WAF Special
handling and emissions from the factory
including transportation and distribution
practices. For example on big projects, like
the London Olympics, one of the things we
did there, which was not so obvious when you
talk about sustainability, was we brought all
the paint onto the site and had electric cars to
distribute it to the different parts of the site.
Thirdly, the DJSI also measures internal
practices like safety and customer service
but what really drives the sustainability score
are what’s in the product and how we make
and distribute the product. For consumers,
what we can do is product labelling like the
Singapore Green Label or SIRIM Eco-Label
but the message will definitely be spelt out
at WAF (World Architecture Festival).
B&I: We believe congratulations are also
in order for the choice of “Monarch Gold”
as AkzoNobel’s Colour of the Year 2016.
How, when and where is the scheduled
launch for this region?
JR: What we did in London was a sort of
global launch, one master launch, if you
like, followed by subsequent launches in the
rest of the world in the next two to three
months. It is always something of interest
both to consumers in general and the media
and to architects and designers. The colour
is already available now to interior designers
in the tinting machines.
Why Monarch Gold? Same as for
our ColourFutures™, we listen to what
people are saying and thinking and then
do research in many fields of design,
i.e., interior, industrial, automotive, and
fashion. Normally, you find that these ideas
and expressions are there for a reason and
tend to converge so what we do is try to
pick up the trend a bit early and then bring
it into the world of paint. You will see that
it is a continuation from the last few years,
trending towards metallic and lighter
colours - last year was copper orange, this
year it’s lighter again, metallic being seen as
a premium finish.
Gold is an interesting colour because it
reflects balance between past and future; it
is a heritage colour representing success and
prosperity - seems to capture what people
are looking forward to in the year ahead. At
the same time, it is never about one colour
gold but combining with other colours,
which brings us to ColourFutures™.
B&I: What can we look forward to in
AkzoNobel’s ColourFutures™2016 and
colour trends for the year?
JR: In the palette for the Colour of the
Year, there are four other colours that
incorporate gold but in slightly different
ways, representing different ideas about
‘looking backwards and forwards’ which we
match and combine with ‘Monarch Gold’
- there‘s one called ‘Heritage and Future’,
another called ‘Dark and Light’. Separately,
we also provide a guide on how to use these
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