Pantone’s 2012 Freshly Squeezed Color of the Year

If you’ve been yearning for something a little spicier in the color department, this year’s Pantone Color of the Year will definitely have the kick you’re craving. That color–drumroll, please–is Tangerine Tango 17-1463, a spirited reddish orange. Now, that ought to get your engine revving…..

“Sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. “Reminiscent of the radiant shadings of a sunset, Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.” Well, okay then.

I’ve always been good with red in all its myriad forms, so this juicy hue is not a big sell here at Andrea May Hunter/Gatherer.

The first sofa I ever bought was upholstered in a tomato red shadow stripe damask. I raised three kids and two dogs on that sofa. Then I did an orange Crypton slipcover. My kids watched the Office and Scrubs on that slipcover. Recently, I did “grown-up” neutral Calvin Klein upholstery on my sofa. (It’s Teflon-treated–I’m not living that dangerously.) It’s very pretty, but I have to admit, I immediately hung some colorful engravings by Pol Bury. I would pretty much swear that the field of one of them is Tangerine Tango. Dead on.

So, tell me. What do you think about Tangerine Tango? Could you use a little freshly squeezed color this year and how will you be using it? A little, a lot or not at all?