For me colours are living beings, highly evolved individuals that integrate with us and with the whole world. Colours are the true inhabitants of space.

This is the opinion of Yves Klein, the French artist and forerunner of Body Art, famous for his “Monochromes” and for his “Blue”.

In the world of art, the great artists have always infused the creative process and their stylistic research on colours into their works. Over the course of the centuries, these experiments and compositions have been refined to the point of transforming colour itself into a style tool.

A similar development has characterised the interior design sector. Ever more frequently today, when we speak of decorative paint, we refer not only to a mere colour to be applied on walls.

Quite the contrary: decorative paints, by their very essence, are an integral part of the overall design of a furnishing element or architecture project. The mix combining the furnishing accessory, floor and paint (an embodiment of colour, texture and touch) generates a mood that shapes the identity of the design style.

The search for and study of new decorative effects are the guiding forces behind VALPAINT, a leading Italian company in the production and development of decorative paints and coatings for interiors and exteriors. Through an in-house research laboratory, VALPAINT constantly strives to create new solutions enabling the design to exploit the countless opportunities that special paints are able to offer.

Today we would like to introduce two products of the VALPAINT range, namely METEORE 8 and DECORATIVE WATER-DILUTABLE ENAMEL, and show you how a textured and a traditional paint can be combined to obtain effects of a high aesthetic quality.

METEORE 8 VALPAINT, the textured paint for walls featuring a metallic and pearlescent effect

Among the VALPAINT paints for interiors, METEORE 8 is a finish that, for its characteristics and appeal, can rightly be considered among the “integrated design” decorative paints capable of enhancing all the elements of a project’s design.

METEORE 8 is a textured paint for interiors possessing a consistency capable of enhancing metallic and pearlescent shades and reflections. 

Thanks to its extensive versatility, this decorative paint has a texture that can be personalised (and often even taken to extremes) and emphasised with surface finishes of various shades that define its aesthetic appeal.

How to create the METEORE 8 textured paint: the applications

Thanks to its workability, METEORE 8 can be applied in several ways:

• “smooth effect”: the texture is only slightly perceptible but filled with shades and nuances;
• “polished plaster effect”: the aesthetic effect is not defined by colour alone, since the irregular surface of the texture also emphasises its three-dimensional quality;
• “burano effect”: a new effect introduced in the METEORE 8 package that, thanks to its smooth application and special colours, enhances predominantly matt metallic surfaces.

The METEORE 8 paint with textured effect, with its metallic reflections, is a decidedly contemporary product, particularly certain nuances that enhance the bronze, brass and burnished metal tones, which in recent years have become very popular in the design sector for adding a unique touch to modern settings.

DECORATIVE WATER-DILUTABLE ENAMEL: technique and aesthetics in a single product

A decorative paint sometimes produces a considerable visual impact, such that it is often combined with “spot” shades to enhance its aesthetic qualities even more. These are the ones commonly referred to as “traditional paints”, characterised aesthetically by colour: washable paints, temperas and enamels, each possessing different properties.

Besides decorative paints, VALPAINT also includes some of these “traditional paints” in its range. Very interesting in this regard is the DECORATIVE WATER-DILUTABLE ENAMEL, which comes in the V55 MATT and V88 SATINÈ versions.

The VALPAINT decorative water-dilutable enamel is not only highly appreciated from an aesthetic perspective, with all its nuances, but also possesses a range of technical qualities and certifications that make it highly interesting. Indeed, V55 MATT and V88 SATINÈ:

• are anti-bacterial, water-repellent and eco-sustainable thanks to their low VOC content and Class A+ rating for indoor emissions, according to the ISO 16000-9 standard;
• have formulations merging the properties of traditional mould-resistant wall paints and the innovative technological power of silver ions, which inhibit bacteria proliferation making the surfaces and environments sanitised and antiseptic;
• have passed all the tests required for obtaining the HACCP certification in accordance with the UNI 11021:2002 standard, which means that they are suitable for application in food processing environments, thanks to their high resistance, washability and salubrity.

(For more in-depth information on the VALPAINT WATER-DILUTABLE ENAMEL also read “The VALPAINT V55 MATT and V88 SATINÈ decorative water-dilutable enamel”).

When textured and decorative paint meet

With METEORE 8 and VALPAINT WATER-DILUTABLE ENAMEL it is possible to create truly interesting aesthetic solutions for a contemporary and up-to-date design.

Mixing a textured decorative paint like METEORE 8, with its textures and metallic and pearlescent nuances, with colours having a matt or satin finish, allows for obtaining a moodboard of great aesthetic and design value.

A few examples?
1) To characterise a special environment with up-to-date and contemporary nuances, we can define the main surfaces we want to enhance by applying METEORE 8 Ref. 30 with bronze shades, juxtaposing it with V88 SATINÈ Colour 1188 (dust colour) to obtain a contrasting effect with guaranteed visual appeal.

2) Alternatively, we can combine METEORE 8 Ref. 30 with a shade of DECORATIVE WATER-DILUTABLE ENAMEL V55 MATT Colour 1127 (medium grey) to create a setting with a decidedly urban character.
To support these combinations between a textured paint for interiors and a “traditional paint”, VALPAINT introduces a catalogue which can be used for directly verifying the colour combinations between the two paints.

The “Special Edition” of the METEORE 8 and DECORATIVE WATER-DILUTABLE ENAMEL catalogue juxtaposes two paints with different textures and nuances but that can be used in the same environment to create contrasts in colour and texture. The intention pursued by VALPAINT with this catalogue is to provide an indispensable tool for choosing and combining colours.

The sensations on walls that a textured paint like METEORE 8 is able to produce can indeed be combined, and even more enhanced, if contrasted with a simpler paint but that has a higher aesthetic value such as the DECORATIVE WATER-DILUTABLE ENAMEL.