THE NEW REEVES
Celebrating creativity at Dalston Roof Park!
This year our iconic British brand Reeves is celebrating its 251st anniversary, so we went back one of their first colour-mixing sites in Dalston to launch the new Reeves. We revealed all the exciting changes to the Reeves products and services at Dalston Roof Park, a three-storey mosaic-fronted building built by Reeves in 1868. At the time this building was four miles outside of London, but today this building sits in the creative hub of London, next door to a theatre and just around the corner from many art galleries and artists’ studios.
Over the last year our teams here at Colart have been working hard on a game-changing re-branding and re-positioning of Reeves which will enable the brand to reach new audiences. Reeves has always been at the heart of educating people in how to unleash their creativity and now that’s even easier as they reveal a contemporary new look and vision. As Senior Global Brand Manager, Daniel Mark Carr explains, “From 1766 when William Reeves invented the watercolour paint palette that allowed people to paint outside of the studio, Reeves has been at the forefront of enabling creativity. As we enter this exciting new period, Reeves will continue to empower consumers, harness creativity and inspire personal self-expression.”
Reeves is on a mission to democratise art by making it accessible to all. As creative pursuits become more commonplace – particularly across the millennial generation – Reeves will provide the tools and inspiration to allow anyone to be creative. Alongside bold new packaging and products, a new website with how-to guides will help consumers to embrace their creative side – from Paint-by-numbers for the beginner to affordable acrylic, watercolour and oil sets for more serious artists.
This was brought to life during our launch at the old Reeves factory in Dalston – where it was easy to immerse yourself in creativity thanks to a variety of activities. If anyone was in need of some encouragement, Lucinda Ireland provided inspirational slogans, and showed people how easily these could be personalised by colouring them with Reeves pencils, acrylic and gouache. Most millennials own a cactai or two, but not many have the chance to personalise their pots – so we recruited Prick London to show everyone how easy it is to paint a terracotta pot with acrylic paint – the finished article could even be photographed in front of a colourful background.
The main attraction was a photobooth created by Elliot Kruszynski and made up of his quirky illustrations. Kruszynsk, an illustrator and printmaker, is a fan of the way Reeves champions the idea of embracing creativity. For Kruszynsk “Art and artists can too often take themselves too seriously; it’s not about planning for months and painstakingly executing a piece but taking inspiration from everywhere and just getting stuck in.” Which is what Reeves hopes to empower in a whole new audience of creatives.
To find out more visit the Reeves website.