Pantone Colour of the Year 2025: Mocha Mousse in art

Little treat culture hits the big time with Pantone’s greatly anticipated release of their Colour of the Year for 2025 – “Mocha Mousse” (or, rather, PANTONE 17-1230). Each year, Pantone’s trend forecasting team land on a hue to define the global moment, and 2025’s delectable choice speaks to nurturing, comfort, and harmony.

You might be getting déjà vu from last year’s Colour of the Year, the optimistic and calming Peach Fuzz. And this association wouldn’t be amiss. Mocha Mousse has been chosen, in part, to expand upon the hopeful mood of Peach Fuzz. But, rather than being a sequel of the disastrous Jaws: The Revenge variety, Mocha Mousse is more of the Shrek 2 calibre (that is to say, excellent).

We’re hoping Mocha Mousse marks a year, and a colour, to savour. It’s a testament to the times we live in, reflecting our collective mood, aspirations, and the design trends we can expect to see in 2025. Grab a spoon, it’s time to indulge. We’re delving into this year’s colour; what it means, its potential art world impact, and where to find it in contemporary art.

All About Mocha Mousse

Mocha Mousse is light and airy, more a neutral than the types of brown we’ve seen dominating 2024 in art and fashion; richer umbers and shades of suede. It’s warming and delectable, soft and comforting.

“Infused with subtle elegance and earthy refinement, PANTONE 17-1230 Mocha Mousse presents a discrete and tasteful touch of glamour. A flavourful brown shade, PANTONE 17-1230 Mocha Mousse envelopes us with its sensorial warmth.”

– Leatrice Eiseman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute

Colour trend enthusiasts are delighted by Pantone’s 2025 choice, and this hue is also set to inspire artists, designers, and cultural forecasters the world over. So, let’s see how you can join the Mocha Mousse movement and introduce this versatile, coffee chocolate colour into your life via the similarly enchanting medium of art.

We guess they saw it coming

Whilst original art is always timeless, often the vast cultural impact of trends – whether that be interior design, fashion, colour, or even social media – means they can weave their way into a contemporary artwork via the brains of artists subconsciously. And this is no bad thing. When Pantone release their year-defining colour, we often find ourselves looking back at our fairs throughout the past 12 months and think, ‘oh, sure, that colour was everywhere.’ Mocha Mousse is no exception.

Take Manolo Chrétien’s ‘PUNTA-PRETA’, a photographical print featuring breaking waves, captures the harmonious, sensorial aspect of Pantone’s pick, not just in colour, but also in feeling. The water has a syrupier quality to it than you might expect. Often, we see the ocean as a cold, daunting entity, but here it appears warm and inviting in a way that resonates with Pantone’s accompanying Mocha Mousse images: organic waves and a toffee sheen.

And photography seems to be a theme. Lotte Ekkel is known for her pristine eye for palettes in her contemporary digital prints and has appeared to pre-empt the Mocha Mousse takeover with her shots from Italy. The sepia-drenched stone and stucco hits all the nostalgic spots whilst nodding to the future with a forward-facing palette.

We’re not done with Quiet Luxury

Earlier this year, we wrote about the timelessness of Quiet Luxury, predicting that its ability to contribute to a more conscious and sustainable way of living will transcend the intrinsically fleeting nature of trends. And it seems Pantone are with us on this one.

“Mocha Mousse extends our perceptions of the browns from being humble and grounded to embrace aspirational and luxe.”

– Leatrice Eiseman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute

The idea of Mocha Mousse reflecting our desire for luxury – which, as a term, has broadened in recent times to incorporate both a little treat flat white as well as a weeklong stay in a plush, five-star hotel in the Maldives – marks a real win for Quiet Luxury, emphasising subtle sophistication, however that looks for you. It’s an inherently luxe tone in the sense of leather, truffles, brown boots, and artisan craftsmanship.

A half-shot of espresso

Of course, too much of anything is never a good thing. If you’re looking for a mocha hit in a smaller dose, you’ll find Pantone’s 2025 shade mixed into in all kinds of artwork styles, mediums, and sizes. This might be captured in the essence of abstract art, such as the work of Eva Yurková’s swirling shapes or Caroline Yates’ figurative forms. Otherwise, look to nature art, landscapes, earth tone sculpture, or instances of ‘foodification’ still lifes.

How to pair Mocha Mousse

With each Colour of the Year release, Pantone also suggest the best complementary palettes to suit their chosen tone. 2025’s swatches are all about ‘Floral Pathways‘. These offer inspiration in spades, especially when it comes to finding art to suit your home collection. After all, this isn’t a plea for a full interior upheaval, rather a suggestion of how you might entwine a trending tone into the vibe of your existing home.

Cornflower Blue (PANTONE 16-4031), Viola (PANTONE 16-3815) and Rose Tan (PANTONE 16-1511) are good places to start if you want to add to Mocha Mousse’s sense of harmony and pair your artworks perfectly.

Well, there you have it, expect to see Mocha Mousse out and about on the regular this year. Soon you’ll be spying it in your home, design tastes, and hopefully at our fairs. Whether you’re a fan or not, our advice is to utilise the versatility of this neutral and keep one eye out for how it manifests into contemporary art and colour trends as the year progresses, hopefully with the harmony and peace that Pantone predict by choosing Mocha Mousse as their 2025 Colour of the Year.

Main image: Lotte Ekkel, ‘Untitled’, digital print, 30x40cm, Newhouse Gallery