Clay, moss and espresso: the palette that connects us

Every season we look at interior trends in Spain and Portugal, and this autumn something curious happened: the palettes appearing in every magazine — dark chocolate, olive green, burnt clay — are exactly the colours we've been seeing in Balinese workshops for years. Not because the artisans follow European trends, but because those pigments come from their own land. We thought that was a beautiful thing to share.

A palette born from the earth

In Bali, colours aren't chosen from a catalogue. They come from what's there: volcanic soil gives that reddish brown we call clay, the jungle plants bring deep greens, and aged wood adds the espresso tone. Artisans have always worked with these materials, and the colour is simply what's left when the material is honest.

When we arrive at a workshop and see a wooden tray or a freshly finished basket, we don't think about trends. We think about how long it took to make and where that exact shade comes from. The fact that this now lines up with what's popular in Spanish living rooms feels like a good sign — not a marketing trick.

The brown that isn't just brown

The espresso we're talking about isn't a flat brown. In hand-worked wood it has depth: lighter areas where the grain rises, almost-black zones where the tool pressed harder. That variation is what makes a handmade piece look alive alongside other textures.

At home it works exactly the same way. A turned wooden cup on a raw linen table or next to a matte ceramic bowl creates that warm contrast autumn palettes are always chasing. You don't need to redecorate the whole room — sometimes all it takes is changing what's sitting on your table.

The green that doesn't shout

Olive green and moss are the colours of the moment in interior design, and we understand why: they don't compete with anything, they simply accompany. In Bali that green lives in undyed rattan, in water hyacinth fibres when they're still fresh, in the shadow a palm leaf casts on the workshop floor.

When rattan or water hyacinth dries out and is worked, that green softens a little and becomes a warm neutral tone that goes with almost everything. It's not a design trick — it's simply what time does to the material. To us, that's more interesting than any dye.

Clay: the tone that anchors everything

Clay is the hinge colour of this palette. Not as cool as beige, not as intense as terracotta. In Bali we see it on workshop walls, in the dirt path outside, in the unglazed ceramic pieces we sometimes find at local markets. It's a shade that never wears you out.

In a Spanish interior it works as an anchor: if you have a sofa in that range, or a cushion, or even a natural-fibre rug, the rest of the room can stay more neutral and still feel complete. A round natural-fibre rug in natural tones does exactly that — it adds visual weight without closing the space in.

How we bring it together at home

The question we get most often is how to combine these colours without it looking like a decor catalogue. Our answer is always the same: mix materials before you mix colours. If you have wood, natural fibre and ceramic on the same table, the tones find each other naturally even if they're not an exact match.

A wooden tray with small bowls is a great starting point: it groups different objects together, creates a composition effortlessly, and brings that espresso-and-clay palette to one specific corner. From there you can add or take away depending on what you already have. There's no exact formula — and that's what we love most about this style.

If you're curious to explore more pieces in these tones, take your time browsing the shop. And if you'd like to know how we find all of this in Bali, in Our journey we share a little more about how the whole process works. See you next week.