The shift from Pantone’s 2019 Living Coral to the 2020 shade is reflected in the name itself. Classic Blue offers familiarity and comfort. Its inoffensive hue is an everyday shade, rich and warm, and calming in its simplicity. It has a deepness and vastness like that of the ocean, or a night’s sky.

Welcoming the new decade, Classic Blue brings with it a sense of ease that Pantone describes as providing “peace and tranquillity to the human spirit”. It has less of a vivacious spirit than Living Coral, and is more akin to the comforting Ultra Violet from 2018, but for next year we’re moving away from the ethereal and focusing more on the earthy natural shades.

As for the tile world, this delighful colour can, in some way or another, be found all over. From full block colour to rich, cobalt blue accents, there is a multitude of options for incoroporating 2020’s tone. Clé‘s Watermark offers a wave of elegance alongside the deep blue, fading delicately into white. Claybrook‘s Raku range serves up a dark textured, dappled version of the shade with mystery and variety.

Dominic Crinson‘s kaledioscopic Saphire range incorporates Classic Blue into the mystical designs, whilst Ceramica Sant’Agostino‘s take on terrazzo brings the blue into its nature-inspired elements. CTD Architectural Tiles offer an uncanny representation of the colour in their Kenzo range, with Kenzo Blue, and the Blue decors providing a perfect example of Classic Blue.

For tiles fully embracing the shade one can look to the Lampas Marine Tile and its complementary decors or Alusid‘s Sequel Shoreditch Blue – both of which have a shaded, inky surface and varied pigment. Adding a 3D element is Manhattan Stone which incorporates a Classic Blue into its 3D gallery range.

Clé Tile
Claybrook
Dominic Crinson
Ceramica Sant’Agostino
CTD Architectural Tiles
Alusid

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