Riding a colour wave

With new technology primed into the paint brush, Kaleidoscope is bullish about the paint market. With its MatchRite and Home Visualiser Computerised Matching System now in place, the local paint company is now able to put together a new mix in its paint portfolio. At the launch of the product at the Crowne Plaza,  Dale Parsons, Managing Director of Kaleido-scope, said that it was all about looking for ways to grow. “Many of people would agree that with trade globalisation, it is very easy for any businessman to buy any product from anywhere,” he said, noting that with global economic downturns throughout the manufacturing sector, all manufacturing companies would feel the pinch. “Our paint manufacturing facility has experienced an eventful past two years, and inevitably we will have to prioritize and pool our resources, to point it in the direction for continual growth and profitability.” With an already dazzling array of new paints like screaming crystal blues, rich tropical greens, crimsons and royal shades of indigo and what the company called “bleached pastels of beach sand and coral,”  Kaleidoscope is seemingly riding a colour wave.

In addition to these mainstay colours, there are some 880 colours from which to choose. “Customers can come in with any colour, it can even be a slip of yellow paper and MatchRite would formulate it to mix into Kaleidoscope paints,” said Marketing Coordinator, Michele Grell, in an interview with Business Day last week. Competitors’ paint-charts are also welcomed, she said, adding that Kaleidoscope “can formulate and match it to develop the paint of your choice.” Over the years,  the company has tried to ensure that the need of its  increasing customer base is met, Grell said. The late Stephen Parson, who founded Kaleidoscope Paints Limited in 1970, made the manufacturing  paints company a locally owned entity. Today, Kaleidoscope is firmly established as one of the leading paint manufacturers in the region. Its products are exported to several countries, Grell said,  including Antigua, Belize, Suriname, Dominica, Guyana, St Vincent, St Lucia, Grenada and Haiti.

The company’s success in penetrating new markets, has been largely due to  its commitment to producing quality products. The introduction of its  new matching technology is expected to increase market share and company profile among customers. The market, she said, is so competitive right now with all the foreign companies in Trinidad and the already established local ones fighting for turf. This, she added, was the driving force behind the software. “We need to offer more than just paint.” Grell said the colour visualiser  was created for the architect and designers  who wanted to see what the finished product would look like. The best part about the technology is the affordability. It is absolutely free for all customers. MatchRite was developed by a colour matching software company in the USA,  called X-Rite International. The system allows Kaleidoscope  to reproduce any object of any colour or shade. X-Rite International Sales Associate, Russ Steimle, showed off the software at the seminar. The software also allows a customer the ability to download any digital photo or scanned image, 30,000 colours for use on all surfaces, and the ability to select particular areas to paint using various paint tools.

The Home Visualiser programme gives consumers a chance to sample their home, office,   building or room with their colours of choice. This also applies to flooring, window coverings and counter tops. The software Home Visualiser was developed by Kaleidoscope,  Grell said, noting that Kaleidoscope partnered with the makers of  X-Rite who  tailored the software to fit their needs. Kaleidoscope, Grell believed, was the first in the Caribbean to introduce the colour matching system and the first worldwide to introduce an interactive colour-visualiser. ”We are the first in the Caribbean and South America to have the Home Visualiser. Some of our competitors have the ability to match colours, but they do not have the facility that allows consumers to bring pictures and match,” said Grell. “Apart from the fact that we have high-quality paints, we now propose a software which enables us to extend a better service to our customers, helping them in their busy lives,” said Grell. The MatchRite and Home Visualiser Computerised Matching System is also available in St Lucia and Barbados, through Kaleidoscope and CAW/Paint Plus Limited.