Living in a Material World

I recently saw a construction material comparison of homes built before and after WWII that Brent Hull had put together. It got me thinking about the materials we use to create our environments. Developments in industrial manufacturing during WWII led to significant changes in material use and building construction after the war. House paint was no exception either.

Natural Minerals in Ground Rocks and Clay

The 20th century saw the development of synthetic polymer paints such as resins, latex or acrylics replacing naturally pigmented paints. The interesting thing about these synthetic paints is that they provided an opportunity for a whole new range of colors that were never available before as pigments in the natural world. 

For those of you who want me to JUST GET TO THE POINT ALREADY! It’s this: Historically paints had an ochre or umber pigment base*, so even if they were blue (or some other color of the rainbow) to the naked eye, they had a component of brown in their composition. 

That’s one reason why the color you selected from the paint deck looks off. It’s not grounded in the natural world, but a synthetic one. I touched on this a bit in a previous post, but this one is backed by the research of  Edward Bulmer, a leading British architectural historian and interior designer with his own line of natural pigment-based paints. 

There are four main components needed to create a paint. 1) Pigment 2) Binder 3) Solvent and 4) Additive.

• Pigment: This is the powdered substance that provides color and opacity. It can come from minerals, plants, or synthetic chemicals.

• Binder: This is the "glue" that holds the pigment together and makes the paint stick to a surface. The type of binder determines the type of paint:

  • Acrylic paint: Uses an acrylic polymer emulsion.

  • Oil paint: Uses a drying oil like linseed oil.

  • Watercolor: Uses a water-soluble binder like gum arabic.

• Solvent/Vehicle: This is the liquid that dissolves the binder and adjusts the paint's thickness for application. Common solvents include water (for water-based paints) or a thinner like turpentine (for oil-based paints).

• Additives: These are ingredients added in small amounts to modify the paint's properties, such as a drying agent, a matting agent, or a preservative. 

Now, let’s compare the components of natural-based paint to modern synthetic-based ones.

Natural Paint	vs.	Synthetic Paint
Minerals (rocks, which are chemical compounds of metals, soil, clay, ash) and Plants (herbs, nuts, berries and barks)	Pigment (Colors the Paint)	artificial dyes, although other pigments might still come from natural sources, synthetic versions offer a wider variety of colours and also tend to be more resistant to light and environmental stresses
Egg, Seed and Nut Oils, Animal Hide/Bone Glue, Casein, Tree Sap	Binder (Holds Paint Pigments Together)	Synthetic resins of acrylic type, alkyd type, and polyurethane
Water, Orange Peels, or Pine Tree Resin (aka Turpentine)	Solvent (Liquid Part of the Paint)	Water (for latex and acrylic paints), mineral spirits or other petroleum-derived solvents
Chalk, Clay, Talc, Quartz, Silica	Additives (special ingredients added in small quantities to improve specific qualities of the paint such as flow, dry-speed, mildew resistance, etc.)	Synthetic chemical compounds that I can't spell

Edward Bulmer Paint Sample Card

Synthetic paints offer an unending array of color options that our eyes have not lived with for thousands of years. So what does this mean to you? Half the paint deck from companies who manufacture synthetics paints is trash. I love Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams so don't get me wrong, I have nothing against them, but just save yourself the time and limit your options to ones based on historical precedent. Your eyes and walls will thank you. Farrow & Ball does a great job of limiting their color deck, which is one reason they've been so successful with designers. It's curated for success. I probably should plug the master himself here too, whose natural paints, Edward Bulmer Paints are now available in the US. He offers a beautiful limited selection. Perhaps he’ll give me an influencer deal or even more fun, a referral for a great client?

*Ochre is a term specifically used for pigments derived from iron oxides and iron-based minerals, clays, and soils. Essentially, ochres are common minerals found worldwide that contain varying amounts of iron and oxygen.