Resene launches ‘Karen Walker Paints’

1 November 2001

Resene launches ‘Karen Walker Paints’

Resene’s ‘Karen Walker Paints’ – the product of an unusual collaboration between New Zealand’s most famous fashion designer and its largest privately owned and operated paint company – were released into selected Resene ColorShops today.

The new range of colours; 29 murky blues, greys, browns and creams; were designed by Walker with Resene – a project some people might find unusual for a fashion designer.

“It seems different but it’s not disconnected,” says Walker. “What these colours have in common with my clothes is that they have a personality, a handwriting, a signature that is Karen Walker.”

Walker says she was delighted to work with Resene because of the quality of its products and its long history as an original and progressive brand. “But it was important to me that I was involved at every step of the project and that the colours said Karen Walker,” she says.

Resene’s General Manager, Nick Nightingale, says that ‘Karen Walker Paints’ is just the latest in a long range of Resene innovations.

“We were the first paint company to introduce water-based paint, the first to trial ColorShops and testpots, the first to mix paints in the store and now the first in New Zealand to work with a fashion designer on a range of paint that will be attractive for our increasingly sophisticated market,” he says.

“Karen has stylish taste and this is apparent in everything she touches,” he says.

“This made her the ideal partner.”

Walker spent months gathering scraps of colour from wherever she found them before working with Resene to develop the final range. “I love the colours, they are complicated – unexpected – a bit rough around the edges, they have a certain closeness that bright colours don’t have,” she says.

“Why a customer might like Karen Walker Paints is that a certain amount of work has been done for them already. With this range you can pick up the chart and it has all the really great colours already chosen for you. It takes the fear out of it.”

Resene’s Nick Nightingale says he expects the range to be hugely successful.

“You only have to look at how stylish these colours are to see how popular they will be,” he says. “This new colour palette is a great complement to our existing colour ranges.”

‘Karen Walker Paints’ are available at selected Resene ColorShops in all paint types.

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For more information please contact Karen Warman, Resene Marketing Manager on 04 577 8115 or 025 458 925

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