Monthly Colour Round Up
May 2026
May is one of my favourite months of the year because it’s full of colour. This year was no exception. From botanical displays to fashion exhibits, there has been plenty of colour from which to draw inspiration.
In the UK the Royal Horticultural Society hosted its first spring event, RHS Malvern, which I visited for the first time this month. It’s a huge show with a relaxed atmosphere, quite different from RHS Chelsea. The floral marquee, as expected, was the place to be, packed full of people and colourful flower displays.
Outside the marquee I found the blooming borders and floral tablescaping the most interesting place for colour inspiration. One of my favourite tablescapes was Changing Seasons Flowers which created a feeling of sustainable luxury using home grown flowers, naturally tie-dyed textiles, cyanotype printed artworks and preloved ceramics. It was a great example of sustainable interior design and an artful use of colour.
Chelsea in Bloom is another big floral event that takes place in tandem with RHS Chelsea. Organised by Cadogen in association with the RHS it’s a floral art event sponsored by retailers in the Sloane Street and Kings Road area. It’s a unique and hugely popular event which drives a lot of people to the area. This year’s theme was ‘Out of this World’ and the brands embraced the concept with breathtaking intergalactic displays.
Most brands went for the traditional approach, creating themed displays in brand colours or coordinated with window displays. Whilst others chose a more conceptual direction by partnering with a floral artist. My favourite example of this was Zara’s UFO display created with London-based artist Carly Rogers. It was an otherworldly botanical landscape in red and yellow hues, which stood out due to its abstract design and bold colouring.
There is so much creativity in the horticultural and floristry world and these events provide a platform for young creatives to showcase their ideas to a wider audience. From a colour perspective it’s an opportunity to identify key themes and emerging hues, observe how they interlink with trends noted in other sectors.
Here are some stand out examples of brands and creatives utilising flowers in an innovative way:
Lovehoney Presents Aphrodite’s Hothouse: At RHS Chelsea, designer and plant stylist James Whiting caused a stir with his gold medal-winning garden. This installation offered a sexy reimagining of the pleasure garden, showcasing a vivid collection of carnivorous plants, orchids, and anthuriums in bold shades of deep red and pink to celebrate personal pleasure and sexual freedom.
Kvadrat’s Twisted Flower: During Milan Design Week, Kvadrat introduced Twisted Flower, a textile collection inspired by floral gestures and developed by designer Frans Dijkmeijer alongside colour specialist Giulio Ridolfo. Additionally, Carly Graham, Head of Creative UK at Kvadrat, presented a curated colour perspective of the textile during Clerkenwell Design Week.
Raawii’s Flowers in Orbit: For Chelsea in Bloom, Danish brand Raawii collaborated with ethical florist Nice Bunch on a vibrant installation at John Lewis, Peter Jones store. The project, titled ‘Flowers in Orbit,’ seamlessly integrated British-grown blooms with colourful sculptural ceramic pieces.
Colour Compass Inspiration this Month:
A small but colourful exhibition Zandra Rhodes: Life in Print at the Holburne Museum in Bath, was a wonderful opportunity to see her most iconic pieces up close. Laid out in ‘hero collections’ it explained the concepts behind some of her best known prints including ‘Feathers’, ‘Sparkle’,’Lilies’ and ‘Cactus’. I was struck by the innovative way Zanda layers print, colour and texture together to create designs which feel so light and feminine.
Exhibition Yellow, Beyond Van Gogh’s Colour is an exhibition I’d love to have seen in person. Located at the Van Gogh Museum it delved into why this hue meant so much to the artist and his contemporary. It also expanded the experience using multi sensory elements, questioning what does yellow smell like? Our perception of yellow was also questioned by an installation by Olafur Eliasson called ‘Colour Experiment no 78’.
I’m currently reading Natural Palettes by American artist and designer Sasha Duerr. It was published a while ago now but I’ve only recently discovered this plant-based colour book. It’s an excellent reference built around botanical palettes and it’s one of the most comprehensive catalogues of plant based colours I’ve come across. It’s an essential reference book for designers and colourists seeking to integrate natural dyes into their palette building process.
Looking Ahead to June:
As part of the On Paper Festival in Bath Spa, visual arts research studio SILT will host a Botanical Ink Colour Making Workshop on Thursday the 18th June. Artist and co-owner Anna Chrystal Stephens will share the step by step process to make and extract colour from plants and participants will make a colour wheel using inks created by the studio.
This year’s ‘CSM Show’ at Central Saint Martins, Granary Square will take place between the 18th and 21st of June. I always make time to visit as it’s the best opportunity to see cutting edge colour innovation and speak to graduating students. I’m sure this year will be no exception.
The Royal Academy’s annual ‘Summer Exhibition’ opens on 16th June. This year Ryan Gander will co-ordinate the show which is themed around Interconnectedness. All media, architecture, painting and sculpture will be integrated throughout the show so it should be a multimedia spectacular. Hopefully it will be full of colour too.
The highly anticipated Skyspace will open at the ARoS in Aarhus Deimark next month. James Turrell’s 100th ‘As Seen Below’ will open on 19th June and it can be experienced as Open Sky, Colour Shift or Twilight. The gallery will also host events including yoga, movement and mindfulness sessions in the space.
That’s May’s round up, I’ll be back in June with lots more colour insights.
If you’d like to know more about colour intelligence, forecasting and analysis head over to our website at colourcompass.co.uk
