Farrow & Ball is a British manufacturer of
paints and
wallpapers largely based upon historic colour palettes and archives. The company is particularly well known for the unusual names of its products.[7][better source needed]
History
The company was started by John Farrow and Richard Maurice Ball in 1946 in
Wimborne Minster,
Dorset. Both Farrow and Ball had previously been
chemists.[8][9][10] The company was the first manufacturer to switch to the production of 100 per cent water-based paints in 2010.[11]
Products
Paint
Farrow & Ball maintains an updated colour card of 132 colours,[12][13] plus 12 new paint colours and 3 new wallpaper patterns created with Christopher John Rogers[14]. The company has worked with the
National Trust in formulating near-exact matches of colours used in the restoration of the interiors and exteriors of historic buildings.[15][16][17][18]
Wallpaper
Farrow & Ball produces wallpaper patterns made using traditional block, trough and roller methods with the company's own paint.[19]
The company has 63 showrooms[29] across the UK, US, Canada and Europe, as well as a global network of stockists carrying both paint and wallpaper.
In popular culture
Farrow & Ball has been lampooned in the US for its expense and preparation requirements on
NBC's Saturday Night Live.[30]
In 2021,
Channel 5 broadcast a one episode
documentary about Farrow & Ball entitled Farrow & Ball: Inside the Posh Paint Factory.[31]
Corporate information
Ownership
In 2006,
American Capital subsidiary European Capital Limited purchased Farrow & Ball for approximately £80 million by way of a
management buyout.[32][33] Until its sale to European Capital Limited, Farrow & Ball remained a
family business.[8] In 2014,
Ares Management bought Farrow & Ball from European Capital Limited for £275 million.[34][35] In October 2020,
Bloomberg reported that Ares Management was considering a potential sale of Farrow & Ball.[36] In May 2021, the Financial Times reported that Danish
coatings manufacturer
Hempel had agreed to purchase Farrow & Ball from Ares Management for approximately £500 million.[37] The sale was expected to complete in the second half of 2021.[38] On 26 August 2021, the
Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) completed the
phase one investigation it launched on 9 July 2021 and cleared the
merger.[39] Following clearance by the CMA, the sale of Farrow & Ball by Ares Management to Hempel completed on 3 September 2021.[40]