Finding Pantone's 2022 Color of the Year in Our Recycled Glass Jewelry

An Eco-Fashion and Sustainable Way to Add This 2022 Trend into Your Wardrobe

I always enjoy the big announcement of Pantone’s Color of the Year. It usually pops up on my social media, and then is followed by the different industries–fashion, interior design, graphic design–showing cool color boards centered around the use of the “it” color. For me, working with a limited palate based on the colors of beverage bottles, it is always a good year when Pantone crowns a color I can actually find. And 2022 is looking like a very good year for me as Pantone announced Very Peri as the color of 2022. 

Pantone 2022 Color of the Year

FINDING VERY PERI IN RECYCLED SAKE BOTTLES

Very Peri is a periwinkle that has 'the qualities of the blues, yet at the same time possessing a violet-red undertone" and according to PANTONE, is placing the future ahead in a new light because it "displays a spritely, joyous attitude and dynamic presence that encourages courageous creativity and imaginative expression." I love this description as it is something I feel handling periwinkle colored glass on a regular basis.

For Smart Glass, our periwinkle color comes from a semi-rare sake bottle. I first discovered these bottles at a local sushi restaurant – I was elated. Even though purple was my favorite color as a child, truth be told I’m not a big fan of Sake. I prefer red wine, but 2022 isn’t the year of Emerald Green (except in my home).
 
At the sushi restaurant that night I was able to broker a deal with the owner, I would pay the restaurant $1.00 for each empty periwinkle Sake bottle they collected for me. The owner thought I was crazy but liked cutting expenses by a dollar a bottle.
But thankfully to this partnership, I'm able to create these beautiful recycled glass pieces:

 

LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS IN ENVIRONMENTALISM

It’s funny working with restaurants and bars trying to collect specific bottles from them. You really need someone on staff who is a huge environmentalist or supporter of the arts to take the time to set the bottles aside, and let you know when you need to do a pickup. Or, you just offer an incentive like a small payment for your raw material, especially with these special bottles; I would never be able to find enough of them in a dumpster to count on.

DUMPSTER DIVING FOR PERIWINKLE

Speaking of dumpsters, and periwinkle, what I can and do find in dumpsters is our back up periwinkle that we can use sometimes for certain pieces. There is a Vino Verde wine most often consumed in summer that is super close to the Sake periwinkle.

It doesn’t quite have as much pigment as the Sake bottles, but the neck can be used to make a few of our wave pieces, or a beautiful periwinkle tinted chandelier. Anytime I see them in the dumpster I try to grab them, and we have a good back up stash stacked in the studio.

MARCH PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

This month, we're celebrating Very Peri with a special Product of the Month collection and offer. I think of this Product of the Month collection as a celebration of 2022 with all the hope for a step forward toward normalcy, travel, time with family and friends we’ve missed. The NY Times deemed it the year of weddings. My own family will celebrate a graduation, I will travel again. And Pantone will keep us all drinking and wearing Sake.

Now through March 30, our loyal customers can scoop up an exclusive Floating Triple Sea Glass Necklace for only $48 (regularly $88) as well as an additional promo code for 22% off other periwinkle accessories during our March Product of the Month flash sale. Check your inbox for the additional promo code!

Cheers!

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ABOUT SMART GLASS

Smart Glass Jewelry is an artist's studio based out of Atlanta, Georgia specializing in upcycling post-consumer glass bottles into wearable, beautiful jewelry. Smart Glass Jewelry reclaims glass beer, wine, saki, vodka, whiskey and gin bottles to create their colorful and sustainable designs.

ABOUT KATHLEEN PLATE

Kathleen Plate is the talented artist behind Smart Glass Jewelry. Born and raised in Cathlamet, a small town in Washington State, her small-town roots are evident in her minimalist, “keep it simple” design philosophy. Now residing in Atlanta, Georgia, you’ll find her every day in her studio, tinkering and creating, and hitting the occasional dumpster at night.

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