English plums, a little sugar and lemon juice

A simple and local recipe that is so very delicious and valuable. Ingredients and where they come from are at the root of why and how we make our paint. a generous use of a humble and lightly travelled group of ingredients, using hands and humans for other humans’ health.

I believe if we nourish ourselves at home, then life can only be better. We use a bio-based binder, rather than the usual acrylic or vinyl. It is made from simple, raw ingredients including sugar, bio ethanol and vegetable oil produced from waste crops. Our dolomite and calcium carbonate filler comes from Cornwall and the remainder of our ingredients are bio-based and natural. We have one preservative - because it is necessary, but it is the cleanest and smallest amount we can use. 

You can discover more by tucking into below.

The right ingredients sourced well and as locally as possible matters in food. It also matters in fashion. And I hope it matters in the world of ‘interiors’. As a business and a person, I draw from the great knowledge of the Slow Food movement. The complex nature of local, organic, less meat, more veg. No packaging and definitely no grapes from Chile (unless you live in Chile).

And by applying these principles to how and what we make our paint with, it makes hard choices easy and morally easy choices hard.

I have always taken the approach to avoid ‘preaching’ or claiming (this exciting pdf from the even more exciting British Coatings Federation is an excellent guide). I think you can back yourself into an unpleasant corner and perhaps take your eye off what is important.

For us it is making the best paint possible in our view of what this is - local, mostly unprocessed, minimal preservatives and good materials. Definitely no fungicide and very definitely not travelling the world to get to us. These choices also mean good, clean smelling paint which, once you have smelt it, raises so many questions about what paint should smell like.

And we happily share. It would be torturous to take the opposite approach.

All paint is made from a combination of filler, solvent, resin/binder, pigments, and extra additives. We then choose what the combination is and where it comes from. I think the recipe should read like a simple Sunday supper – easy, understandable, well sourced ingredients and no weird sauce.

So - a list of what goes in our True Matt Emulsion & Steadfast Matt Emulsion, where it comes from and why.

I hope it helps.

Cassandra x

Filler

A balanced blend of dolomite and calcium carbonate in various particle sizes. This is to ensure great coverage and robustness. The PH stability of calcium carbonate also acts as a natural preservative, which allows us to have a lower amount of other preservatives. We source from Britain and no further processing is required.

Solvent

Filtered water from Britain.

Resin/Binder

Our wonderful binder is a bio-based resin, rather than the usual acrylic or vinyl. It is made from simple raw materials including sugar, bio ethanol and vegetable oil produced from waste crops, castor oil and/or linseed oil. This currently comes from Germany and it makes our paint smell delicious.

Pigments

Mostly earth or mineral based, with some man-made where we believe this is a better choice. Trace VOC only – which is key. Britain and Europe sourced.

Additives

A thickener which is natural cellulose from wood pulp or cotton linter. This comes from Germany and is 0.1% of our paint.

The preservative which is Isothiazolinone, a manmade organic preserving compound. This is our only preservative and it is necessary, but we use as little as we can - 0.00015%. It is worth investigating the percentage and variety of preservatives used in paint as it does vary enormously. This is sourced in Britain

And finally a PH modifier. This is a natural ingredient to counteract variations found in other raw materials and to maintain the stability of the paint. It is 0.001% of the paint and is sourced in Britain.