Pantone Colors of the Year: 2021

For the second time in history, Pantone has selected two colors as "Color of the Year." For 2021, the official colors are:

PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray + PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating

Ultimate Gray is described with words like "Enduring, steadfast, a solid foundation," while Illuminating, a bright sunshine yellow, is "Bright and cheerful, warm, and inspiring."

I've read several comments about the color choices, and do feel there's some amount of hedging their bets with 2021: We WANT the positive warmth of the bright yellow! We WANT to welcome such optimism after what we went through in 2020. ...but just in case 2021 turns out the same or worse than the previous year, we have the grey (yes, I prefer to spell it with an "e") to balance it out. We still have the clouds, and are looking for the silver lining.

That said, I do find the combination of the two quite lovely, and was excited to start looking forward to possible bags to accentuate the positives of both colors.

I already had an Italian double shoulder in "Metallic Ice Blue"...which is more of a slate. It's slightly darker than the "Ultimate Gray" with more of a blue tone to it, but when light hits it, it's a beautiful neutral.

Tandy also released some new leather in an embossed ostrich pattern for their New Year's Sale...and one of the colors was yellow! Now, I remember going into my local Tandy and seeing some ostrich embossed leather when I was just getting started in leatherworking several years ago, and I remember thinking "Some day I'll feel confident enough to work with that...." Alas, they haven't had any ostrich since then! So I took it as a sign when I learned about the Pantone Colors of 2021 and saw the new ostrich leather (note: it's cow leather that has been embossed) AND in a yellow color on the same day!

The leather is also darker than the "Illuminating" yellow from Pantone. It is more of a mustard yellow; but it is also a classic color for ostrich leather goods. It will look positively lovely with some bright silver hardware!

Stay tuned...the next two bags on the bench will be made from these two beauties!