Pantone unveils Colour of the Year for 2022

While many of us will spend the final days of 2021 reflecting on its whirlwind events, global colour authority Pantone has already been busy looking ahead -- to decide on the shade that will best encapsulate 2022.

On Wednesday it unveiled Very Peri, a periwinkle hue that the company says combines the steady tranquility of blue with an energetic infusion of red. It's the first time the company has manufactured a colour instead of delving into their pre-existing archive, a decision that was a vital element of this year's selection process.

"It was really important for us to come up with a new colour, because we have a very new vision of the world now," said Pantone Color Institute's Executive Director Leatrice Eiseman in a video call.

"It is literally the happiest and the warmest of all the blue hues," she added, describing the shade. "Because of that red undertone, it introduces an empowering feeling of newness, and newness is what we're looking for."

The pandemic has heavily impacted how we normally live and work -- posing obstacles that have forced people to think outside the box.