Manufacturer of linseed paint used by Chatsworth House expands into US

The firm has also launched a new US website with billing and payments direct from its US-based subsidiary.

Michiel Brouns, founder of Brouns & Co, which is based in Sherburn in Elmet, said: “The remarkable rise in demand for linseed paint and coatings in Europe has now been outpaced by the US market, where architectural styles mean that there is greater need to preserve and protect both historic buildings and new structures that lean into the importance of natural components and carbon footprint,”

The company said it had seen a tenfold increase in demand from the US since it began shipping initial orders to North America in 2015.

The firm added that it views the market as a “key area for growth”, driven by a combination of consumer preferences for natural products, regulatory changes and the huge volume of wooden homes that are built and maintained in the US.

US customers who previously ordered direct from the UK website and had goods shipped internationally will now be able to buy directly from Brouns’ US business and have orders delivered straight from the firm’s warehouse in New Hampshire.

The firm said this move would reduce shipping times and costs within the US and Canada.

Mr Brouns added: “The passion we have for the quality of our product means we don’t want to compromise the quality of our ingredients and the triple roller manufacturing process that we have developed in the UK.

"Holding stock in the US as order quantities rise means we can meet the demands of local and national government contracts, as well as enhancing the service we offer private and corporate buyers who are increasingly looking for cleaner, greener, higher performance alternatives without forever chemicals.”

A published expert on the application of linseed paint, and a global authority on its history and production techniques, Mr Brouns is working with American architects and preservation bodies on numerous projects in the US.

One of these projects will see the restoration of President Washington’s Mount Vernon summer home in Virgina.

Mr Brouns added: “We’ve been working closely with Royal Institute of British Architects in the UK and US for several years, and also the American Institute of Architects, who are meeting the demand for more information and training on the use of these products and techniques that were almost completely lost over the last few hundred years.

“Establishing our US venture, warehousing and a dedicated web presence is the natural next step, and we’ve also appointed a US-based CFO to lead the business.”

Brouns & Co’s paint is used by Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, and was also used in the restoration of Wentworth Woodhouse near Rotherham.

It has also been used in the English Heritage-owned Brodsworth Hall near Doncaster.

The firm moved production of its all-natural linseed paint to Yorkshire in 2022, and relocated from Garforth to a site at Bypass Park Industrial Estate in Sherburn in Elmet earlier this year.

The company’s paint is also set to be used in a £20m Natural History Museum restoration project, which will seek to restore hundreds of original cast iron windows at the museum.