Pantone picks ‘Cloud dancer’ as 2026 colour of the year, sets off global collab wave

Pantone has unveiled its Colour of the Year for 2026: PANTONE 11-4201 Cloud Dancer, a soft, airy white that’s all about calm, clarity, and a gentle reset.

Imagine a colour that feels like a deep breath after a long day, a blank canvas for creativity, or the world’s chicest marshmallow—this is Cloud Dancer.

The hue is designed to soothe overstimulated minds, encourage reflection, and create space for new ideas to take shape, offering a visual pause in an increasingly noisy world. Pantone describes it as “a whisper of calm and peace,” a colour that embodies serenity and quiet sophistication, without ever feeling boring or sterile.

Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, calls Cloud Dancer “a promise of clarity,” noting the hue provides respite from the constant demands and distractions of modern life. Laurie Pressman, vice-president of the Pantone Color Institute, adds that the colour represents the “liminal space” between digital and physical worlds, offering a launchpad for creative experimentation and new approaches to design.

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But Pantone isn’t stopping at just naming a colour. Cloud Dancer is getting the full treatment with a global collaboration program spanning technology, lifestyle, interiors, and multisensory experiences.

Motorola

The motorola edge 70 is getting a Cloud Dancer makeover. Vegan leather, quilted finish, Swarovski crystals. Basically, serenity in your pocket with a touch of sparkle. Pantone calls it “bringing peace back to our pockets.” We call it the calmest flex of 2026.

Play-Doh

The classic modelling compound is turning Cloud Dancer white for its 70th anniversary. Squishy, sculptable, and somehow meditative, it encourages all ages to pause, breathe, and create. Proof that adulthood is just childhood with deadlines.

Post-it

For the first time, Cloud Dancer takes centre stage in a Post-it collection. The Neutrality Collection is a softer, calmer palette designed to help declutter your desk, and maybe your mind.

Command Brand

Command Brand's limited-edition Cloud Dancer hooks and strips allows you to rearrange your space guilt-free. Finally, freedom to switch up your walls every weekend without angering your landlord.

Pura

Turning colour into scent, Pura is capturing Cloud Dancer in a fragrance designed to radiate calm and clarity. Now your nose can meditate too.

Spotify

2026 marks the year for Pantone’s first-ever music collaboration. This features a Cloud Dancer playlist personalised to listener's own listening habits, perfect for reflecting, relaxing, or pretending you’re at a spa while on the commute.

Mandarin Oriental

Ten global hotels under the brand are bringing Cloud Dancer to life with themed afternoon teas, spa treatments, festive decor, and even Cloud Dancer post boxes for letters to Santa. Luxury meets serenity.

Joybird

Furniture, rugs, pillows, and more, all wrapped in soft textures that cocoon and comfort. Cloud Dancer has never felt more like home.

Monotype

To celebrate Cloud Dancer, Pantone has also ventured into typography, teaming up with Monotype to create the first-ever typographic expression inspired by the 2026 Colour of the Year. The airy white hue is paired with "Jensen Arabique" from the Monotype library, chosen for its calm, handmade, and timeless vibe.

Pantone positions Cloud Dancer as a structural colour, versatile across fashion, interiors, beauty, and packaging; quietly sophisticated, letting other colours shine, while bringing balance and lightness wherever it appears.

In short, 2026 is shaping up to be a year of intentional calm and creativity. With Cloud Dancer, Pantone isn’t just setting a colour trend. It’s curating a multisensory, cross-category experience that invites the world to slow down, reset, and get inspired.

At the end of last year, Pantone named Mocha Mousse (PANTONE 17-1230) as its colour of the year for 2025. The warming, brown hue was selected to spread a message of richness and it suggests the delectable qualities of chocolate and coffee, creating a feeling of comfort.

Pantone explained that the versatile shade creates a strong chromatic foundation, complementing diverse applications, both minimalist and richly decorated, across design and all colour conscious industries. Additionally, the company designed five colour palettes to showcase distinct feelings and moods.

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