When designing a space, choosing a paint is one of the most important decisions one has to make. The colours of a room have a massive influence on the atmosphere of the space, right down to altering your emotional state when you walk into it. While getting the right shade is undeniably important, other considerations need to come into play when choosing paint, in terms of finish and overall quality. High-quality paint will last for longer, age beautifully, and be trustworthy in terms of its environmental and health impacts.
The best paint brands not only offer a selection of beautiful, eye-catching shades that can make any room comfortable or invigorating; they also offer colours created according to high-quality formulas that will enable your walls to stay beautiful for a long time. It’s important to stay up to date with the brands offering the highest-quality paints, to be sure you’re making the best choice for your space. The luxury brands creating the most gorgeous paints of the day range from respected industry stalwarts to newer companies with bold visions.
Here are five luxury paint brands that you should be aware of.
Farrow & Ball
Farrow & Ball is a brand that’s long been a mainstay of the luxury paint industry. The UK company has been around since 1946, and started to gain renown in the 90s with a focus on using historical colour palettes to restore heritage buildings. The brand still retains this historical focus, with series like “Dead Flat,” an ultra-matte collection meant to emulate the ultra-pigmented look of eighteenth-century paints. Its “Archive” collection keeps available all of the shades that have been released as part of the company’s seventy-five-year history. No matter the era it comes from, every paint shade from Farrow & Ball is 100% water-based and eco-friendly.
Little Greene
Little Greene takes its name from a tiny eighteenth century hamlet that used to be found just east of Manchester, as well as from the Little Greene Dye Works, a dye factory in the hamlet that dates back to the late 1700s. Little Greene takes up the mantle left behind by this historical factory, paying respect to traditional shades through series tied to British eras. These include shades from the Georgian, Regency, and Victoria periods, as well as from the 1930s to the 1970s. More contemporary colours are also on offer, in fun collections like the “Sweet Treats” series, which contains warm, cozy shades named after beloved desserts such as mochi, affogato, and madeline.
Portola Paints
Portola Paints is an operation on the smaller side, owned and run by two brothers in Los Angeles. The brand’s paints are made in small batches locally, and every colour is blended by hand in order to ensure the depth and accuracy of the shades are up to standard. In addition to more typical finishes, Portola Paints offers some shades in lime wash, a traditional lime-based finish that carries a nuanced texture that softens beautifully with age, and in Roman clay, an eco-friendly plaster finish that can give stone-or-marble-like effects.
Lick
Lick is a new, up-and-coming paint brand that launched during the pandemic and immediately was well-received by the design community, particularly on social media. It’s not difficult to see why. Tash Bradley, Lick’s director of interior design, brings an interest in colour psychology to the brand, which offers a mood-forward selection of paints. The ninety-nine pigment-rich shades in matte and eggshell finishes are categorized according to feelings like “calm & relaxing” or “energizing & refreshing.” Lick has already collaborated with brands like MAC Cosmetics, Heinz, and Soho House to release custom colours, like one in tomato-red for the ketchup company.
Clare
Clare, founded by interior designer and entrepreneur Nicole Gibbins, is taking a less typical approach to what a paint company can be. The brand has adopted an online, direct-to-consumer model with which it seeks to make choosing a colour as simple as possible. Clare offers a tight palette of just fifty-five colours, all of which are designer-curated and come exclusively in eggshell finish. Clare’s inventive shades include ones like Flatiron, a subtle taupe inspired by the New York City neighbourhood the brand is based out of, and Extra Virgin, an eye-catching olive green.
