Farrow & Ball

It’s not only furniture, lamps and accessories that make a stylish home. Choosing the right colors and texture for walls and surfaces is just as important in interior design, creating the basis for an interior space’s atmosphere. Trends in recent years were leaning toward bold, striking colors and eclectic patterns for home walls. More and more people are going for sometimes shocking, saturated shades instead of the “usual” colors, giving their homes a much stronger character.

FAB Color Hungary, an exhibitor at S/ALON BUDAPEST 2018, is the domestic representative of the famous Farrow&Ball brand. FAB Color Hungary stays true to the philosophies and ideas that made Farrow&Ball well-known: being open, not being afraid to experiment, while also being faithful to high-quality traditions without compromise. We talked to Andrea Szakos, artistic director of FAB Color Hungary about the past, present and future legacy of the brand. Read on to explore the world of Farrow&Ball (F&B)!

History

Chemist John Farrow and engineer Richard Ball founded a small manufacture in the 1940s in England. Color samples were taken from existing English manors and castles, while further experimenting with their own color mixtures and combinations, creating oil-based, rich colors in the process. Even though this small business in Dorset slowly transformed into a bigger manufacture throughout the years, the quality of materials and the amount of pigments used never changed, staying faithful to the original values of F&B.

With the rise of sustainability awareness in the early 2000s, F&B left oil-based paints behind and turned to water-based paints instead. Traditional manufacturing processes were unaltered, but ingredients and materials have changed. It led to the manufacture of products with nearly 0% VOC* content, which are proudly announced by the brand as the world’s most environmentally friendly paints. Furthermore, F&B eco-paints are available in Hungary since 2010, distributed domestically by FAB Color Hungary.

*VOC: volatile organic compounds, which can be harmful to human health, having a number of negative effects such as headache and nausea. The VOC contents of paints and ancillary products are strictly regulated.

The secret - environmental awareness, premium quality

“F&B doesn’t really have competitors in this field. There are other brands producing eco-paints and a number of nice shades, but none of those can compete with the uncompromising quality of F&B. All F&B products are manufactured based on secret recipes, with traditional color mixing methods, and with the use of clean, natural pigments.”

All natural and premium ingredients come from verified and fixed sources, contributing to the F&B’s consistent and unaltered quality, color depth and profile. F&B quality is more than just a product of marketing efforts: it’s a reality no other brand or manufacturer can re-create or copy.

The unmatched F&B color palette

“The F&B color palette is consciously kept at 132 colors, no more, no less. Every 2 or 3 years 9 colors are replaced by 9 new ones, keeping up with the latest design trends and sales statistics, thus contributing to a dynamic brand image. The color archive, however, keeps the recipe to all colors from the past, so if anyone has fallen in love with a color from 30 years ago, F&B can make it for them. F&B provides stability and tradition to its customers, one that is truly unmatched among other brands.

Neutral colors are the basis of the F&B color palette - these work either on their own or as complementary colors of more saturated shades. What makes F&B neutral colors special is that they are categorized by their base tones, making up separate groups: red-based colors, yellow-based colors, traidional, light grey, industrial and contemporary colors. This base tone determines the color temperature and appearance of neutral shades, so it makes it easier to pair the colors correctly, e.g. red-base neutral colors can be complementary to red colors.

Inspiration and design consciousness

The creation of new colors is inspired by our everyday lives, environment and situations, mirrored by the naming of these colors. To quote Andrea: “Each color has its story, often quite personal. Charlotte’s Locks, for example, were inspired by the vibrant, red hair color of the head of the creative team, Charlotte. These stories make these colors more human, more appealing.”

“Design consciousness is something that inspires not only us, but our customers as well. Showrooms and furnished interiors make us think in a different way: they make us want to try using bolder, more exciting colors, they make us experiment. F&B conveys a visual language that doesn’t adhere to conventions - it simply amazes and inspires you.” This sort of welcoming and playful approach is evident if you look at the photos: walls, furniture and accessories are vivid with F&B colors.

No ordinary showroom - it’s a designer workshop

It’s no surprise that the F&B brand showroom in Hungary is not your run-of-the-mill paint shop. Located in the 5th District of Budapest on 4 Szalay Street, a wide range of services are welcoming guests and customers every day, including interior design and construction. Explore a broad selection of home fabrics, while getting expert advice and help on practical issues! You can also bring your own furniture or wallpaper to the shop and find the perfect complementary colors for them, with the help of our experts. If needed, we will visit your home to help with decisions and solutions in the environment you’re planning to transform with F&B colors.

Visit S/ALON BUDAPEST 2019 for an experience in premium domestic interior design you will not forget. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates, and find your inspiration at the Budapest Arena on September 20-22, 2019!Take part in special programs and workshops, further exploring the world of beautiful F&B colors! Paint on a canvas, on a lampshade, revamp old furniture and accessories with F&B colors. “People coming to the paint workshops usually have never painted before, but it’s never a problem as pictures and ideas are born in the moment, brought to life by beautiful F&B paint. These colors are the source of true inspiration for guests, especially since they are fully compatible with each other on canvas, meaning that you can’t go wrong with your choices. On these workshops, you can find the colors that are perfect for the ideas you are trying to convey. It’s very important for us that F&B colors inspire emotions, making them more than just paint.
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