Dunn-Edwards Reveals 2019 Color + Design Trends at LA Design Festival

The LA Design Festival kicked off it's 8th year celebrating and honoring the rich design culture of Los Angeles and celebrating its status as a global design capital. With the theme "Design is for Everyone," the festival highlighted a range of design experiences — from architecture and interiors to graphic, industrial, fashion, set, costume and experiential design — showcasing the best of the local design scene as well as some exciting national and international voices.

Dunn-Edwards recently participated as a proud sponsor of the 8th annual LA Design Festival centering around downtown's hip ROW DTLA. With over 50 events across Los Angeles, Dunn-Edwards helped kicked off the festivities by giving attendees a sneak peek at the color and design trends professionals can expect to see in 2019.

Sara McLean, color expert and stylist for Dunn-Edwards, introduced Spirited Journeys, a video series that dives into the five key trends influencing 2019 color and design, to an eager crowd. Beginning with Extreme Odyssey, the first of the five trend stories that draws inspiration from man’s exploration of the sea and sky. It’s a blend that mixes natural and organic with both digital and dreamlike themes.

City Stroll, the second story in the series launched just prior to the festival, speaks to our playful side with bright colors, modern and artsy-friendly designs with a touch of humor. This joyful expression allows us to make daily life fun and light-hearted. To view the animated video series, click here.

For McLean, design trends are about more than just trending colors. She emphasized the influence culture and current events have over the colors, textures and materials likely to be in style. Four of these “mega trends” defining the direction of today’s design are:

• Extremes: from environmental changes to the gap between poverty and wealth
• Technology: focusing on how society gathers and gives information, including the 24/7 news and entertainment cycles
• Biology: advances in science and technology, including pioneering genetics research
• Pop culture: the continual news feed from social media to instant celebrity status influences more trends

Some key color trends to watch for in 2019 include:

• Warm neutrals: expect to see a move toward a larger range of browns with pink and yellow undertones
• Red and orange combos: the pairing of red and orange (seen on fashion runways) is moving to design and architecture
• Yellow: from vivid to deep golds, are all expected to uptrend over the next year. Check out our 2017 Color of the Year, Honey Glow (DE5354), for more expressions of this trending hue
• Sunset colors: The vibrant colors seen during a west coast sunset (oranges, reds, yellows) will start to trend in interior and exterior décor. Check our sunset color picks that pair well with Target’s new home decor, Opalhouse
• Blue: Blue continues to be popular and tones to look out for are indigo and icy, pale blue — colors that promote a feeling of relaxation
• Green: shades of mint and grass will highlight the many popular greens going into 2019. Refer to our 2018 Color of the Year, The Green Hour (DET544), for the many ways green is trending
• Purple: Lavender will move in on millennial pink territory as one of the more popular trending pastel hues

Between Us

Festival goers were also given an opportunity to paint a mural by local artist Erin Althea. Called "Between Us," participants painted the mural using a select color range from Dunn-Edwards paints to make their mark.

MINI LIVING Urban Cabin

A popular attraction this year’s Festival was the Urban Cabin which stood atop the roof at ROW DTLA. Urban Cabin, is a collaboration between MINI Living and the two lead architects behind LA-based architecture studio Freelandbuck. The tiny cabin’s design focuses on making a small space efficient, while also
connecting the inhabitant to elements of their surroundings. The LA Design Festival explains further that the structure is “designed to be part of a global village, [and] is travelling the world to demonstrate how a living space can be smart and flexible while at the same time making its inhabitants feel at home — even with a footprint of just 15 square meters.”

Other Noted Festivities

• INTRO/LA: Curated by Small Office, it featured an eclectic mix of independent designers
• West Adams Studio Tours: the chance to get behind the scenes with LA’s leading and emerging practices
• "Life-Size/Still-Life" by Krystal Chang Projects: Krystal Chang Projects’ work explores flowers, landscapes, architecture and design

To learn more, visit ladesignfestival.org

Images by Dunn-Edwards and Rena Goldman