“The hope colour range,” according to owner Adrian Hope, “was a search for colours that closely mimicked the original limited colours that utilitarian paint was available in at the time. Colours that authentically reflected the era of the products that hope was intent on reproducing , paint with a quality that would grow ‘chalky’ with time, was part of the quest.“ 

It was a zig zag exploration of complex colours that are ambiguous in perception, in different lights to different people – Mallard Duck, dark blue greens that were soot black in the shade, yellows that looked bright in the sun, but appeared ‘mustard sombre’ in the evening, reds that burrowed from the brown iron oxides of the earth and blues that were both Maxfield Parish skies and Langebaan Lagoon simultaneously. 

This colour inquisitiveness  goes back to Adrian’s early days of living above an antique shop in Long Street, Cape Town, where he became attuned to the traces of paint colours, found on the old garden furniture of European origin, layers of flaking paints would reveal the originally applied colour. Occasionally even a combination of two colours were employed, ‘Madonna’ blue wooden slats and silver aluminium coloured frames was one – used  perhaps to convey formality to a bench on a Worcester stoep, it was actually a throwback to the painted benches in the Gardens of Versailles.

Pond Green 

The first colour used by hope was the most ordinary common English suburban (with royal house aspirations) green you could buy off the shelf in hardware stores – ‘Windsor Green’. (Think everything garden – gates, sheds, country club furniture, garden shed doors, circa 1950 and on.)  

The limited appeal of this post war colour resulted in a short dalliance, but it led to a long relationship with its older, darker cousin, of traditional green ilk, referencing Barbour rain jacket, British Racing, and closer to home Graaf Reinette, Historical (or Hysterical) and Monument Green etc.

From an era of both frugality and a limited colour palette, this hue possibly evolved from the necessary addition of black to left over green paint to extend the pot and fulfil the seasonal painting of park furniture in European countries – this ‘blacker some times bluer ” version also appears on traditional Cape Dutch buildings doors and shutters.

The challenge was to make the paint as strong as the colour was ambiguous – ( the colour properties of pigments has a direct effect on the longevity of paint)  the resultant ‘Mallard duck’ colour became the trade mark ‘hope green’ and its appeal at the time won the votes of many a conservative – it became the colour of choice for Stellenbosch wineland farms and Constantia homes  – with the occasional customer still requesting a repaint of their 20-30 year old set in this same colour. 

Turtle Creek green, a light peppermint hue followed, inspired by the palette of the Public Works Department, used on suburban parks and on municipal buildings in the 60s and 70s. This colour palette still remains a strong influence, but the green that followed was drawn from influence from further afield. 

Indirectly reading about colour in The World of Interiors, at the time of conceiving hope, Adrian came across Farrow and Ball, the English paint company. He was seduced by their wonderful names like ‘The Germolene Earl’  a soft dirty antiseptic pink, Flour Sack White and  ‘Dead Salmon’, (currently topical with animal rights activists.) This created an opening for a Farrow and Ball colour, ‘Pond Bottom Green’ – a complex ‘algae sludge rich’ green, highly evocative of tranquil pools left to their own pH balancing. It got the green light and is the current botanical standard bearer for green amongst the hope colours.

Building Blue

Blue has always been a choice because of the influence of typical blue and white Delft China and enamelware. Blue is also deeply rooted in interior decor. However various shades from dark to light, were never really successful until the introduction of Building Blue, from the original paint colour chart, which was found in the rafters of the hope showroom roof. Those visiting our Observatory showroom, a restored typical Flemish building built in 1890, will be met by doors and window frames painted with this blue. 

Building blue is also a Gustavian / French provencal blue. It is Inspired by the colours of the Mediterranean and Provence, where it is typically used on shutters that offset the ochre colour buildings. The Germanic roots too are evident in the Namibian ghost town, Kolmanskop, where a stolen piece of wallpaper was produced to create the exact shade in current use.

Yellow

Once again inspired from forays into the World of Interiors where yellow, the a traditional French colour of garden furniture, was used to offset grey, gravel gardens. Drawing on the association with Dijon and mustard, yellow is a colour that we have struggled to define properly, with various decorators taking us into their own version of absinthe or chartreuse (a typical colour which results in men and women disagreeing!) A colour with so many different versions all referred to by the same name, that it must have been the influence by how strong the absinthe was served!

The debate continues as to whether it is a shade of yellow or green.

Swedish Red

The decision to include red in our paint selection is not solely based on it being the natural colour complement to all the greens of the garden.

It was partly Inspired by the opening of the Baron Bohr’s bird shoot scene from the movie Out of Africa. The subdued traces of red paint on the chairs at the long table were evident and transpires this was the traditional colour used on the folding furniture of German beer gardens.  Public Works Department, oxblood, reddish brown, was the starting point for hope reds but at the time it garnered limited appeal

So red was abandoned ….until the chance discovery of a tin of Sadolin Swedish paint/preservative in a local hardware store initiated the trail of the colour colloquially known as ‘Falu Red’, a brown red colour derived from the iron oxide in earth and traditionally used as a preservative on Swedish timber barns – we managed to secure a ‘genuine wet’ sample from Sweden, via our neighbour and renown CT artist Tom Cullberg. 

Earmarked as the colour for the seat of the Scandinavian chair,  we struggled to get this mixed as an oil paint to the desired hue. The local synthetic red oxide tints failed to produce the same result and we settled for a brighter ‘primer red’ that fades suitably. Recently, through the experienced eyes and hands of Pronature, the company that provides us with wood care products, we managed to get the exact colour mixed in an oil based wood preservative. Inducing colour in wood by way of absorption results in a genuine complex colour patina that develops as the application ages which can be refreshed without the complication of removing any residual layers. Further experimentation with this process in the other colours is underway  

French grey

Another Farrow and Ball colour, French Grey is one of oldest and trusted English conservation colours. A sophisticated grey with subtle green undertones it is appealing to those seeking a more neutral palette. 

Whilst we like to think our very considered palette of colour compliments the style and tradition of our product and tends to eschew annual colour trends, we do acknowledge that colour is a personal choice – hope customers are free to explore the wide variety of colours that are available from paint suppliers.