BEST OF BRITISH
Annie Sloan & Zoe Glencross
The pair, who could be known as the A-Z of colour, met when collaborating on ideas for interior design schemes, pairing Annie’s famous Chalk Paint with Zoe’s distinctive fabrics
Paint and colour expert Annie Sloan CBE developed her decorative Chalk Paint in 1990 and now employs about 50 people in her Oxfordshire-based business. Zoe Glencross set up her own fabric brand eight years ago and quickly developed a reputation for her pure linen and organic cotton textile designs designed and made in England. The pair met when Zoe asked Annie to suggest the perfect wall paints to use with her latest Aventuras fabric collection.
Zoe I wanted to work with you on my Aventuras fabrics as it’s the most colourful collection I’ve done. There’s a real gap in the market for people who love colour but don’t know how to execute it. They’ll say, ‘I love that pink but I’ll go for the cream.’ We want to help them get over that emotional block. It was interesting looking at what you’ve put with this pink Palma Sol Powder linen. I envisaged it as perhaps a girl’s bedroom pink, but the way you’ve used it is much more mature and sophisticated. You were a lot braver and more edgy than I would be.
Annie Brave and edgy, I like that! Your colours work so well with the paints I create because they’ve got that slightly muted quality. I love your earthy pink. Move over Barbie; that’s how to use pink! Where do you start with your fabric designs?
Z All my designs start as lino prints, printed by hand in my shed at home. I’ve had a paint and fabric obsession my whole life but nine years ago I enrolled on a hand printing course, then had screenprinting lessons. I spent six months printing on my kitchen table, perfecting my craft. It was like flicking a switch. I rang my mum one day and said, ‘Did I imagine it, or was my grandad a printer? She said, yes, he worked for Sanderson for 40 years!’
When I first started using your paint for furniture, I loved the immediacy of it. Every other paint at the time had to be sanded, primed and undercoated, but yours gave an instant experience of transformation.
A Well, I am that person who wants to do it now! I can’t be sitting around waiting for primer and undercoat to dry. For me, it’s essential to inspire people to be more adventurous with their interiors. I did a lot of interior design in the past, and it can be dispiriting, especially when clients say things like, ‘I’d like something that won’t offend.’ I once put three painted chairs in the shop window – one bright red, one bright green and one white. People would come in and say they loved the red or the green… but can they have the white one please? But it brought them in and got them thinking about colour in their homes. The red socks sell the grey socks!
