By Cynthia Unninayar
In the realm of colour, the Pantone Color Institute (PCI) has consistently been a trendsetter, influencing design, fashion and art. For 2024, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its ‘Color of the Year,’ it has chosen a soft and warm peachy tone that it calls Peach Fuzz.
“In seeking a hue that echoes our innate yearning for closeness and connection, we chose a colour radiant with warmth and modern elegance. A shade that resonates with compassion, offers a tactile embrace, and effortlessly bridges the youthful with the timeless,” explains Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the PCI.
Elley Cheng, vice president of Pantone, describes Peach Fuzz as “a warm and cosy shade highlighting our desire for togetherness with others or for enjoying a moment of stillness and the feeling of sanctuary this creates.” Describing it as softly nestled between pink and orange, she adds that Peach Fuzz presents a fresh approach to a new softness and that it is sensitive but sweet and airy while evoking new modernity.
Colour and Culture
How did selecting the yearly colour come about? Laurie Pressman, vice president of the PCI, explains, “The Pantone Color Institute originally created the Pantone ‘Color of the Year’ educational program in 1999 to engage the design community and colour enthusiasts around the world in a conversation around colour. We wanted to draw attention to the relationship between culture and colour—to highlight to our audience how what is taking place in our global culture is expressed and reflected through the language of colour.”
How is the colour chosen? “Our team of global colour experts at the PCI comb the world looking for new colour influences,” adds Pressman. “This can include the entertainment industry and films in production, travelling art collections and new artists, fashion, all areas of design, aspirational travel destinations, new lifestyles, playstyles, or enjoyable escapes, as well as socio-economic conditions. Influences may also stem from new technologies, materials, textures, and effects that impact colour, relevant social media platforms, and even upcoming sporting events that capture worldwide attention.”
She insists, however, that “conversations relating to the selection do not take place in one isolated meeting at a specific time of year. It is one long, continuously flowing conversation among a group of colour-attuned people. Our team members come from a wide range of design, cultural, and geographical backgrounds. The commonality that brings them together is their expertise in colour and design, and their ability to see the world through the lens of colour. That’s why I liken them to being colour anthropologists. They have this intuitive ability to connect all that is taking place in the world and translate it into the language of colour.”
Gems as a Muse for Peach Fuzz
While we have been seeing colours evoking Peach Fuzz in fashion, on the red carpet, in mobile phones, home décor and more, are we really seeing much of this hue in the gem and jewellery world? Unlike some of Pantone’s previous yearly colours, such as Classic Blue and Viva Magenta, which were all well represented in the gem world, Peach Fuzz is not that exact in its tonal interpretation by gemstones, lying somewhere in the middle of the more orangey and the pinker stones.
However, some gemstones closely evoke Peach Fuzz’s soft peachy hues. They are seen in some of the various shades in the following gems: morganite, known for its gentle pink to peachy-pink tones; peach sapphire, in shades ranging from light pink to orange-peach; padparadscha sapphire, from pink to salmon and orange tones; peach moonstone, displaying a lovely peach with a soft glow; imperial topaz, ranging from pink to orange; garnet in some of its many warm and less saturated orangey-pink hues; tourmaline, which embraces nearly all colours of the rainbow; sunstone that often displays peach, orange and reddish tones; and even diamonds offering pinkish-orange hues.
On these pages are a few of the jewels that capture the warm and delicate tones of Peach Fuzz, either alone or with other coloured gemstones.
Faceted 27.82-ct Nigerian morganite evoking the softer tones of Peach Fuzz, from Pearl Ng
Faceted Malaia garnet, closely exhibiting the hues of Peach Fuzz, from Hamid Brothers
Earrings in 14K gold with ‘gold’ tourmaline, capturing the essence of Peach Fuzz, combined with pink tourmaline, by Christine Fail Jewelry
Penelope ring in platinum featuring an antique cushion-cut Imperial topaz, reminiscent of Peach Fuzz, accented by diamonds, by Baxter Moerman
Rose Queen butterfly brooch featuring garnet, tourmaline, moonstone, and a rose quartz carving (by Laurence Stoller), that reflects the hue of Peach Fuzz, by Crevoshay
Bi-colour imperial topaz with peachy shades, from Constantin Wild
Delightfully evoking Peach Fuzz’s soft colour is this 18K gold pendant featuring a hexagonally-cut sunstone by Marilyn Brogan
Sliding into Peach Fuzz tones, this 18K rose gold ring features a 5.07-ct bi-colour tourmaline accented by 0.39-ctw baguette diamonds by Merkaba Jewelry
Faithfully capturing the essence of Peach Fuzz is this 18K gold ring featuring a 14.22-ct morganite accented by diamonds, by Omi Privé
Platinum ring featuring a 4.12-ct orangey diamond, suggestive of Peach Fuzz, by Oscar Heyman
Morganite and diamond ring in 14K rose gold with soft Peach Fuzz hues, by Emily Chelsea Jewelry
