On the color wheel, Jay Z has an odd bedfellow

NEW YORK -- Barbie has her own color (pink). So does Tiffany (blue), Gap (also blue), Coach (brown) and even the roly poly Minions (yellow), but rare is the individual who cares deeply enough about a shade to have one custom made.

At the Pantone Color Institute, the privilege doesn't come cheap. It can cost tens of thousands of dollars for the company to come up with just the right one. So why would an actual person, rather than a business, even bother?

Only two, at least in the Pantone client books, actually have.

Jay Z was the first, back in 2007. He introduced his "Jay Z" pearly blue -- mixed with platinum dust -- on a limited edition GM Yukon Denali later that year in Detroit. The head of a marketing firm he was working with brought along a piece of the hip-hop mogul's motorcycle as a guide when meeting with Pantone.

Blue (daughter Blue Ivy, blue jewels, blue jackets, the Blueprint albums) had been a favorite, but his Pantone color code name is confidential, said Laurie Pressman, a Pantone vice president.

This image released by Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate shows Sherry Chris, president and chief executive of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, sitting in an office chair made in her signature pink in Madison, New Jersey. Chris is one of only two individuals who have requested custom colors from the Pantone Color Institute. The other person is Jay Z. (Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate via AP)

Who else has the color honor with Jay Z? Her name is Sherry Chris, president and chief executive of a New Jersey real estate firm, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate.

She used a scarf at Pantone for her bright pink in 2011, and Chris couldn't be prouder of her color card: SC2011.

So what do they get besides a card and a code?

They get formulas. How many and for what uses depends on what they want to do.

Consistency over different fabrications, from paper stock for stationery to fabrics for fashion to paint to metal, is key.

This image released by Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate shows a pink chair with a faux fur seat. The pink shade is a signature color made for Sherry Chris, president and chief executive of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. Chris is one of only two individuals who have requested custom colors from the Pantone Color Institute. (Dinh La/Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate via AP)

Pantone has a vast color wheel, but you can forget finding "Jay Z Blue" or SC2011 in any swatch or Pantone color guide available for public consumption.

But Pressman has plenty of ways to describe Jay's blue, a combination of sky and cobalt.

"I would describe that shade as a mesmerizing blue. There's a pearlescent quality to that blue. There's a magnetic quality to that blue. It's a happy blue. It's an optimistic blue," she said. "It was pretty smooth sailing with Jay Z."

Pantone has existed in its present form since 1963. Creating custom color has been a service since the beginning, but sometimes the work is about helping a brand maintain color integrity.

Tiffany & Co., for instance, went to Pantone in 2001 for help with its trademark robin's-egg blue across media, materials and fabrications.

It's been the company's signature since founder Charles Lewis Tiffany used it for the cover of its Blue Book, first published in 1845.

"They came to us because they were concerned that their color was veering a little bit further away from where they wanted it to go," Pressman said.

Mixing custom color isn't always easy.

Depending on the intended material, a color may be difficult to achieve and stay true to the precise shade.

And some dyestuff and pigments are no longer considered environmentally safe, so they can't be used.