GDG: Where did you start the visit?
CK: We started off in London. The first day I was able to attend ICON and Decorex in London. We toured a few of our London showrooms and got to see the differences and similarities in selling and in interior design in general. We were joined by Farrow & Ball managers and employees from Dublin, Edinburgh, Brussels, Paris, and later – Oxford and Beaconsfield. It was so much fun to have a chance to socialize that evening with our international team.
We also visited Dorset, which is a beautiful part of the country beyond Windsor Castle and through The New Forest. Having grown up in London, I distinctly remember The New Forest as our first family trip - with its incredible cliffs, the wild horses of The New Forest, Corfe Castle, and of course Wimborne where Farrow & Ball has manufactured paint and wallpaper for over 60 years!
GDG: How would you describe the F&B Factory?
CK: The Uddens Estate is not exactly “to the manor born” but a functional factory, offices, and warehouse all on the same plot of land that John Farrow and Richard Ball worked on in a tiny shack, back in the 1940s.
The communication between departments is efficient, quick, and accurate because everything is within a two-minute walk.
GDG: What did you learn?
CK: We had an intensive training session and saw how keeping color consistent is truly a science. A small container of every batch of paint gets walked across the road to a lab where a person in a white lab coat does and analysis. Farrow & Ball’s standards are so high that every batch must fall within a small bulls eye for color accuracy, otherwise it is sent back to be tinkered with until it does. This is one of the many reasons why Farrow & Ball is twice as exacting as the industry standard.
Stay tuned for Part II of Christine’s visit tomorrow morning.
