Celebrating 80 years of Resene

As the company marks its 80 years of operation, the same ingenuity and innovation it was founded with in 1946 is still firmly entrenched in the team’s ethos today.

Eastbourne builder Ted Nightingale started the company in his Wellington garage after running into a coating issue. He needed an alkali-resistant paint to cover his concrete buildings and found there was nothing available on the market. So the classic ‘number 8 wire’ mentality kicked in and, using his cement mixer he created a coating which he called Stipplecote.

Cut to 1951, and Ted developed one of the first true waterborne paints in the Southern Hemisphere that he named Resene – a name derived from the main ingredient of the paint, resin. Despite naysayers doubting the performance of waterborne paint compared with the market’s standard oil-based offerings, the rest, as they say, is history.

Now a household name and consistently voted as New Zealand’s Most Trusted Paint Brand by Reader’s Digest, Resene remains at the forefront of the painting industry.

Family legacy

It’s safe to say paint is in the blood, as Resene has remained a family-owned and operated business since its inception. Four generations of the Nightingale family have been immersed in the organisation that is helmed today by Nick, Ted’s grandson, who took over from his father, Tony.

A desire to innovate and be the industry’s very best in all aspects has always been at the forefront, says Nick, who has been working at Resene since he was six – starting out making boxes during the school holidays.

“It's not just what paint we make, it’s how we make it, how we develop it, how we distribute it and how we market it,” he says. “Over the years, we’ve set ourselves an unspoken target to be the very best. The best in colour, paint quality and sustainability. That underpins everything we do.”

He considers himself a mix of the two Nightingale seniors, but insists they are all very different.

“Ted was a tinkerer, he would play with things and build things. Ultimately, when he retired, he built a great big workshop and built boats and even supplied extra-long batons to the local Tūrangi police – he did all sorts of stuff.

“Tony was slightly different. He was very entrepreneurial, very sales-focused. He actually didn't like painting much, but he loved colour.

“I get immense satisfaction bringing new and innovative products and systems to market as well as thinking about how we can improve the wider Resene business and the profitability of professional painters.”

Trade up

The year 1975 saw the expansion into retail, and today Resene operates a large network of dedicated Resene ColorShops across New Zealand and Australia.

The mainstay of the business continues to be professional painters who demand a high-quality paint that is easy to apply, withstands the harsh New Zealand elements and comes in a wide range of colours, combined with a high level of service and hands-on problem solving from Resene.

The launch of Resene TradeTalk is a way to give back to the trade, by connecting, supporting and giving practical and useful advice to its valued customers.

A long-term commitment to sustainability also sets Resene apart from the rest, with the 1969 decision to make all its paints lead-free undoubtedly one of the company’s greatest environmental achievements. Since then, Resene has continued to push for sustainability, including developing paints with ever higher proportions of renewable raw materials. The company joined the Eco Choice Aotearoa programme in 1996 – an independent standards accreditation scheme that helps Kiwis choose products that are kinder on the environment.

Giving back

Resene has been supporting local communities and charitable organisations for decades. Resene’s fundraising campaigns assist a wide variety of New Zealand charities – including Whānau Āwhina Plunket, Children’s Art House, The Salvation Army, Ronald McDonald House, most of New Zealand’s hospice network and many more through various sponsorships.

Since 2015, Resene has run an annual campaign, Hunger for Colour, where customers swap cans of food for Resene testpots. This has resulted in hundreds of thousands of cans being donated to The Salvation Army over the past decade to replenish their foodbanks.

Stroke of genius

After 25 years as both General Manager and Managing Director (as well as plenty more years working for the company), Nick says he feels hugely privileged to lead Resene and its staff.

“This isn’t just a simple job. It’s so broad – not many companies in New Zealand go from cutting-edge research and development through to manufacturing, wholesaling and then running their network of ColorShops. Behind the scenes (or the tint machine, if you will) it is our colour bases, high-strength tinters and tint systems, and our colour offering in general that are world leading. It’s truly tremendous. And I’m highly proud of our achievements.”

Colour milestones

Resene remains a leader in colour innovation and has pioneered with a number of firsts in the area. Here are a few of the company’s major breakthroughs:

• In 1969, Resene set up its British Standard Specification (BS2660) colour range, which provided a range of strong colours at a time when New Zealanders were used to pastel colours. The stronger BS4800 range followed in 1973, and the launch of the BS5252 colour range in 1976 was a world first. To give you an idea of how innovative these were at the time, when released they were the largest colour charts available anywhere in the world, and required the development and implementation of a tinting system, a concept that in itself was world-leading!

• Resene pioneered the development of coloured paint bases, where previously only white was used.

• Resene was also the first company to offer a full range of testpots in New Zealand in 1981 – today these are iconic!

• In 1985, the Total Colour Multi-Finish System was launched. Combining an extensive range of colours with interlinked tinting systems for both interior and exterior, the flexibility and adaptability of this colour system was welcomed with open arms by specifiers and retail customers alike.

• Resene delivered virtual painting technology into thousands of homes with the launch of Resene EzyPaint in 1999, available on CD or as a free download from the Resene website.

• In 1999, the first of the Resene fashion fandecks, The Range 2000, was released showcasing fashion colours for the coming years.