3 minute read
PRINCIPLED PALETTE by Roger Grody
IT HAS LONG BEEN acknowledged that colors have a subtle yet potentially profound impact on human emotions and behavior; restaurants, educational institutions and hospitals take particular care in choosing colors that excite, motivate or soothe their respective clienteles.
Alkemis Paint addresses neuro-aesthetic issues, and sustainability, vegan composition and social responsibility, to produce the first architectural wellness paint.
Co-founded last year by creative and socially conscious entrepreneurs Maya Crowne and Price Latimer, Alkemis Paint celebrates the planet’s extraordinary colors while protecting its ecosystems and nurturing the people enveloped by its products.
“When I was redecorating my home during the pandemic, I realized there were no commercial paint brands that addressed my core values,” explains CEO Crowne, a former corporate finance professional from a holistically minded family.
“There needed to be a beautiful and healthy way to color our walls,” says Crowne, who communicates the brand’s aspirational qualities through an elevated, elegant approach to a product that has ancient origins.
“One of our fundamental interests is biophilic design,” states chief creative officer Latimer, a lifelong artist, “bringing nature indoors, as well as the values that color brings to the spaces where we spend 90 percent of our lives.
“In conventional paints, there are so many petrochemical products that are deleterious to our health,” she says, adding that Alkemis brings nature and design together for more sustainable built environments.
Crowne feels that the practices adopted by consumers in relation to food and beauty products should extend to what they put on the walls in their homes.
“We believe the conscientious choices we make in our homes percolate out into the world,” Latimer suggests, “affecting change on a broader scale.” In recent years, some major manufacturers have promoted their reductions in the use of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in their paints. Despite the benign term “organic,” these are typically manmade chemicals and many paint labels in California continue to carry ominous Proposition 65 warnings.
Alkemis has earned certification from Cradle to Cradle, an institute that evaluates all aspects of product design and manufacturing across criteria from clean air and climate protection to social responsibility.
In addition to receiving this demanding certification, Alkemis’ made-to-order paints are natural, vegan/cruelty-free, nontoxic, anti-mold and -fungal, and noncombustible.
The company’s manufacturing facilities are emission-free, powered by renewable energy and use recycled water, making Alkemis an obvious selection for conscientious design professionals and their clients.
Alkemis products use a natural, colorless quartz binder that forms a permanent chemical bond between the paint and its underlying surface, creating a finish as indestructible as stone.
The paints’ lifespans are typically 20-plus years, far longer than those achieved with massproduced latex or acrylic products. That impressive durability mitigates the higher up-front cost.
“I love specifying a best-in-class, holistically healthy product that outlasts any other paint,” says Lisa Galano, founder and creative director of Studiocake, a design firm whose clients include Ritz-Carlton Residences and Spotify.
“Not only are the colors simply stunning, saturated and possess a beautiful matte finish, Alkemis products are uniquely mineral-based as opposed to conventional plasticbased paints.”
Using natural ingredients does not compromise the aesthetic qualities of Alkemis paints, Latimer says. “All of our paint finishes are matte, but when the light hits their crystalline structures, they exhibit an unparalleled luminosity.”
Alkemis Paint alkemispaint.com
