Environmentally friendly small-batch paint and plaster company Color Atelier has entered the Brooklyn scene, opening its first East Coast showroom in Industry City where customers can peruse the brand’s range and see its mineral-based products on large surfaces.
Launched five years ago by paint chemist and designer husband and wife duo Burcu and Olivier Garnier, Color Atelier offers mineral-based products with none of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) common in the majority of paint products, making them healthier and more environmentally friendly, Burcu Garnier told Brownstoner. The couple formulates and produces the paints and plaster products in California, and sells online across the country.
In the Industry City showroom at 220 36th St. in Sunset Park, which opened in April, visitors can see samples of the limewash, tadelakt, and plaster products on walls, floors, and other surfaces, and flick through the 66-swatch palette portfolio. There are also some products available for sale (a gallon of the paint goes for $85.90, and a 4-ounce sample for $9.90), and the showroom can be used as a pick up location for online orders. Staff tint all the paints on site, and will soon fulfill all East Coast orders from the location, Garnier said.
“We always wanted to be in New York, we work a lot with New York-based design and architecture firms, and we feel like New York is always one step ahead, so having the opportunity to have an extension on the East Coast is really, really amazing,” Garnier said.
She said the couple thought the Industry City location was the perfect fit for them given the number of other artisanal makers in the building, including carpenters, light-fixture manufacturers, and wallpaper companies.
What makes Color Atelier different from other paint producers, Garnier said, is that the couple completely manage the small batch production, “ensuring that we maintain the highest standards of quality in our paints and plasters.” She added that it is still quite rare to find eco-friendly paints and plasters in the U.S. market, which are made and colored from minerals and are “the healthiest paints out there.”
The 66-color palette offers a range of whites to off whites, deep saturated reds, greens, blues, and charcoal and black options, Garnier said. While the company is working with designers on some capsule collections, she said it would never offer more than 100 colors.
As well as the paints, Color Atelier offers a range of plaster products, which Garnier said all contain the same ingredients but are different textures and consistencies, and have different application methods so they can be used on interior and exterior and wet and dry surfaces.
The Color Atelier team is also releasing a new product in the summer, available to view at the Industry City showroom, called Resurface, which is a high-strength mix of cement and limestone, formulated to stick directly on top of tile, stone, and concrete. While it is primarily designed for flooring, Resurface can be used for walls, countertops, and wet areas.
Garnier said Color Atelier’s arrival in Brooklyn has so far been welcomed by the design, construction, and DIY communities, and she and her husband are very excited by that. She said they plan to hold workshops for trade professionals in the showroom, and then to branch out to hosting workshops for home renovators and DIYers.
For now, the showroom is open by appointment only from Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This story first appeared on Brooklyn Paper’s sister site Brownstoner.
