Hybridity is the hero of the much-awaited Plascon 2025 Colour Forecast

For 2025, Plascon flips the script to harness the power of polarities and mixed states in its much-awaited annual Colour Forecast. Rather than focusing on a single colour, a colour combination, or seasonal shifts, it is the theme of hybridity that takes the day - or the night, for that matter - for 2025.

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?Unexpected, evocative colour sets that reference the beauty of our local context will scintillate in the months to come. The theme of hybridity runs through four carefully considered colour families: Bright, Dark, Natural and Neutral. Each colour family is based on the meeting of opposites, creating a commanding effect that is more striking than the sum of its parts. Further distinguishing the Forecast from the format of previous years, Plascon takes the theme of hybridity a step further, extending an invitation to combine colours across the family groupings to create new possibilities.

‘After consulting with leading trend researchers, International Trend Institute (ITI), we have taken a very different direction for 2025. We understand the industry is used to the convention of having a single colour of the year, or even a colour combination of the year, and we share in this ourselves, but we’re just not feeling this in the zeitgeist for 2025,’ says Plascon Brand Manager Kristel Dreyer.

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‘With so much flux in the world right now, we can’t see our way to dictating a single hue that will be meaningful for everyone, everywhere, and all at the same time. With the increasing melding of digital and physical realms, we feel hybridity is the state everyone shares. Rather than one way of being or doing, for 2025, we’re pleased to share a multiverse of colour with you. We are trusting in our decision that an open-ended? rather than finite? approach to colour for next year is what people will relate to most!’ she says. ‘The spirit of the 2025 Colour Forecast is co-creation, it’s in how you interpret and bring the colour families to life yourself. It goes way further than just a single colour of the year.’

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According to trend researcher Chris Reid of ITI, ‘From a conceptual level, the zeitgeist is all about multiplicity right now. No-one is any one thing any more. We change identity the way we change outfits. So the most relevant or top-of-mind colour isn’t fixed for as long as a year. Maybe we’ll be able to be more definitive about a single-minded colour of the year when our identities and thinking coalesce more and the world is less in flux, but for now it’s all about playing with possibility.’

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Without any further ado, here are the four enticing colour families that invite you to make your own choices.

Bright: Digital x Physical

Leaning into the playful irreverence of online culture, the Bright colour family is as vivid as its name suggests. These hues express energy and extraversion through mood-boosting soft neons and digital fluorescents. They are perfect for those who wish to master the art of the unexpected in their interiors, or simply want to design a room that makes a statement. Included in the set are pared-back versions of four of the colours; these are more subtle, but undoubtedly imbued with the same lively spirit. They can be paired with their electric counterparts but they’re also strong enough to stand alone. Even when used sparingly, this colour family is local and current. With one foot in the future and another in the past, it raises a hat to a Capetonian context in the form of the vibrant colours of the historic homes lining the streets of the Bo-Kaap.

Dark: Past x Present

Regency era opulence meets sleek contemporary design to produce the Dark colour family. Its jewel tones and rich leather colours have been selected to build tone-on-tone spaces with incredible depth or to bring a sense of grounding to a room furnished in softer palettes. The darkest colours play the role of classic black in contemporary design and this simple swop can transform the feel of a room by adding an undertone of old world-luxury. In step with South African trends which are starting to favour lavish finishings over stark, cold minimalism, the Dark colour family is poised to make a lasting impact on local audiences in 2025.

Natural: Organic x Manmade

Inspired by the unexpected synergy at the intersection of nature and the built environment, colours drawn from naturally occurring organic pigments and cultivated construction materials form the basis of the Natural colour family. The seven colours in this grouping are effortlessly evocative, creating a sense of calm and a feeling of oneness with nature.

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Beyond being gentle on the eyes, this colour family is in line with the international Japandi trend, a blend of Japanese and Scandinavian craftsmanship and balance. Building on this, the Natural palette encapsulates intentional combinations and intuitive design, with the human connection to nature tying them together.

Neutral: Hard x Soft

Neutrals are a perennial staple bringing lasting elegance to interior and outdoor spaces. In Plascon’s 2025 Neutral colour family, they are reimagined and shaped by soft industrial design and genderless fashion trends. Mirroring the mood of the defined grey shapes of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa’s silos and the versatile colour and form of local unisex clothing brands, this colour family is built on pigmented neutrals that are defined yet flexible. The grouping of colours plays with contrast and harmony, offering a movement away from pure minimalism towards purposeful warmth and noticeable nuances. Concrete, wood and steel tones combine to tell a tonal story, but each colour is just as capable of acting as a neutral base for other combinations.

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In response to a world that offers more options than ever before, Plascon’s 2025 Colour Forecast puts a new spin on the definition of choice. It offers a permission slip to replace ‘or’ with ‘and’, rejecting the rigid rules that once dictated interior design to embrace hybridity and create constant possibilities for the future.

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By paying close attention to local and global trends, the four colour families offer a glimpse into the next phase of our country’s diversity, integration and celebration of its differences as well as its similarities. It places the power in the hands of the individual to make and remake spaces that continue to evolve.

Visit www.plasconcolour.co.za ?for more details on the Plascon 2025 Colour Forecast.