2019’s Pantone colour of the year – Living Coral – is bright, bold and full of life. But if you’re looking for trendy tiles in this vivacious shade you’re likely to find more muted tones, more akin to Pratt and Lambert’s colour of the year – Earthen Trail. These manifest as paler coral colours, and hues that verge on the darker, mustier, side of pink.

Living Coral has been labelled a “sociable and spirited” colour, yet also “1980s napkin pink” which may be why it’s not looking to become a ceramic mainstay just yet.  It may also just be a little too bold to commit an entire wall or floor to, but there are still a few options to consider.

Cava, a collection previously covered in Tile Addict, designed for Living Ceramics by LucidiPevere, named ‘coral red’ as one of the grout colours specified to complement the tiles.  The shade ‘terracotta’ also gives a similar brightness comparable to Living Coral. The coloured grout works with both large and small format tiles to add a subtle decorative element that highlights the geometric forms in an extremely satisfying way.

If grout features aren’t viable, Onix’s Hex Stoneglass in Tangerine could provide a similar subtle pop of coral. They can work in combination with more muted tones, such as grey, white, or blue, or it can be used on their own to flood the room with warmth.  Onix also provides this colour in a square format (311x311mm).

From Alhambra Tiles the coral effect can be found with this combination of three pink/red shades.  Although definitely a step away from Living Coral, these tiles are more likely to appeal to those with a preference for the more organic looking encaustic tile.

For those looking to commit whole worktops or real square footage to the colour, nature has a solution.  From Rajasthan, India, Bhutra Marble House offers a wide variety of locally mined pink marble which, nature permitting, has an uncanny resemblance to the warmth of Living Coral.

This colour stone comes with a variety of grain thicknesses to subdue the brightness as much or as little as you’d like.

To find something similar a little closer to home, these 10mm polished porcelain marble-look wall tiles come from German company Petraluxe.  As the name Norwegian Pink implies, they are a little on the pinker side of coral but still lovely, bright, warm, and right on trend.

At this year’s Cevisama the tiles on offer definitely shied away from the intensity of Living Coral. Instead companies showed a keen preference for pastels and baby pinks, such as these pieces from the Hanami Collection from VIVES, where colour is billed as the main protagonist.

Other pastel offerings come from Mainzu‘s Velvet range, Equipe‘s Habitat collection, and Codicer‘s Dalia and Porto Hex 25 series. Mainzu’s Velvet range consists of two textures and five different colours; two metal-inspired (copper and gold) and three pastel shades, including Velvet Pink. The decor tiles are varied in their styles, but all consisting of white indented patterns to emphasise the pastels.

Equipe offers their Habitat collection in ten different colours, one of which is named Old Rose. These textured (another big 2019 trend) wall tiles are available in their original coloured form or with straight, organic looking veins. Equipe also offers special pieces Skirting (200x200mm), Jolly (120x200mm) and Pencil Bullnose (30x200mm).

Codicer utilises the pink in a different way; as a means to carry and create pattern. Although they offer Basic Rose Hex 25, a fully coloured pink tile, their Porto Hex 25 series provide the shade with stripes of two thicknesses to create a range of patterns. The pattern on Dalia Rose provides pastel pink despite minimal colouring on the tiles.

So whatever the opinion of Pantone’s colour of the year, whether it’s inappropriately positive in today’s uncertainty, or highly appropriate for reminding us, rather aptly, of the poor state of the world’s oceans, it certainly has some lovely, if not rather sparse, applications in the tile world.

A new post by Hanna Simpson, Diary of a Tile Addict, February 2019.