“live simple!” – Continental Celebrates Focus on Essentials with New COLORNETWORK® Trend Color

Relaxing and forgetting about everyday life – these are probably the highest priorities for most people when they finally arrive at the hotel after a stressful day at work on a business trip and sink back into the bed or armchair. The “home away from home” becomes a temporary retreat for recharging one’s batteries and relaxing. But completely switching off is only possible if the mood is right. In other words, when our surroundings – furniture, materials, decorative elements and, above all, colors – harmonize perfectly with each other and create that feel-good atmosphere. 

The deeper psychology of colors and, accordingly, a holistic interior design approach, is precisely what COLORNETWORK®, a new and growing network of established manufacturers that Continental has belonged to since 2023 is focusing on. The objective of this association is to create timeless colors that can be combined harmoniously time and time again by means of a variety of products such as lamps, textiles and furniture. Now, the expert panel of interior designers, product designers and trend experts has created a new “Sustained Color”: “live simple!”

Desire for simplification

With the color “live simple!” – an emotive shade of white – the expert panel No. 8 was inspired by light shell limestone that has existed for thousands of years.   The secret of this color: it radiates warmth while remaining reserved and thus conveying the social desire for deceleration and a chance to focus on the essentials described above. “The complexity of life in the 21st century gives rise to a great longing for reduction and simplification. The desire for a safe retreat, an opportunity for a moment of peace in an often loud and fast-paced world, is becoming more urgent. “Simplicity and restraint are no longer experienced as a renunciation, but are understood as a liberation from excess,” the experts comment in the official “Color Story.” A new age is dawning that is characterized by conscious consumption, seamlessly combines nature and high-tech and values both longevity and timelessness alike.

The “Global Fusion” design book also focuses on the topic of deceleration

This description by COLORNETWORK® of color and society corresponds almost one-to-one with Continental’s trend research. In its most recent design book, “Global Fusion,” the company dedicated an entire chapter to this very topic and feeling under the title “Soul.” Here, the “Sense of Calm” and “Zen Moments” trends in particular harmonize with the “color story” of Sustained Color No. 8 because they describe that, during challenging times, people look within and become more aware of themselves and their environment and therefore surround themselves with bright, natural colors and soft materials in order to reintegrate the lightheartedness that has been lost in hectic everyday life into our own lives. 

skai® Tovosoft EN – the perfect partner for comfort

Continental lends expression to the emotive, highly charged color “live simple!,” which embodies an inherent spirit of optimism in the form of skai® Tovosoft EN – an ideal choice because, thanks to its voluminous flow effect, the material embodies a perfect solution for the human longing for comfort. The surface is an invitation to touch and let yourself sink in. The pleasantly soft feel is achieved by a delightful honeycomb texture. The high-quality upholstery material is not only impressive in terms of its appearance and comfort, its inner values ​​are also impressive. The material backing consists, for example, of recycled PES fiber, is REACH-compliant, phthalate-free, highly abrasion-resistant and durable.