![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The prestigious paint manufacturer even found itself on an infamous tongue-in-cheek list, created by high-society interior designer Nicky Haslam, detailing the world’s most unbearably “common” ( a snobbish British term for something that is unrefined or unsophisticated) things. “And I think if you can say you’ve got Farrow & Ball it means you’re in with the cool club.”īut not everyone sees Farrow & Ball as the epitome of luxury. “It’s the sort of stuff that is discussed over dinner party tables,” said interior designer Sophie Richardson in “Inside the Posh Paint Factory,” a documentary about the company’s operations. Courtesy of Farrow & Ballįarrow & Ball has become ubiquitous in well-to-do neighborhoods (the brand has 61 showrooms across the US and Europe and over 220 stockists in London and Manhattan alone) while still making customers feel as if they are part of an exclusive coterie. “They were one of the first companies in the UK to market paint as an aspirational product by connecting it to Britain’s wonderful architectural heritage.”įarrow & Ball's "Jitney," pictured here, was named after a bus from New York to the Hamptons. “Farrow & Ball are seen as the original designer paint,” Wormsley said. “Picture Gallery Red,” for instance, was first developed to redecorate the picture gallery at Attingham Park in Shropshire, England. ![]() Once the perfect hue had been created for a property, it was canned and sold as part of the brand’s Heritage range. From grandiose stately homes to picturesque cottages, premium estates up and down the UK were restored to their former glory with a fresh lick of carefully curated Farrow & Ball paint. The Dorset paint firm got its big break in 1992 when Tom Helme, an interiors advisor to the National Trust – a not-for-profit organization that conserves historic buildings and beauty spots across Britain – took control of Farrow & Ball with corporate financier Martin Ephson.įarrow & Ball began working on cultural heritage projects, providing the National Trust with colors that were “sympathetic” to period decor rather than historically accurate. “They pioneered the ‘chalky’ matte look for walls and a soft eggshell look on woodwork (that) is less ‘plastic’-looking and shiny than modern paints,” said Victoria Wormsley, an interior designer and owner of London-based French-Brook Interiors, in an email interview.īut it wasn’t until the 1990s that Farrow & Ball achieved the commercial success it enjoys today. Farrow & Ball’s method was solvent-free, and remained unchanged until 2009, when the company switched to a water-based recipe.įarrow & Ball's "Preference Red." Courtesy of Farrow & Ball In acrylic paints, solvents are added to ensure the finish is fast-drying and more durable, but at the price of toxic chemicals. As a result, the paint industry began moving towards materials made from petroleum and acrylic resins, which were inexpensive to manufacture and encapsulated the bold, post-war optimism that had infiltrated interior design.įarrow & Ball, however, steered clear of acrylics, sticking instead to simple linseed oil, which was purified and mixed with powdered pigment. Gaudy, primary hues were all the rage, but traditional linseed oil paints failed to deliver the desired vibrancy. By 1954, Time magazine had dedicated its August cover story to the phenomenon, declaring DIY “the new billion-dollar hobby.”Ĭolor dominated the decade. IKEA was founded in 1943, with its first flat-pack furniture catalog released just a few years later. In the aftermath of World War II, the West was upended by a do-it-yourself boom. January Jones buys paint from Farrow & Ball in Los Angeles in 2014. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |