Out with the grey?

John Park Davies, managing director of powder coating specialist, Vertik-Al, reports on this year’s powder usage.

Unsurprisingly, anthracite grey has dominated our powder coating lines once again. From the hundreds of thousands of kilos of powder used to coat millions of aluminium items in 2022, almost 23% was anthracite grey in a matt finish.

This is more than double its closest rival – jet black-matt – which equated to just 10% of this year’s powder usage.

Coupled with anthracite grey-satin, this shade of grey represents almost 25% of our top 30 most used powders.

Goodbye grey

However, while we are used to grey leading the charge there has been a noticeable shift away from its tonal variations dominating our league table.

Back in 2020, five of the most used colours were shades of grey. The remaining 50% of the top 10 comprised only neutral tones. This year, there has been a significant swing towards neutrality with black and white tones accounting for 60% of our top 10 powders.

Traditional neutrals

Jet black, heritage black, hipca white and pure white remain in the top 10, but they have been joined by two new entries – traffic white-matt and signal white-gloss.

For many years white has been the principal finish for window and door products while black and a uniform grey accounted for most roofline products. While this has not changed per se, our devotion to cool greys could be on the wane…

Warming neutrals

Neutral tones are extremely versatile and provide a blank canvas, either to layer up with stronger, bolder colours or to simply complement architectural features and details. Pre-pandemic, designers and architects were embracing more neutrals. Tones of grey, sitting between black and white, have been arguably the most popular neutral for a decade or more, both inside and out.

Yet our experiences and emotions during those turbulent years have influenced trends and tastes.  People are craving colour and are now eschewing cool neutrals in favour of warmer, more comforting tones, especially for interiors.

Greater definition

Grey will always be an important neutral but the resurgence of black and white shows that designers are seeking sharper and more defined contrasts. A warm grey wall can be offset by a pure white aluminium window frame or jet black aluminium sliding doors, for instance.

Our 2022 powder usage reflects this. 50% of our top 30 is made up of a variety of black and white shades.

Rise in metallics

But what about the anomalies. The colours and finishes that stand out simply by not being black, white or grey. Perhaps the most striking of all is anodic bronze-matt.

We have long talked of the rising interest amongst architects and designers for bolder shades and metallic finishes and 2022 is proof of this. For the very first time, anodic bronze-matt has entered our top 10, at number 10.

While amounting to only 2% of our powder usage for the year, this marks an important moment for Vertik-Al and our powder suppliers. We have long heralded the diversity of powders available in colours, finishes and textures.

It would appear, that this message is now being received loud and clear. A decision by powder supplier, Sherwin Williams, to name urban bronze its 2021 Colour of the Year will also have contributed to awareness amongst designers and consumers alike.

White aluminium-matt metallic and pearl gold-matt metallic also feature in the top 30, with the former just two places behind anodic bronze, in at number 12.

Generally, Vertik-Al uses around 400 colours regularly and can access over 3,500. We offer 25-year supplier backed guarantees on a range of colours.