Pantone’s Colour of the Year invites us to pause, reset and rediscover the quiet power of neutrality. This year’s choice, PANTONE 11-4201 Cloud Dancer, is a soft, airy off white that feels calm, uplifting and quietly optimistic. Rather than demanding attention, it offers stillness, creating a gentle backdrop that allows colour, texture and pattern to truly sing.
Cloud Dancer works beautifully as a foundational tone, much like a blank canvas. In interiors, it brings clarity and light, creating spaces that feel fresh yet grounded. We love how it supports layered schemes. Paired with tactile linens, hand printed wallpapers, warm woods and carefully chosen accents, it encourages creativity without overwhelming a room.
Across our hotels, soft whites are used intentionally to give fabrics and patterns space to shine. In both bedrooms and bathrooms, these gentle tones introduce a sense of calm and ease. A white painted ceiling subtly lifts the room, while in bathrooms the shade pairs beautifully with white marble, softening its crispness and allowing the natural veining to come through. The result is a serene, timeless backdrop that feels fresh and restful, while still leaving room for colour and character. This restrained palette also provides the perfect setting for colourful towels, patterned tiles and playful accents, ensuring the spaces feel thoughtfully layered rather than clinical.
White walls also become the perfect stage for art and objects. In the Orangery at Warren Street Hotel and at The Whitby Hotel, we created niches to house Martha Freud’s pots, each displayed almost like a small sculpture. The surrounding white walls allow these pieces to stand out, while at Warren Street Hotel a bright blue ceiling adds a joyful contrast, letting the colours speak to one another in unexpected ways.
Often, it is the smallest details that make the biggest impact. While we love richly layered walls and textured finishes, a single piece of artwork placed beside a piece of furniture can instantly bring a space to life. Many of our picture frames are painted in a soft cloud white, allowing the artwork and the objects around it to remain the focus.
Cloud Dancer also appears subtly within our fabrics. In wools, linens and printed textiles, soft off white tones are often woven into the design, grounding bolder colours and patterns.
Even lighting benefits from this hue. Our Rockin’ Robin chandeliers and standing floor lamps are finished in a warm yet cool white, giving the fixtures space to breathe within the room.
Simple white lampshades further soften the light, creating a gentle glow that enhances surrounding colours and textures without competing with them.
In a world that feels increasingly fast paced, this serene shade reflects a longing for simplicity. Used thoughtfully, Cloud Dancer invites mindfulness into our interiors, offering calm and clarity while still allowing personality, colour and joy to shine through. We hope you have enjoyed exploring some of the unexpected ways this colour can transform a space.