A Monochrome World

Look around the North American built environment, and you will notice a uniformity of colour that flattens architectural expression. Industrially produced paints, designed for efficiency and mass production, dominate our buildings in shades that are often lifeless, lacking the nuance and complexity of traditional, handcrafted finishes. These synthetic colours, designed for mass appeal and ease of application, fail to provide the richness, depth, and variation that once defined painted surfaces in historic architecture.

The problem extends beyond just paint. Modern vinyl and pre-finished wood sidings are manufactured in limited, factory-produced colour palettes that lack vibrancy and depth. These materials are designed to be maintenance-free, but their colours fade in unnatural ways, often aging into dull, plastic-like hues that rob buildings of their intended warmth and character. Unlike traditionally painted wood, which gains patina and depth over time, these synthetic materials remain static and lifeless, creating streetscapes filled with artificial tones that fail to resonate with natural surroundings.

Why Modern Paints Lack Depth

The fundamental problem with commercial paints is their reliance on synthetic pigments, which simply cannot achieve the same level of vibrancy and tonal variation as natural earth and mineral pigments. The cost of paint is largely the cost of pigment, and in an industry driven by cost-cutting, cheaper synthetic alternatives have replaced the historically rich and luminous colours derived from natural sources. These modern pigments sit on the surface rather than being deeply integrated into the medium, creating colours that appear flat, artificial, and lacking in life.

The Old Masters and the Challenge of Colour

The struggle for true colour depth is not new. The Old Masters faced similar challenges, working with rare and expensive pigments sourced from across the world. Lapis lazuli, one of the most coveted blues, was mined in Afghanistan and reserved for the most sacred and important elements of a painting. Vermilion, derived from cinnabar, was costly and difficult to produce. Ochres, umbers, and siennas were ground from natural clays rich in iron oxides, producing colours that were both stable and complex. These artists understood that the richness of a painting came from the quality and layering of pigment, a lesson that has largely been abandoned in the modern age of synthetic colour.

Reclaiming Colour: Making Paint with Natural Pigments

The good news is that it is entirely possible to reclaim the depth and richness of traditional colour by making paint yourself. By sourcing natural pigments—earths, minerals, and plant-based dyes—you can create paints that have a level of depth and movement that industrial paints simply cannot replicate. Lime washes, casein paints, and natural oil-based finishes allow for pigments to settle and refract light in a way that mimics nature itself, creating a living surface rather than a plastic-like coating.

Restoring the use of true, rich colours in architecture is not just an aesthetic choice—it is an act of reclaiming craftsmanship and authenticity in the built environment. When we choose natural pigments and traditional painted wood surfaces over synthetic alternatives, we choose to work with materials that have stood the test of time. This decision creates spaces that feel alive, age beautifully, and resonate with human sensibilities in a way that no mass-produced, pre-finished material ever could.