Blue is the most fascinating of colours. It is seen in the sky, in beautiful butterflies, in certain flowers and in the man-made environment. Yet often it is not real.
Apart from flowers and one kind of butterfly, it is produced not by pigment but by the structural scattering of every other wavelength of light in the spectrum, meaning feathers, butterfly wings, blue eyes and the sky above are all a blue-looking optical illusions.
This remarkable natural fact may hide the simple reality that blue is an extremely popular colour. In 2015, research body YouGov carried out an international survey of ten countries across four continents and found in nations as different as the UK and China, the US and Indonesia, blue always emerged as the favourite colour, even though the second and third preferences varied markedly.
Of this list, Britain came out top of the list as the country where the highest number of people named blue as their favourite colour, with red second and purple third.
All this makes blue a wise choice to have as a theme in your home. Statement furniture choices like a blue velvet sofa with gold legs will stand the test of time, providing a colour backdrop that both you and your house guests will enjoy.
It will also go well with a wider colour scheme that includes lots of blue, although there may be some need to balance it with warmer colours, especially in the winter months.
Understanding the enduring popularity of blue is important, because it could be easy to get misled. For example, the Pantone colour of the year for 2020 was Classic Blue, but in 2021 it was Ultimate Grey and the 2022 choice was Very Peri, a deep purple.
Pantone has had several blues in its 21st century colours of the year - such as in Blue Iris in 2008 and Aqua Sky in 2003, but lots of reds and a few greens too.
However, these switches should fool nobody. All the evidence is that blue does not come in and out of fashion, but is a global favourite that will always be popular.