When selecting the Graham & Brown 2024 Color of the Year, the British manufacturer honed in towards brighter, more depthful neutrals and nature-based colors. At a time when many clients are seeking healing, wellness and optimistic moods in their environments (see: “Why Quiet Interiors Rule in a World That Can’t Shut Up”), British Graham & Brown turns to Viridis, an effervescent take on a mid green, forging a connection between interior and exterior worlds while tapping into the hue’s sense of freshness and optimism.
“Viridis is immediately soothing to me,” Leah Ring, principal designer at Another Human, says of the Graham & Brown 2024 Color of the Year selection. “It reminds me of sage growing wild in a garden, and it feels simultaneously fresh and calming.”
Aligned with the color selection, Graham & Brown chose wallpaper and mural pattern New Eden as its 2024 Design of the Year. Accentuating Viridis’s connection to the natural world, New Eden is a natural yet surreal “forestscape” full of flora and fauna that are anchored in earth tones but showcase the breadth of nature’s color. The pattern pulls together elements of Renaissance art and magical realism into a vintage yet contemporary package. Simply put: It doesn’t just suggest utopia—it creates one.
“I think what’s so beautiful about [New Eden] is that it’s not done in [the] traditional style of something that we’ve seen in nature ourselves,” says James Greenwood, Graham & Brown’s color and interiors expert. “It’s got an imaginative playfulness to the design.”
Viridis is a “light enough hue to color-drench across most rooms for a boundary blurring experience,” but Greenwood says you don’t have to go big and bold to introduce a bit of utopia into the home. Cornicing, coving, or soft decor like curtains or cushions are low-stakes ways to apply a dash of the color for those who aren’t ready to apply it across all four (or five) walls.
As for a materials palette, Greenwood says dark-stained woods work well with Viridis, as does Hinoki, a type of Japanese cypress. Conversely, polished concrete creates a provocative juxtaposition between the nature of New Eden and the man-made world.
One could argue that the earth tones, floral shades, and subtle hints of sparkling gold found in New Eden function as a de facto color palette for Viridis, but Greenwood and Ring see plenty of possible colors that can play nicely with this just-right shade of green. To make Viridis the standout color in a palette, Greenwood suggests “working across a tonal palette from light to dark”—an approach that leaves plenty of room for creativity and interpretation.
For a palette that can turn your home into a garden, Ring proposes working with a trio of Graham & Brown colors that have similar levels of saturation as Viridis. Specifically, Rossini Plum, Birdhouse, and Highland Rose “all feel like colors from the earth, giving the palette a warmth and richness.”
If you want to go all-in on green, Greenwood suggests keeping Viridis as a mid-tone flanked by deeper and lighter shades of the color, which could turn any space into an opportunity for some indoor forest bathing. Working in warm taupes like Taupe Twist, rusty oranges like Sweet Potato Pie, or even the auburn red of Alizarin can “keep that organic kind of earthy wholesomeness we love about the narrative and the story.” To inspire a sense of bright springtime renewal, playing around with pastel blues like Breathe and pinks like Aloha or August can give Viridis a light yet exciting application.
Indeed, the color-rich palettes are here to stay. “Gone are the days that our best-selling paint is white or beige,” Greenwood says. “Now it’s the bold. It’s the beautiful. We definitely see that continuing for our brand.”
