Last month, to celebrate ‘Paint of the Decade’ and as part of our campaign to bring transparency to the paint market and to tell you how our paint is made we launched our pigment of the month. Amazingly Edward has created our collection of over 100 colours from just 12 natural earth and mineral pigments. We thought you would be fascinated to learn about these pigments, their history and which colours they create. This month it’s all about the blues, introducing you to the pigment Prussian Blue. Hallway in Cerullian Blue styled by Oka While blue is said to be the world’s most popular colour it is fair to say that many people also find it cold when used for decorating rooms. We asked the ‘Colour man’ himself, Edward Bulmer, to explain the difference with his range of blues and how to use them. “Our perception of colours is often a strong determinant in our liking, or disliking, of them. These perceptions are sometimes ‘received’ rather than evidenced, but most of us are susceptible to a ‘cold’ blue or a ‘warm’ blue. Using earth pigment alongside mineral blues helps to warm them up as well as reducing their cost, particularly in the days when lapis lazuli was the most reliable blue pigment available. The C18th discovery of Prussian Blue gave us, not only a more cost effective blue, but also a pigment with a warmer tonality. Once mixed with yellow ochre or raw umber it will give beautiful deep aqua shades like our Sea Green or Aquatic, but cooled off with white and black you get Cerullian or Navy Blue. Colours based on this pigment respond particularly well to natural wood floors and oak furniture.” Pigment makes up a maximum of 8% of a well formulated paint and as natural paint makers we are alone in only using natural earth and mineral pigments to create our tonally consistent colour range. At Edward Bulmer Natural Paint, we believe you can see the difference in colours made this way. When you use powdered pigment the light is reflected in many directions; giving you a much more subtle effect than the reflection from single wavelength dyes used in synthetic paints. True to your blues? As well as Sea Green and Aquatic, as you would expect you will find Prussian Blue in many of our other blues; Aerial Tint, Ethereal Blue (above left), Cerullian Blue (top image), French Blue (above right), Navy Blue, new Indigo and Welmish Blue (pictured below). Sea Green Aquatic Ethereal Blue Indigo Welmish Blew Sitting room in Welmish Blew at Brunswick House Can you guess which other colours this beautiful blue pigment is used in? You may be surprised to learn that you will find it in Lavender (below left), Inferior Grey (below right), Laylock and even Brunswick Green Deep. Lavender Inferior Grey Laylock Brunswick Green Deep Don’t miss the March ‘Pigment of the month’ with more colour stories. Why compromise? Painting the future with plastic free paint #nonasties #lovepaint#therevivalofnaturalcolour #paintsmadefromplants Follow us on instagram @eb_naturalpaint and @edward_bulmer
Hallway Ideas to Make an Entrance We are here to help with your hall or hallway colour conundrums! Serving up some serious inspiration and top do’s and don’ts when it comes to decorating your hall or hallway spaces.
Kitchen Colourways with Emma Diaz and Jim Lawrence Jim Lawrence has created a superior collection of hand crafted home furnishings including lighting, curtain poles and more, in the most exquisite finishes. We played a small part in their collaboration on finding the perfect finish for your Kitchen, with our colour consultant Emma Diaz.
Big Tent Festival: Exploring Big Conversations At its core the Big Tent Festival and Foundation is about making a difference by actively supporting the new conversations, approaches and leaders required to refresh our political discourse.
How to Decorate with Pinks Pinks have undoubtedly been one of our hottest colours for some time now with best sellers; Jonquil, Lilac Pink and Cuisse de Nymphe Emue. If we’d known they would become so popular we might have given them less risque and unpronounceable names, but it seems every one has wanted some of that aroused nymph’s thigh on their walls from studies to bathrooms, period to modern.
Designing Havens for Heroes When we think back to a year ago, there was a stark uncertainty of what was to come, yet across the country and globe we united. Interior Designer Francesca Rowan-Plowden spared no time in trying to help, using her creative background to set up a charity initiative in April 2020 – Design Havens for Heroes.
Sustainable and Plastic-Free Children’s Toys We are delighted that the design curators of PomPom found our natural paints to use on the latest edition to their collection of sustainable and plastic-free toys.
Edward Reinvents his Smallest Room into a Space Full of Colour and Wonder When Inigo suggested coming to the Herefordshire home of our founder Edward Bulmer we thought we had to come up with something unique and never seen before for them! Edward’s home has been through many transformations, nowhere is this clearer today – perhaps surprisingly – than in the current ground-floor WC.
Petra Palumbo: Homeware in the Highlands Petra Palumbo creates gorgeous homeware products designed with the environment in mind, Petra’s signature carafe and tumbler set was created as a stylish plastic bottle alternative and her eponymous homeware company followed. Petra opened her first flagship store late last year, it truly is a haven for homeware.
