Sights of the Sixties

Paintwork, be it an entire wall or just the detail woodwork, is an area where it is important to ensure that you have the ideal match: either to other paint or the detail on fabrics and wallpaper. When designing a scheme for our clients we spend a lot of time checking tonal shades and are not averse to having a manufacturer mix to a specific Pantone colour reference if we cannot find quite the item we are looking for.

The recent interior trends in retro designs from the 60s and 70s have been well catered for in terms of both fabrics and wallpapers (as we have previously highlighted). However, it is only recently that a paint range has specifically embraced this period.

The Little Greene Paint Company were proud to launch their “Retrospectives” range of paint at Decorex in late September; where their eye-catching displays featuring giant sized household items painted in the new shades won the coveted Top Stand award presented by House and Garden Magazine.

“Retrospectives” features 32 inspiring (and importantly historically genuine) colours from the 1960s and 1970s. They create an obvious companion to their collection of historic paint colours, “Colours of England” which included Georgian, Regency, Victorian, 1930s and 1950s referenced shades. It is a mark of quality that both collections have been created in collaboration with English Heritage.

The 32 colours have been fully researched and validated to represent the most iconic shades from this period. However, you can be assured that these confident and uncompromising shades are still eminently usable in the new millennia.

The names are also sure to evoke happy memories in those brought up in the period: how can you avoid cracking a smile when painting your skirting board in “Lemon Mivvi”? This shade was brought from the West Indies in the early to mid 1960s, was sometimes used as an external colour and on internal walls “balanced by plain green linoleum floors”.

Alternatively, for dramatic intensity you may want to use Hick’s Blue. This shade was named after David Hicks, one of the most important designers in the 60s and 70s, who loved to use powerful colours in intoxicating combinations. He worked on both domestic and commercial projects, using this particular blue in the restaurant at the top of the London Telecom Tower in 1962.

Little Greene themselves describe the collection as “part colour card, part social history” and I think that this grand statement certainly holds water when you consider the state of Britain throughout this period.

In the late 20th century the face of the country was probably changing more than at any time previously as “this sceptred isle” became increasingly exposed to external influences.

The 1960s and early 1970s represented an incredibly exciting period and the shades in the range reflect influences such as: the increasing affluence of the baby-boomers, the pop generation and immigration from the Indian subcontinent and the West Indies.

This was the period when the expansion of air travel meant many holidaymakers began broadening their horizons and encountering sights, sounds and colours of not only Europe, but also exotic destinations such as the Middle East and North Africa.

Each shade in the range comes in a variety of environmentally friendly water and oil-based finishes; including Little Greene’s Intelligent Matt Emulsion (formerly ULTIMATT Emulsion) – a washable, flat finish emulsion that is ideal for high traffic areas – and floorpaint.

By adopting the “Retrospectives” shades for the home of the present you will also be investing in the on-going preservation of our past as Little Greene has pledged a generous donation to English Heritage as part of this project.

Jamie Hempsall, BIID, is a multi-award winning interior designer. You can visit him at www.jamiehempsall.com or call 0800 032 1180.

For details of Little Greene Stockists visit www.littlegreene.com or call 0845 880 5855.