ultra Violet?
Olympia Tile will incorporate this colour in its selection to give designers and architects opportunities to use it in their projects.
Can you suggest some products that Olympia Tile currently carry that align with Ultra Violet.
At the moment we have only a few products that are in the same family as Ultra Violet: the Arc Series in Claret Red and the Colour & Dimension Series in Denim.
Keep an eye out for a new addition to the Oxford Series in the Violet colour.
