Dulux is celebrating two decades of Colour of the Year and has just launched its colour for 2023: Wild WonderTM  – and four complementary, versatile colour palettes that can be used to create stunning spaces across all sectors.

Wild WonderTM – a soft gold with hints of green inspired by fresh seed pods and harvest grain – is Dulux’s Colour of the Year 2023. Its upbeat glow connects us with nature, creating a sense of energy and positivity.

To support creating spaces around Wild WonderTM and its colour palettes, Dulux Trade has launched a handy guide that is designed to help and inspire professional decorators and their customers. The guide includes inspirational mood boards and further advice videos can be found online for painters and decorators looking to create the perfect space for their customers – in any setting – using Wild WonderTM.

Akzonobel colour experts have created four complementary palettes around this shade to provide decorators with effective and flexible colour combinations and support them when it comes to creating inspirational colour and design projects for their customers:

• Lush Colours – beautiful forest hues that are inspired by the plant-filled habitats of gardens and woodlands
• Buzz Colours – upbeat tones of pinks and ochres that capture the bustling biodiversity of a wildflower field or grassland
• Raw Colours – harvest shades that mimic nature’s raw materials
• Flow Colours – warm neutrals and deeper seashore tones that bring a sense of fluidity and momentum

With Wild WonderTM and its complimentary colour palettes, professional painters and decorators can steer away from a white shade and design on-trend, relaxing spaces that their customers will love.

Karen Wilkinson, UK&I Marketing Director at Dulux, explains: “The colours chosen for this year’s palettes lend themselves to a wide range of settings and are a fantastic tool for appliers to identify complementary shades and create truly beautiful spaces.

“For example, the Raw palette offers an enriching sense of potential and creativity which is ideal for at home office spaces – and the Flow palette instils feelings of fluidity and equilibrium which is perfect for bedrooms and living rooms as it enhances relaxation.”

Explaining more about the theory behind this year’s colour, Marianne Shillingford, Creative Director of Dulux UK, says: “Our relationship with the natural world feels more precious and precarious than ever. As well as understanding the value of nature more keenly, with climate change becoming a reality for all of us, we also feel the urgency of reconnecting with nature and the necessity of working with rather than against it.

“The earth and its materials have been inspiring humanity for centuries. Now is the time to put them centre stage and bring the outside, in.

“We’re re-evaluating our relationship with nature and sensing the importance of learning from it not just about it. We’re understanding afresh that nature is the source of everything, bringing us solace, inspiration, materials and a myriad of blueprints for living. That’s why, this year, we’ve put the wonder of nature at the heart of our colour story.”

“Wild WonderTM speaks to us in a language we instinctively understand,” says Heleen van Gent, Creative Director of AkzoNobel’s Global Aesthetic Centre. “Nature is what inspires us and makes us feel better in our lives and in our homes. That’s why, for the first time in 20 years, our entire colour palette is inspired by the rhythms of nature.”

The year 2023 brings two major milestones to the Global Aesthetic Centre. Its ColourFuturesTM trend forecast will celebrate its 20th anniversary, while the team also reaches three decades of trend analysis, colour research, colour design and art direction at AkzoNobel.

Dulux Trade Colour of the Year 2023 Wild WonderTM and the palettes are available from 13 September 2022.

To download the Dulux Trade Colour of the Year 2023 brochure and for more information visit www.duluxtrade.co.uk/COTY23 and follow #CF23 on social media.