8/9/2019 Patrick Baty - Profile

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visits Patrick Baty, proprietor of Papers and Paints, which thisis celebrating 50 years of innovative paint matching and supply

CHRIS TERRY

on the counter at Papers andin 1960, aged fou;'recalls Patrick Baty, whoseRobert, founded the specialist paint company

of that year. Now, with Patrick and hisAlex, as its owners, this remarkable business is

its fiftieth anniversary in the same shopWalk, SW10, just off Fulham Road.

borrowed f rom an uncle,Baty and his then business part-Ruttei opened Papersand Paints

to the growing trend forTheir flyer, distrib-

to houses nearby, offered'personaltechnical problems and help

suggestions on colour schemes'.was one of the first retailers in

country to adopt the Robbialacsvstem. which offered a few

colours to the Britishrange, but the shop s customers

Papers and Paints devel-a reputation as a colour specialist

people f locked to the shop with any-- even

signs - seeking paints to match.Patrick would visit his father

at Park Walk, he had no inten-initially of going into the business.

became a soldier but hisf ull military career' ended abruptlyhe disagreed with his commanding

over a posting. 'l resigned myon the spot and found my-

in civilian life with no training and nohe explains.'The only thing

knowledge of was British art fromlate nineteenth and earlv twentieth

my great-was the artist Rob-Bevan.'

a brief spell with aStreet art deale[ and after running a picture-

business at the back of the shop, Patrickbecame increasingly involved with Papersand, eventually, he took over the business

his father retired in 1990. Patrick's burgeoningfor colour and paint coincided with the

in paint effects and he was asked to help editlnnes's b ook, Paint Magic. He then embarked

research degree focusing on the paints and ma-used by eighteenth-century house painters.

HOUSE & OARDTN SEPTEI/BER 2O]O

Today, the knowledge at the heart of Papers andPaints spills out across the shop's counter in hand-painted colour cards. A historical range reflectscolours from the applied arts. In Scotland, Patrickdiscovered a set of painters'sample cards datingfrom 1807 and, over a yea4 he colour-matched each

by hand to produqe a traditional range of shadesfrom the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Inevitably, there has been investment in techno-logy. With colour-matching previously done purelyby eye, in 1994the company purchased a spectro-photometer to aid the process. Even so, creating anexact match can take up to seven days because thecolour has to dry completely before evaluation.Patrick likens the process to naval gunnery: 'You aimaround the colour until you get a direct hit.' Few if

J' : ; i . + " hall andstaircasewhile,inthe, '. ''.., '" :. -.' . ' -a printroom,patrickmixedanine-I i ! l: teenth-century green verditeri.i= I iri;:;.:..- i' ,.i ,:,.':.3,-1 ?.1i.i:i,;li-.li.i:li'lii! '. -' colour. At Brunel's Roval

any, other companies have the ability to create acolour that remains authentic under all lighting con-ditions. The fragments of original colour brought inby customers for matching need be no bigger than athumbnail, and range f rom chips of plaster to cricketballs - even the coverof Ihe Como/efePeeraoe. New

colours are constantly added to thethousands already recorded on a vastdatabase that includes authenticwartime camouf lage colours, a palettereflecting virtually all the regions ofFrance, and a red oxide hue matching thewalls of the Forbidden City.

Others have seen the value of suchcolours. Papers and Paints has beenemployed by companies such as Duluxand The Little Greene Paint CompanV inconjunction with English Heritage, asconsultants in the development of newranges, and its expert advice is sought byarchitects, film-set designers, historiansand the royal household - in 2OO7 thebusiness was granted a royal warrant.

Much of Patrick's consultancy work in-volves sampling existing paint layers onold buildings so that their history can beunderstood. He removes chips of paintfor detailed analysis and uses a series ofmicroscopesto studythe cross section ofoaint lavers to determine the variouspaint schemes that have been used.

Papers and Paints has been involvedin projects in the UK and abroad, rangingfrom the Metrooolitan Museum of Art inNew York to Queen Charlotte's Cottageat Kew. Here, the company producedspecially matched paint forthe entrance

Albert Bridge over the River Tamal he climbed thestructure at 1.30am to take paint samples while therailway line below was closed.'l see myself as anarchaeologist,' he says, 'but the thrill of being on topof that bridge, l85 feet above the rive4 took me backto my days as a military f ree-fall parachutist'IPapers and Paints: O2O-7352 8626; www.papers-paints.co.uk I Queen Charlotte's Cottage and KewPalace are cared for by conservation charity HistoricRoyal Palaces. For information, visit www.hrp.orq.uk

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8/9/2019 Patrick Baty - Profile

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OPPOSITE Patrick Baty is shown inQueen Charlotte's Cottage at Kew'THIS PAGE Hand-painted colourtiles are stacked in the shop (topleft). Samples are taken of eachorder (top centre). Patrick works onthe spectrophotometer (top right).Paint chips are embedded in resinblocks (below left) and examinedunder microscopes (far lett andbelow). A colour-mixing machine isused to create the paints (left). APolaroid ofa set of18O7 painters'sample cards (right). The business isbased in the Park Walk shop (belowright). Paint cans (bottom left).Patrick mixed a nineteenth-centurygreen verditer for Queen Charlotte'sCottage (bottom centre and right)

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