SpeakEasy with Patrick Folkes
In this episode of the SBID podcast, host Grant Pierrus talks business and sustainability in interior design with entrepreneur and founder of The Graphene Company, trading an innovative and ground breaking line of natural paint.
Patrick explains the origins of the Graphene Company and how the process of combining Graphene and minerals developed to create this new healthy and high-tech range of ecological paints.
As a globally certified sustainable paints company with credentials in environmental performance, cradle to cradle practices and social responsibility, Patrick shares his approach to achieving genuine sustainability throughout the entire product lifecycle.
Shedding light into the concept of what “eco paint” really is – he talks green washing in the industry, how levels of VOC impact biophilic design and the integral role of lime in air purification. Discussing the future of the paint sector for interior design, he explores the importance of health considerations, ecological characteristics and indoor air quality in the industry.
Tune in to the whole conversation to discover more.
Patrick Folkes
Patrick Folkes has focused his career on a range of financial and entrepreneurial activities. He began in 1980 when he was involved in derivatives broking and gold and silver bullion market-making in London and New York. In 1990, he founded his own fund marketing and advisory firm, Folkes Asset Management. Later, in 2016, he founded The Graphene Company, trading Graphenstone Paint UK with its innovative range of sustainable, healthy and high-tech ecological coatings that are air-purifying and free of plastic and VOC.
An excellent example of paint being a more adaptable choice than wallpaper occurred when the owner of a Grade I listed Mayfair Mansion wanted a very elegant, expensive, handmade wallpaper applied in the 44 foot stairwell, which had sweeping vertiginous curves.
Applying wallpaper would have proved to be an impossible task, due to the curves and the irregular surface. In the skilled hands of SBID accredited Glaze artists a pattern was created, inspired by paper found in the Victoria and Albert archive. The result was simply stunning. All the motifs, each one a 22 stage process, fit the 2,500 feet perfectly with not a join in sight.
Glaze Specialist Decoration have recently completed a fabulous project at The Dorchester Hotel in Park Lane, London. Ten highly skilled specialist decorators worked throughout the summer to bring the historic Gold Room back to its 1930’s glory.
Glaze artists recreated a beautiful summer sky using a fresh palate; this involved soft clouds, birds, and vines twisting around the gilded moon gold fretwork. The ruched curtains are in fact a trick of the eye, all painstakingly hand painted by one of their talented team. To complete the effect the cornice and pillar mouldings were decorated using moon gold leaf after a faux Verde Borgogna Lastra marble effect had been painted onto the original surfaces. The interior designer Alex Kravetz said at the end of the project: ‘Amazing work – I am very happy indeed and I hope to be working with the Glaze team again soon’.
One service that Glaze Specialist Decoration offers is historic conservation. One of their artists was responsible for recreating Queen Victoria’s hand painted Chinese silk wall paper. Needless to say this was a very unique request and they are more likely to be working on projects such as the Mayfair Mansion and the Dorchester Hotel.
As well as completing grand projects such as the Mayfair Mansion, Glaze have also had some amusing and slightly unusual requests. Recently, an artist was commissioned to disguise a bicycle shed in a stylish Westbourne Park Villa – a beautiful bamboo tree with falling leaves now disguises the bike shed, which is hidden beneath a set of stairs, creating a unique yet functional piece of art. This just goes to show that with the right product specification, all kinds of problems can be solved.
Glaze Specialist Decoration offer a first class service to Interior Designers, for both traditional and contemporary finishes as well as polished plaster.
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