58 | “Our prices are comparable, our products have the highest industry guarantee of 25 years ....” Natural Paint Co founders Grace Glass and James Mount. Quality, durable paint made naturally MANUFACTURING Natural Paint Company Now both in their late 20’s, co-founders of Natural Paint Co Grace Glass and James Mount have been good friends since they were 17. While they share responsibility for higher level strategic decisions, growth strategies and the direction the company is going, Grace runs the all-important digital side of their business while James’ role is more in the technical side of things: quality control and distribution from the operational side; and product development, including dealing with their manufacturers and chemists. James describes himself as having left uni and “fallen into the paint industry”. He was there for long enough to realise that he wanted to be part of developing New Zealand’s first range of natural paints. Grace had just finished qualifying as a nurse and was very aware of health and keeping people well. At the time they were both focusing on the healthiness and sustainability of what they were consuming in their own lives and realised that while many industries were embracing environmental change, from what James could see, the paint industry had barely changed in 50 years. That was something they decided to address. The decision having been made the next step was to find people with the necessary expertise to make the products they wanted. “Our lead chemist has been in the chemical paint industry for over 40 years,” says James. “So their experience to date was working on the raw materials involved in more conventional paints. “Then in 2015 when we started the company Grace and I approached them with the challenge of creating paint ‘which is as good as, or better than, what you’ve produced in the past, but can you do it without using any harmful chemicals (known to have negative affects on humans or animals), prioritising natural ingredients, and using sustainable raw materials rather than relying on the petrochemicals and synthetics usually used in paints.’” The chemists and manufacturers took up the challenge and created the necessary technology and processes to achieve their goal. They’re still the only people creating New Zealand made products in this space explains James. “Utilising high quality New Zealand chemistry gear and natural ingredients and competing against the conventional paints in terms of quality, durability, coverage and colour.” Virginia Wright Since they first started selling their natural paints their sales have increased by 50% year on year, proof that their digital approach to sales and marketing may also be unconventional but is equally successful. The team of four last year has already expanded to eight and they currently have two roles to fill in their digital space which is Grace’s domain. “I work really closely with all of our internal team particularly in marketing, web-site development and taking this whole operation into the digital space,” she says. From the beginning Natural Paint products have been sold purely online, starting in an online store which Grace created during her time off nursing when they first developed the company. In an industry that traditionally targeted men Grace set about making a virtual store that catered for the women that her research showed were the ones predominantly making the decisions about paint and colour. “I’ve been instrumental in taking the whole experience from what it’s like going into a hardware store, which I hated, and turning that into an online experience. Taking a more feminine approach and aiming it more towards the help that women might want, or anyone might want for that matter. Making it interesting and exciting, using less industry jargon, and keeping it really simple .” Simplicity is at the core of what Natural Paint Co has to offer. They have a streamlined house system of natural paints including topcoats and undercoats, oils and stains. Apart from having a paint specific to the bathroom they’ve created a multi-functional paint system for the whole house, no bewildering array of paint types to choose from, and their consumers are loving it and asking why it hasn’t been done before. Grace and James knew they couldn’t create a healthier product at the expense of durability or quality and part of their brief was that their paint should outperform the chemical paints where they can. “And that’s what we’ve done,” says James. “Our prices are comparable, our products have the highest industry guarantee of 25 years, and some of the highest coverage rates around because we’re putting more of the good stuff in to get better hiding power and to go further.” It all combined to earn Natural Paint Co a place as finalist in both the “Champion Business for Good”, and the “Champion Innovation” in the Canterbury 2021 Business Awards and, while they may not have won those, they’re still waiting to hear whether Grace has won the title of 2021 Young Entrepreneur of the Year, currently delayed due to Covid.
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