Asian Paints ColourNext 2025: Translating Global Colour Trends Through Bahrain’s Lens

Since 2003, Asian Paints has been at the forefront of Colour and Material Intelligence through ColourNext, a unique research-led platform that forecasts colour, material and design trends grounded in sociocultural shifts.

Now in its 22nd year, ColourNext 2025 continues to decode the emotional, cultural and visual undercurrents shaping how we live, feel and design our spaces.

This year’s Colour of the Year, Cardinal, is a dusky, moody purple. It embodies introspection, quiet strength and emotional complexity.
In Bahrain and across the region, Cardinal holds particular cultural and aesthetic significance. Deep purples have historically been associated with spirituality, dignity and wisdom, which are concepts deeply woven into Middle Eastern values. Cardinal feels like a modern evolution of these associations, making it ideal for tranquil homes and designs that lean into emotional depth.

Its muted richness pairs seamlessly with the region’s architectural materials such as creamy limestone walls, warm woods, burnished metals and terracotta accents found in both traditional Bahraini homes and modern buildings
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The three key trends of ColourNext 2025 are Salt, Bad Taste?, and Feel More. Each trend captures a different facet of today’s shifting cultural landscape.

• Salt is an ode to the natural, the elemental and the unembellished. It finds beauty in simplicity, rawness and imperfection. In Bahrain, this aligns beautifully with the rise of sustainable architecture, the use of native materials, and a growing preference for crackled surfaces and stone facades, rusted hues and organic stains, reflecting raw character and timelessness.

• Bad Taste? challenges the rules of what’s considered beautiful or refined. It embraces clashing colours, unconventional combinations and boldness in design. In a region where design has often leaned toward symmetry and muted colours, Bad Taste? introduces a playful counter-narrative, one that Bahrain’s younger generation is boldly embracing. Think vintage décor pieces, expressive murals and vibrant pop culture elements. It’s unapologetically personal and refreshingly flamboyant. 

• Feel More champions emotional design and spaces that stir, comfort and connect. It taps into the rising desire for softness, warmth and sensory richness. From textured fabrics and diffused lighting to calming scents and fluid forms, this trend is a brave return to the visceral, tactile and immersive. In Bahrain’s growing number of wellness-led interiors, luxury spas and tranquil residential zones, Feel More resonates with how people want to experience their space; intuitively, emotionally and with sensorial richness.

Whether it’s the raw simplicity of Salt, the expressive maximalism of Bad Taste?, the gentle emotionality of Feel More, or the introspective strength of Cardinal, ColourNext 2025 is an invitation to explore colour and materials through a deeper, more intentional lens.

As Asian Paints continues to bring its global design insight to the region, ColourNext 2025 offers Bahrain’s design community a toolkit for authentic, future-facing designs which are both stunning and meaningful. 

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