Claire Dunbar has taken the top job at Farrow & Ball after 15 years with Dyson. Photo: John Lawrence.
Manufacturer of high quality paints Farrow & Ball is ready to take on cheaper «imitations,» its boss said.
Claire Dunbar hopes to get rid of competition from competitors that mimic the Dorset firm's distinctive aesthetic.
Dyson's first boss in the UK, Dunbar led Farrow & Ball last year. It wants to reassert its status as the UK's leading paint brand and regain 'stability' after two takeovers in a decade and the pandemic.
“The business has changed hands several times over the past 10 years. And I think with that comes destruction and a lot of change,” she says. “Over the next 10 years, we want to create stability.
“I think we got a little distracted. We did not launch groundbreaking innovations and strive to forge ahead with our showroom to reach the next level. And that allowed other people to come in and start imitating us.”
Dunbar became managing director after Danish paint giant Hempel bought Farrow & Ball from private equity firm Ares in a £500m deal in 2021.
“I had a big birthday,” she says of her decision to ditch vacuum cleaners in favor of high-end paint. “And I thought, right, I have another 10-15 years of work, I need another adventure.”
Farrow & Ball is a brand that holds a special place in the minds of the British middle class.
Founded in 1946 by Dorset locals John Farrow and Richard Ball, its water-based paints are respected by hobby craftsmen and decorators for their distinctive hues and finishes, as well as their eccentric and sometimes outlandish names such as Dead Salmon, Mouse&# 39;s Back and Mole's. Breath.
Paint has traditionally been the choice of choice for homeowners or renters who want their home to look like a luxury vintage property.
As a result, the brand has become synonymous with the gentrification of the UK housing stock and the reimagining of many country pubs.
However, paints are equally disliked due to their exorbitant prices.
Five liters of Farrow & Ball paint currently sells for around £100.
Then Farrow & Ball Color Advice: For a small fee of £200 for the first hour and £100 for each hour thereafter, Ball will send an expert to your home to help you create a custom color scheme.
Dunbar does not apologizes to Farrow & Ball prices.
«We're not trying to fool anyone by charging a high price for something exactly the same as another paint manufacturer can make,» she says.
«We're not going to give up handmade and handcrafted, and we're very proud of it.»
However, in recent years, a threat has emerged in the form of competitors offering a similar heritage-inspired aesthetic but without the price tag.
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Farrow & Ball's emphasis on handmade quality means that their products come at a premium price. Photo: John Lawrence. machines that achieve the same shade for less money are commonplace.
Dunbar fights back. First, by making it easier for people to access Farrow & Roll-on paint, deploying hundreds of mixing stations in stores across the UK so customers don't have to wait for delivery.
Earlier this year, she told The Telegraph: maybe we didn't have Nancy's Blush in the particular store that had it.»
In addition, the company has released a new paint, Dead Flat, which is designed to solve one of the most common problems of the most famous Estate Emulsion: it is too brittle when faced with pets, children and everyday imperfections.
“People need more durable paint than our Estate Emulsion because if you rub it too hard, it will be shiny and not durable enough for today's buyer,” she says.
«To try and innovate in a space where it's very, very flat, matte, low gloss, but very strong, no one has yet managed to crack that nut,» she says.
The omens are good so far: Dunbar says it became the fastest-selling product on the web on its first day of launch.
She says it symbolizes how Farrow & Now Ball wants to blow up the paint industry like he did in the past.
“We were the first to open showrooms back in 1996 and the first to switch to 100% water-based paint in 2010. We were the first to launch Color Consultancy in 2013. And then we almost stopped [destroying]. Dead Flat is a great example of this because no one else can do that,” she adds.
Dunbar also wants to expand Farrow & Ball's presence in the US, where it currently operates 15 showrooms. North America is “by far our biggest growth market,” she adds.
On the one hand, the brand's popularity is growing, in part due to Americans' ongoing fascination with the UK. «There's a lot of Anglophile play involved in this,» she says.
However, to lure American consumers, Farrow & Ball introduces new colors such as the recent «California» paint collection created in collaboration with American designer Kelly Whistler.
“It was very similar to American paint trends, not real estate from the British period,” says Dunbar.
These paints are advertised as reminiscent of the «foggy shores, palm-lined streets and desert highways of California» rather than the atmosphere of time-honored townhouses.
There is also a question. whether Farrow & Ball could do business in China.
“We are definitely thinking about the future of [China],” she says, although there are no current plans.
“I think China is a very difficult market to penetrate. If we did, it would be an urban approach. A city in China is very similar in size to a European country.”
In the UK, Farrow & Ball's finances are on the rise in the wake of the pandemic.
Farrow and amp; Ball's sales surged during the lockdown as people took on home decorating projects, giving the company a 35 percent rise in revenue to £117m in the year to March 2021.
That surge has since subsided, but Dunbar says the company is still outperforming 2019 sales.
She is concerned about declining consumer confidence, although Farrow & Ball customers tend to be more affluent and less affected by rising costs of living.
«We do see people making the choice, 'Well, I'm going to spend my disposable income on something else.' she says.
“If you have already painted your house during Covid, then you might be thinking, ‘I have this disposable income, I would really like to repaint this wall, this room, or build an extension, but I also want to travel because people couldn’t travel during Covid time.”
Farrow & Ball's costs have also risen, necessitating a price increase for the already expensive brand in October 2022.
However, she says, «A lot more people…are not going to move because they' re unsure about interest rates and mortgage rates. So they make do with what they have and improve on what they have. This should lead to really great business for us.”
She also wants to sell more wallpapers in the coming months. «I want to draw attention to our unique methods, the fact that we sell them and they complement the paint perfectly.»
Shades such as Farrow & The Ball's Calke Green brand has been popular during the pandemic as shoppers have been craving the outdoors. Photo: Andreas von Einsiedel
When it comes to the colors people currently choose for their homes, Dunbar says green and pink are all the rage.
“I wonder if there's a connection to the outside,” she explains.
“Because, of course, during Covid, you listened to people like Rightmove, and they said that all of a sudden everyone wanted a house with a garden, or at least with a balcony. So maybe this green color is a step towards connecting with the outside world.” However, she says she expects Generation Z to embrace «deeper, richer colors» in the future as they grow older and start decorating homes.
“They want to make themselves known,” says Dunbar.
«They grew up in a social media environment where they value a creative sense of who they are and what they like.»
The company's cheaper competitors may have price on their side as Britain faces a cost-of-living crisis.
But with Dunbar at the helm of a revamped Farrow & Ball, it looks like they're going to have a hand fight.
No matter how much the paint costs.
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