Pantone Colour of the Year: These Jewels are a Ray of Light in the Dark

January 23, 2021

By Katerina Perez

10 min read

Pantone, the world’s authority on colour and the provider of professional colour standards and digital solutions to the design community, releases an annual report to announce the shades that are trending. These are the colours that reflect global fashions and demonstrated through clothing and accessories, cosmetics, interior and graphic design, and packaging. In 2021, these colours are PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray and PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating, two different hues that come together to create an inspired pairing, combining a sense of depth and thoughtfulness with the optimistic promise of a sunny day.

The choice of two separate colours highlights how contrasting elements can unite to convey a message of strength and hope that is both enduring and inspiring, one that highlights the importance of different colours, like different people, coming together. The conjunction of the long-lasting Ultimate Gray with the bold yellow Illuminating is an expression of positivity backed by fortitude,” says Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute. “Practical and durable, yet warm and upbeat, this colour combination offers us endurance and hope. We need to feel encouraged and inspired – this is fundamental to the human spirit.”

A Graff yellow and white diamond necklace

Graff oval-shaped yellow diamond earrings with white diamonds

Two yellow diamond and white diamond trilogy rings by Graff

As someone who believes in the eloquence of the language of colours and supports the idea of unification and optimism, I am going to take you on a journey through the mineralogical palette of these colours. In which jewellery and precious materials can these colours be found? First, look for stones that have the colour of a ray of sunshine: yellow diamonds and sapphires, heliodors (yellow beryls), some forms of topaz and apatite, citrines and zircons. The main thing is that they have a colour which matches the shade of Illuminating, so one that’s not too saturated and one without an orange tint.

A yellow diamond and white diamond suite by Ronald Abram

A grey hue is primarily one that white precious metals, with their characteristic sheen, can produce. This may also take the form of various coatings, such as rhodium plating or a steely patina, formed over time. Although jewellery’s grey colour palette is the smallest of any colour, it is also the most impressive: it includes grey smoky diamonds, some spinels and natural Tahitian pearls, whose cost exceeds the price tag of their classic white counterparts.

Messika Voltige Trapezistes ring from the Voltige high jewellery collection, set with a 10.19 carat pear-shaped fancy yellow diamond

The diamond-shaped pavé frame, accompanied by baguette-cut diamonds, serves as a trapeze for the yellow diamond in this Messika Voltige ring

With their blend of strength and optimism, Ultimate Gray and Illuminating do not have to be used in equal measure. Either of these colours can take priority. It is for you to decide which of them to focus on in your own way. To give you some food for thought, here are some of the most attractive representations of these shades in jewellery.

John Hardy

John Hardy

Messika

Messika

Piaget

Piaget

Picchiotti

Picchiotti

Anna Hu

Anna Hu

Madly

Madly

Harry Winston

Harry Winston

Fernando Jorge

Fernando Jorge

Jahan Jewellery

Jahan Jewellery

Pasquale Bruni

Pasquale Bruni

Levuma

Levuma

Chaumet

Chaumet

De Beers

De Beers

Chaumet

Chaumet

Levuma

Levuma

Van Cleef & Arpels

Van Cleef & Arpels

Carol Kauffmann

Carol Kauffmann

Calleija Aurielle

Calleija Aurielle

Assael

Assael

Feng J

Feng J

Forevermark

Forevermark

Assael

Assael

Anna Sheffield

Anna Sheffield

Antonini

Antonini

State Property

State Property

Boghossian

Boghossian

IVY

IVY

Neha Dani

Neha Dani

Jahan Jewellery

Jahan Jewellery

Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton

Van Cleef & Arpels

Van Cleef & Arpels

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