Ruth Mottershead, the artistic director of the paint firm Little Greene, was ten when she first visited the household paint manufacturing unit in north Wales. Her father, David, had just lately been made redundant and determined to channel his experience in colour and finishes into this small, struggling manufacturing unit. For Ruth and her brother, a lifetime of colour ensued. “I bear in mind us portray colour charts on the kitchen desk,” she remembers. “I suppose colour is in my blood, actually.”
Pictures courtesy of Little Greene.
At first, the manufacturing unit produced specialist paint finishes for trade. Quickly, established paint manufacturers approached them to fabricate their merchandise: Ralph Lauren, Fired Earth, Sanderson, William Morris, and Paint and Paper Library all grew to become clients. Step by step, David and his spouse started to create a imaginative and prescient for their very own paint model: a high-quality product “with character.”
David researched the location of the corporate headquarters in Manchester and found that they have been based mostly near the historic website of The Little Greene Dye Works, a small firm that when equipped pigments and dyes to native weaving mills within the early 1700s. They took the title as inspiration, and the spirit of the unique dye works lives on of their manufacturing strategies: The paint-making course of remains to be largely undertaken by hand, relatively than automated machines. Even their pattern pots are stuffed by hand from a glass jug.
Over 25 years, Little Greene’s vary of extremely pigmented colours and wallpapers, clever finishes, and dedication to ethically and environmentally pleasant manufacturing processes have established them as one of many UK’s go-to paint manufacturers. Throughout that point, they’ve crafted a set that represents 300 years of ornamental historical past, referencing the important thing durations of inside design—from the seventeenth century to the late twentieth century—as properly creating new colours for up to date interiors. All of this has been captured of their colour card: a concertina of colour samples that has change into a mainstay for inside designers and enthusiastic decorators alike.
Fortunately, Little Greene shall be making all this obtainable to US clients once they open their first American retailer on 9 East Putnam Avenue in Greenwich, Connecticut, this fall. “I’m actually enthusiastic about it,” Ruth tells us within the weeks main as much as the launch. “It’s taken us two years of targeted planning to get so far, so I really feel like we’re prepared for it now.” The placement was chosen as a result of it felt “relatable” to the model, Ruth explains. “In London, we’ve got showrooms in Chelsea, Marylebone, and Notting Hill; areas that really feel village-like. Greenwich, Connecticut has an identical really feel. It’s a pocket of inside showrooms, an actual vacation spot.”
As we communicate, the shop is being fitted out with ash wood flooring. The partitions—that are bathed in pure mild—will characteristic the complete vary of Little Greene colour blocks and wallpapers for purchasers to browse and search inspiration. Coloration consultancy shall be supplied on-line and in individual—a service that’s more and more in demand. “I feel individuals now really feel rather more assured in placing collectively temper boards to seek out the look that they wish to obtain,” says Ruth. “However we’ve discovered that relating to really making that ultimate resolution, typically customers nonetheless respect that final phrase of recommendation or reassurance.”