The Fat Paint Company seems to have found the recipe for success with its collection of chalk-style paint.
Founded in 2012, the New West based company is now teaming up with designer Amanda Forrest on a collection of six new colours using Fat Paint’s custom formula. The designer, whose credits include being the West Coast consultant and design expert on the Marilyn Denis Show, has helped develop a colour palette featuring Blushing Bombshell, Navy State of Mind, Greysful, Orangeapalooza, Couture Linen and Can’t See Me Camo.
“The Fat Paint brand is a welcome breath of fresh air in the DIY and crafter’s community,” Forrest said in a press release. “We are positioned as a creative team to inspire our current brand followers and lead new artisans to experience the thrill of my vivid, glamorous paint colour collection.”
The brother-and-sister duo of Victoria and Bradford Lambert launched The Fat Paint Company in 2012, mixing up the paint in the kitchen before opening in a space on Front Street in March 2013. Fat Paint operated out of that space until it was destroyed in a massive fire in October 2013.
Within weeks, the Lamberts relocated The Fat Paint Company to a 2,400-square-foot space at #140-131 11th St. Although the space is working well for the company, it’s on the verge of needing more space for the growing business that produces chalk-style paint and distributes it to more than 80 retailers across North America.
While the company doesn’t track the quantity of paint produced each month, it knows how many quarts, pints and sample size containers of the chalk-style paint is shipped out monthly.
“These guys are kicking it out every single day,” Victoria Lambert told the Record. “On average, we’ve got five orders that ship out every single day right now, and those orders are huge. They are probably five boxes a piece. Five orders a day, five days a week. This month alone we have had, submitted to us by retailers, over 60 orders.”
The Fat Paint Company is excited about its new partnership with Amanda Forrest, which was announced Jan. 26.
“It’s about a way of encouraging people to explore and play with colour in their homes,” Lambert said of the collection. “A lot of times so many of us live in homes that are neutral and we are sometimes afraid to bring in that colour. That’s something that Amanda loves to do.”
When the siblings started The Fat Paint Company in 2012, they didn’t dream it would one day be across North America, although they did joke how it would be great if they could give a well-known chalk paint company a run for its money.
“It was about being creative and playing with a little of our own colour and sharing something that we loved,” Lambert said. “It just took off from there. It went quite quickly.”
So what does the future hold for The Fat Paint Company? In addition to pushing the new Amanda Forrest line and promoting it at home shows across Canada, the company is also unveiling some new colours of its own in the coming months and building business by securing more retailers.
“Business is going so well. I have no reason to think it won’t go any better,” Victoria said. “My long-term goal, I am aiming for next fall but we’ll have to see, we’d love to get our product exported into the U.K., Europe, Australia. We have a couple of people from Australia, the Netherlands and Belgium who have contacted us about distributing. We haven’t taken that step but we are certainly looking at that.”
Not bad for a company that sparked by Victoria’s desire to do some DIY painting projects around the house. She told her brother abut the paint she was planning to purchase.
“He is an artist,” Lambert said. “When I explained it to him, he said, ‘That’s fat paint.’”
Brad’s background includes working in the film and television industry for many years and making scenery – often using a ‘fat paint’ that was created by adding a dry mixture to paint to thicken it up. He mixed up some paint for his sister, who tried it and loved it.
“I think from the get-go we had a recipe that was for success,” Lambert said. “We are a growing concern for sure.”
