Incorporate the 2021 Pantone Colours of the Year into Your Staircase

At Ackworth House we are specialists in staircase design and balustrade systems NZ wide. While we offer a locally focused service, our outlook is international, with design and colour palettes influenced by the worlds of fashion, home furnishings, architectural trends and graphic design. We pride ourselves on translating these elements of style into enduring and beautiful staircase designs.

This year, the winning colours of the Pantone Colours of the Year feel especially poignant.
For over 20 years, Pantone’s Colour of the Year has influenced product development, purchasing decisions and design across the globe. Pantone gives careful consideration to colour trends and searches the world over for colour inspiration. Art, film, popular holiday destinations, technology, burgeoning lifestyles, even our current socio-economic conditions and social media play into their colour analysis to arrive at the perfect single or duet of shades. Their chosen colours go on to influence fashion runways, products and brand identities, proving the emotional power of colour.

Once again in 2021, two independent colours have been chosen with perfect accuracy: PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray and PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating. According to Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, these colours “highlight how different elements come together to express a message of strength and hopefulness that is both enduring and uplifting, conveying the idea that it’s not about one color or one person, it’s about more than one. The union of an enduring Ultimate Gray with the vibrant yellow Illuminating expresses a message of positivity supported by fortitude…Practical and rock solid but at the same time warming and optimistic, this is a color combination that gives us resilience and hope. We need to feel encouraged and uplifted; this is essential to the human spirit.”

We at Ackworth believe these colours can be successfully conveyed in staircase and balustrade systems. In fact, given the circumstances we are in globally, we think we could all benefit from the strength of grey and the optimism of yellow. Let’s look at these two winning colours in more detail, before we demonstrate how they can be effectively introduced into your staircase design.

Ultimate Grey

Grey has several connotations that create a grounding effect in the home. Pantone’s Ultimate Grey in particular is reminiscent of pebbles and other natural materials. While grey is a cool tone, this shade has an innate warmth and stability. Like pebbles on the beach, Ultimate Grey can weather the tests of time and impart a feeling of reassurance. It’s also the softened mid-tone grey that glints in the feathers of a kiwi and kaka, having at some angles a touch of lively silver. Given the depth of hues within mid-grey, it’s easy to see why it makes such a fantastic supporting act for bright pops of colours, interesting textures and architectural shapes.

Illuminating Yellow

While not everyone is a fan of middle grey, few can resist the charms of luminous yellow. Pantone’s Illuminating Yellow brings to mind the colour of butter, canary feathers, cornflowers, sand on the beach and streams of sunlight. It’s easy to see why this particular shade of yellow is this year’s winner, since it has been gracing fashion pages and runways since early 2020. It’s a mood lifter and the perfect antidote to a year beset by problems and negativity. Illuminating Yellow is more like a wash than a block colour, soft enough to gently lift the feeling in a room. On a staircase it could feel like walking on steps of light.

Incorporating Grey and Yellow in Staircase Design

If you’re wondering how these colours can be incorporated into your staircase and balustrades, then consider the example of our floating staircase, wherein the stringers and treads are both equally on display. Ultimate Grey can be introduced with a grey steel stringer, while timber treads can be stained in a golden hue to create a yellow glow. Finally, the design can be finished off with rebated LED lights underneath each tread to further emphasise the beauty of these colours.

Contact us on 09 280 4610 to enquire today.