In The Shallows
Our deep respect for the environment inspires a rich and raw palette of greens, browns and dark woodgrains.
With calmness comes a sense of being grounded. We feel an increased desire to reconnect with nature, a responsibility to care for the environment, as an innate response to the constant presence of technology in our lives. In The Shallows gives expression to this feeling through the rich colours and textures of the natural world. It’s dominated by greens and browns – the stunning graduated shades of seaweed and algae, and the textured soils that lie at the ocean’s edge. Some may find these organic colours dirty and confronting, but they represent a perfect balance of water and land. They are the background colours of life on earth, and bring a new expression of neutrality.
The Palette
A closer look reveals the intriguing nuance of the natural environment. There are colours of earthy ceramics, aquatic stones and liquid-look metals, of living materials that mutate and move. Shapes are soft and rounded, textured and fibrous, and as light catches different surfaces, we glimpse gelatinous glitter and lacquered finishes.
In The Shallows is so raw, its colours so evocative of teeming life, it has the sense of bringing us the closest to true nature. It carries the hope that we can be respectful to the oceans, to the land and to each other, and live a well-balanced life.
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The heavy-loaded vegetative colours and tonal shifts in this palette give true expression to In the Shallows. Laminex Green Slate is a perfect decor for 2020, the grey-based green heralding the emergence of army greens. It works beautifully with the slight freshness of Seed and red-based timber Natural Teak, this combination anticipating another key trend, the contrast of cool and warm decors. Possum, a muted yellow-green with warm undertones, and the deeper green Dulux Priory, reinforce the sense of earthiness. These are truly nature-inspired tones, perfect for the Raw interior style, shaped for either a more organic or urban feel.
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Grey undertones in the neutral decors give this palette a slightly muddy, but beautiful and calming character. Laminex Fossil is a green-based brown that offers a rich, more complex take on the green story for 2020. It’s a wonderful cabinetry partner to the lighter tones of either Pearl Grey or Paperbark. Plex Cupro adds porosity, with its small open-weave texture and stunning, slightly aged copper-orange tones recalling rust-coloured rocks on the water’s edge. Applying it as rangehood cladding or a large feature panel would make a confident statement, its orange tone lifted further by the addition of Dulux Hancock’s rich aquatic green.
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The tonal gradations and contrasts here echo the mutation and movement of living material. Laminex Jarrah Legno would provide a beautiful timber accent to cabinetry in rich organic brown Espresso, with the softly patterned, earthy tones of Stipple Hemp as a benchtop. Or for a lift in the palette, sage-green Bayleaf makes a striking natural contrast to the woodgrain decor. Pushing the balance towards the organic tones in this way amplifies the nature-inspired style; give more emphasis to the browns and a vintage palette appears. The fresh mustard tone of Dulux Warm Woolen would work perfectly on an accent wall.
Palette Highlights
Beneath The Surface Forecast 2020
As the pace of modern life increases, our yearning to connect with nature grows. We look for colours, textures and shapes that celebrate the energising spirit of the natural world. Beneath The Surface finds them in our planet’s vast oceans, and the places where land meets sea.
Explore The Forecast
