Sunday, September 16, 2012

Dear Benjamin Moore...

Dear Benjamin Moore,
   My passion for color and paint is what I have used to create a niche for myself in the interior design world.  I have been able to explore the paint world in a huge way for the past few years by having a designer color collection with the Muralo paint company.
  When I first started the color collection, I had a vision of it becoming the "go to" palette of colors for homeowners, designers and contractors to take the headache out of choosing color.  I also knew that when creating these colors and the combinations of the palettes, that it was going to be a way to take out all the unnecessary colors that many paint companies put on their color displays.  What I did not envision was creating this tool for you to color match into your paint, and then getting complaint's from those people who purchased the "knock offs".
  While I did not reinvent the color wheel, I did establish a palette of colors that have very unique qualities to them.  The MW color collection is composed of colors that are very soothing, and have a fresh, clean look to them. When you see them fully painted in a space, you understand why people say they are different than other colors on the market.  They have a look to them that makes them look as though they are made to specifically go into the environment they are in.  It is not only the colors that gives them this aesthetic appeal, but it is the paint that gives them this look as well.  Muralo's paint has a look to it like I have never seen before.  Everyone who uses this color collection understand's what I am talking about.
  Over the past few years, I have had to deal with the reality that the paint world steals each others colors, not realizing that they are just trying to recreate what has been made for a specific product.  Benjamin Moore specifically has told homeowners, designers, and everyone else that you can get great color just by color matching other lines of color into their paint, and this has created mass confusion for everyone.  We also have seen an industry that has confused everyone into thinking that a brand describes the quality of paint, and it is simply not true.  Yes, you make a good can of paint, but you are not the best at everything.
   The Muralo company has been around since the late 1800's and they have focused on technology to always produce a high quality product.  Muralo is not owned by a billionaire (Warren Buffet), and does not get to advertise at the Yankee games, or on TV regularly.  They are a small business that works hard to make great paint.  For many years they have spent their money on research to create paint that is known to industry professionals as some of the best paint they have ever used.
   Now Muralo has something going for it that they have never had before-COLOR! And this is color that has been specifically formulated for THEIR paint, not Benjamin Moore...  This means that they are mine and Muralo's colors, and this is why they look the way they do when people choose them-because they are custom made for Muralo...
   The MW Collection color tools are the best on the market.  All the color tools are hand made using REAL paint, something that has never been done before by Benjamin Moore.  These tools take hard work and care, something that this small business is very passionate about.  I also created verbiage on my fan deck that somehow ended up on your fan deck? I wonder how that happened? We seem to work in the same neck of the woods...
   The most amusing story I heard recently was a Benjamin Moore worker calling a local NJ paint store asking why Muralo has these colors, and the question was "well what am I supposed to do to get these colors"? It was as though we hurt their feelings by creating something they could not get their hands on.  She went on to say that she would be creating formulas to match the colors, and then sell them in Benjamin Moore paint.  This seems like stealing to me...!
  If you choose a shirt, do you go up to the cash register as ask if they can make it in another brand??  I don't think so...So why is paint any different?
  I am going to list the many ridiculous questions that I have been asked about Muralo paint since I started this color collection, and I know that you may laugh reading this, but YES, these are real questions I have been asked, and most of them by seasoned Benjamin Moore users.  It seems like they will use any excuse to blindly stay loyal to their brand...

1. Does the paint work like Benjamin Moore, meaning you can roll it and not see roller marks?
2. Does the paint adhere to the wall? I know Benjamin Moore has good adhesion, and I do not know if Muralo works the same way.
3. Will the paint fade.  I know Benjamin Moore never fades?
4. Is Muralo a brand of Benjamin Moore?
5. Will it peel off the wall?
6. And this is my favorite.  Why aren't you using Benjamin Moore? "I have never used anything else".

Yes, these are real questions from painters...
Now, I am not going to dignify most of these with a response, but I am going to say this.  The Michelle Winick Color Collection colors are MURALO colors.  They are not Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams or Behr colors or any other paint colors.  They are exclusive to the Muralo company, and they cannot be matched! If you choose a color, then you should use the color as it is made.  When you match it in another paint, it is no longer the color, so you might as well just hope it works now...
  My message to Benjamin Moore is this..."I don't steal your colors...Stop stealing mine."  There are plenty of walls for everyone in this world.

Yours Truly,
~Michelle Winick
 
 

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