Not since the brand’s founding in 1946 has Farrow & Ball invited an external designer to concoct a range of paint colours. Some 75 years in the making, it wasn’t just any ‘outsider’ who was the one to break the drought. The British paint house has collaborated with famed American tastemaker Kelly Wearstler to introduce The California Collection, a refreshing palette of eight hues that capture the sun-kissed essence of North America’s West Coast.
With names like ‘Faded Terracotta’, the colour of terracotta pots baked to a pale hue by the California sun, and ‘Palm’, a nod to the iconic palms that dot the Los Angeles skyline, the uplifting paint palette is grounded by the designer’s belief that colours readily found in nature resonate on a visceral level, providing a sense of serenity and belonging.
“I always say living without colour is like living without love,” quips Kelly, whose adoration and deft use of colour is an ongoing hallmark of her work.
“Colour is the spirit of a room and provides expressive power to transform a space with your personal voice, whether you’re painting all of your walls, or just one.”
Referencing the four tone-setting neutrals in the range, Kelly adds inclusively: “Black and white are colours too!”
She’s talking about ‘Tar’, which captures the near-black shade of sunbaked desert highways and ‘Sand’, a hue that conjures images of Malibu, with its soft-sanded beaches.
And then there’s ‘Salt’, a crisp white reminiscent of the salty ocean air and ‘Stoke’, an effortless grey that brings strength to any palette – just as it does to the landscape on city streets and cloudy coastal days.
Kelly’s debut collection will exist as a standalone palette – one that effortlessly complements Farrow & Ball’s existing core range of 132 thoughtfully curated colours.
The culmination of more than two decades of the designer specifying the brand’s paint, this collaboration has been a long time coming and one that’s brought immense joy, says the designer. “It’s been a dream to partner with Farrow & Ball on a collection of paint that celebrates the emotions colour can evoke.”
Underpinned by Farrow & Ball’s ethos of sustainability, each shade in The California Collection is eco-friendly, low VOC, water-based and packaged in a recyclable tin.
The eight colours in the palette are available in four sheen levels, offering endless combinations for creating an interior decorating scheme with Kelly’s seal of approval.
farrow-ball.com; kellywearstler.com
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Colour is the spirit of a room, and provides expressive power to transform a space with your personal voice.
