How to decorate with Graphenstone’s eco-friendly paint

With a vast range of colours and top eco-credentials, Graphenstone paint is a beautiful choice when decorating your home

‘We have over 1,000 colours in total and can colour match so it’s hard to choose just a favourite,’ says founder and paint pioneer Patrick Folkes, ‘but the Kingfisher blue in the Ashmolean range is stunning. The colour is exactly matched to Study of a Kingfisher by John Ruskin, who was such an incredible draughtsman and ran his School of Drawing from the Ashmolean building, in the 19th century. The Ashmolean Museum has painted an entire wall of their shop in this shade and we’re told it’s a consistent talking point with visitors.’

Clean and green

Graphenstone combines graphene with lime and other clean, abundant minerals to create eco-friendly paint that is healthy and lasts a long time, so you paint less often. It also allows buildings to breathe which has a positive impact on health.

Beyond colour

Colour trends may come and go, but choosing to decorate sustainably is always in style. ‘I do take an interest and trends are generally a result of a wider socio-economic mood and zeitgeist,’ says Patrick.

‘We are seeing a turn to visually thrilling and multi-faceted styles, influenced by technology and the contradictions that we’re currently faced with. I think this is having an impact on colours and ways of using colour and we’ve played with this in our latest shoot for AW 2023/24 – using paint colour and shapes in new ways.

‘We’ve launched a new colour which is influenced by fashion trends – Gilded Apricot – a beautiful rich golden shade that adds light and warmth.’

Patrick’s top tips when choosing paint for the home

• Look beyond just colour Is the paint full of plastic? Is it independently certified and healthy for your family and kind to our planet? One thing I love about our clean paints is that there is no smell – you can redecorate in the morning and have a party in the evening.
• Don’t fall for greenwashing Some decorative paints are ‘water-based’ and ‘low VOC’, both of which sound good but can be a disguise for toxic paint ingredients. Graphenstone are ‘trace level’ VOC only.
• Look for depth, range and luminosity of colour Our mineral paints are highly pigmented – once you try them you’ll be hooked!