Fall 2018: Interview with founder Robert Schellekens by Bart-Jan Bouman, journalist for VT Wonen and Vogue Living, among others
Interview with owner Robert Schellekens by Bartjan Bouman from @thebartjantimes , journalist for vt Wonen and Vogue Living, among others.
'Of course a white living room is fine; there's nothing wrong with that at all. Then your interior is a seven or an eight. But with color… Yes, that makes it a big ten,' says Robert Schellekens (1982), founder-owner of Vestingh Paint & Craft. What started with a paint store in Bussum has grown in less than ten years into a mature paint and lifestyle label that has already sold more than half a million liters of Vestingh paint.
Since its opening in 2010, Vestingh Paint & Craft has not only been the paint specialist shop of the Gooi area and the surrounding area, but due to the move a few years later to a larger building of 400 m2, people from all over the Netherlands - from Groningen to Maastricht - know their way to Bussum to find. Only the best quality paints are sold in the inspiring concept store at Huizerweg 29 and in the Vestingh.nl webshop, such as the two successful house brands LAB ECO Wallpaint and Vestingh , but also Farrow & Ball , Little Greene and Pure & Original . Professional painters can also go there for Sigma and Sikkens . All paints can be mixed in all colors. For example, a can of paint is always 'made to measure'.
Good coffee and good advice
'It may be a cliché, but personal service and attention are really the most important to me,' says Robert. 'If people fall in love with a color in our webshop and want to see it in real life to be sure and drive all the way here from Groningen – which is no exception – then my team and I want them to feel very welcome here, with a good cup of coffee and good advice. We are also very happy to send our hand-painted samples and sample pots by post if someone wants to see or test our colors with their own eyes. And if you don't have the time or desire to paint yourself, we'll do it, right? With Vestingh Projecten we take all the work off your hands, from painting a room to complete renovations. The unburdening even goes so far that we can also furnish the house, if desired by one of the stylists with whom we work. 'Turn key' renovations are becoming increasingly popular, and we like nothing more than to completely overhaul a house or office.'
Robert's love for paint and color was present at an early age. After studying Business Administration at the VU University in Amsterdam, he immediately entered the profession. Initially as a project manager at a paint factory, after which he started De Vestingh five years later. 'Due to the many years of experience and training of our employees in the Bussum concept store, they can name a paint precisely by colour. If you absolutely want that one color from your favorite artwork, or from a certain rug, take it to the store and we'll make the paint in exactly the same color.' The DIY Coatings collection developed by Vestingh for floors, walls, bathrooms and swimming pools is extremely popular. They are coatings with a beautiful industrial look, stain and water resistant and mixable in any color. You can easily apply them yourself with the help of the clear instructional videos on the website. Robert: 'With our DIY Floor Coating you can create a concrete look effect for a fraction of the price of a real cast floor.'
Paint for clean drinking water
Robert is perhaps most proud of his LAB ECO Wallpaint. This innovative collection of matt wall paint is less than a year old and is already a success. The environmentally friendly, scrub-resistant paint without toxic substances meets the French A + label, making it safe for use in children's and hospital rooms, among others. The colors are inspired by nature and industrial heritage. Buildings and complexes with beautifully weathered colours, which could only arise because time has passed over them. For example, Robert had the doors, walls and tiles scanned in the monumental power station in Huizen – recently reopened as a grand café and breeding ground for creatives, including Vestingh's own Creative Lab – to convert its unique colors into an equally unique line of paint.
'But it all started with the idea that I want to contribute to a better world,' says Robert. 'Not only by 'colouring' it with paint, but also by doing something good with it. My wife Ellen and I have four children and that has changed our perspective. With LAB ECO Wallpaint we finance the Vestingh Foundation, our foundation that provides clean drinking water in developing countries. We work according to the '5 for 1' principle: five liters of LAB ECO Wallpaint, that is one can, provides one person with clean water. For example, for the new home of the magazine LINDA., a 1900 m2 office building in Naarden, we used 334 liters of LAB ECO Wallpaint, so that 67 people now have safe drinking water. We enter into a long-term relationship with the local population: investments are made in training, money is reserved for maintenance and the population itself contributes in money and/or labour. That creates a shared responsibility. In addition, the Vestingh Foundation guarantees that the water supply will be maintained for at least ten years.'
Love and energy
Closer to home, LAB ECO Wallpaint ensures a more beautiful world in a completely different way. The color fans of the collection are made in sheltered workshops by people with a distance to the labor market. All 48 colors (twelve new shades will be added this year) are painted by hand on sheets of sturdy paper, which are then cut up and strung together – to the delight and satisfaction of the employees. Robert: 'Why do I work this way? Sharing is multiplying, I really believe that. When you put love and energy into something, you get it back in so many ways. I thought it was a nice idea that with water-based paint you provide clean drinking water somewhere else. By doing this I meet people I would never have encountered otherwise and I get to places I would never have thought of myself. Ellen and I will soon be visiting two schools and a village in the south of India to see for ourselves how the money from the Vestingh Foundation is spent. We have now been able to build two purification plants, both at a school. I'm so proud of that. Later this year we hope to be able to dig our very first well. The first of many, I hope.'