Along Sucat Highway, Landco’s Tribeca condo towers stand out in their blue mosaic patterns that provide a visual uplift to the drab skyline.

Up close, the patterns aren’t made from ceramic tiles but are actually coats of exterior paint that can withstand all weather conditions.

Nippon Paint, one of Asia’s top paint manufacturers, is reentering the Philippine market. Known here for automotive paint, industrial and car park flooring, it’s making a bid to be the paint of choice for the residential market with Tribeca Private Residences.

To see the company’s innovations in paint, a group of architects, interior designers and journalists visited the main Nippon Paint factory in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

“Paint has come along way. Before, it was just for wall covering. Now it can mimic other textures,” said Alex Yoong, Nippon Paint head of marketing.

For the architecture and home market, Nippon Paint is making a pitch for its paint’s saturated colors, eco-friendly components, strength and easy application. With a couple of coatings, these powerful formulations can replace complicated application techniques, achieve an extensive range of colors and improve healthy indoor air quality.

Glaze over color

Nippon Paint’s color spectrum provides an overwhelming selection of over 30,000 formulas with palettes of classic whites, lustrous pinks and reds, zingy yellow and oranges, serene greens and blues, elegant purples, grays, soft beiges and earthy neutrals.

The trend is for more gloss and texture to highlight the depth of a color. Consumers can create their own unexpected finishes by combining glazes or fine layers with a flat finish,  using Momento Special Effects, said Yoong.

A semi-transparent glaze over a base color can give the effect of either a layer of soft clouds or of cotton candy. A snow frost effect infuses the base coat with metallic and pearl hues.

The matte textured paint series, meanwhile, is a rich, intense yet aged look, like that of travertine or stucco as in the Tuscan villas. The illusion of brick walls can be achieved when Momento paint is layered and mixed into a thick putty. After the application, the grout, the space between the “bricks,” is made with a ruler.

Moreover, old furniture can be given a new lease in life with Nippon Paint’s textured paint finishes.

Momento Satin-Glo is so versatile that it has chalk properties. “Why can’t the wall be a child’s canvas? asked Yoong. “Satin-Glo is luxurious in feel and water-based. Children can have fun drawing on these walls.”

 Metal and stone

The executive pointed out that, with advancement in technology, paints can imitate metals such as aluminum and stone such as  granite, thus saving on building costs and time. “With natural stone, you could build as high as the third floor,” Yoong said. “It would be difficult to do stonework all the way to the 15th floor, and the building could collapse.  Natural stones are also more expensive. You can get the same look with paint.”

Yoong added that paint can coat surfaces that one has never imagined, such as metal, glass, plastic and ceramic. The technology of Nippon Paint has made the application of painting glass walls, a trend in the kitchen, faster with the right combination of the adhesion on the glass wall and paint with polyurethane that is sprayed on. The range for painting glass is more extensive than other brands, Yoong said, and stains are easily wiped off.

In bathrooms, a protective coat of paint not only sparks up the tiles but also prevents water from seeping in, thus preventing molds. “The problem with tiles is with the grouts,” the Nippon Paint officer said. “Once they are coated, no dirt will lodge there. You wash them and they look new again.”

Metal products such as legs of stools can be coated with paint with anti-corrosion properties such as micaceous iron oxide. It can either obtain a matte, coated finish or the illusion of distressed metal.

Future

Eco-friendly paint is in demand because it makes the home more liveable especially for children and people with allergies. At the Nippon Paint factory, the children’s room is deemed as the safest place because everything is coated with water-based paints.  Aside from its anti-fungal and anti-bacterial qualities, the Odour-less AirCare is free from APEO (alkylphenol ethoxylates), a surfactant used in pigments that are not only non-biodegradable but harmful on the endocrine system. It is also devoid of heavy metal and formaldehyde. This paint actually turns the carbon from the formaldehyde in furniture adhesives into water and freshens the air.

Yoong said Nippon Paint will soon be launching its anti-viral line. “A coating will kill the viral strains from hand, foot and mount and H1N1.”

The range and capabilities of paints are extensive. There’s food-grade paint for tanks in food manufacturing plants; road paints that don’t fade for a year; paints for outdoor decks and exteriors with tougher qualities in beautiful colors.

For roofs, the Insulcoat shields the  house from the sun’s heat and actually reduces the temperature by three degrees and keeps the house cool.

Yoong added that painting a house can be done faster. “The Express Coat is an innovation for architects,” he said. “With conventional paint, it would take 21 days for plaster to dry. That’s long and costs money. Express Coat does the job in three days. That saves you 18 days.”

Sealers and anti-peeling bonds are important in preserving the paint. “When paint starts to peel off, it’s the surface that’s the problem,” said Yoong. “We have sealers  for that. If your wall has high moisture, use the sealer to lock in the moisture. This prevents the fungi from growing and you get long-lasting projects.”

One can download the Nippon Paint app for free. “The customer’s biggest fear is choosing the wrong color,” said Yoong. “We eliminate mistakes with this app. When you talk to customers, their default paint color is white. Apps are handy. They have color recommendations. If you like turquoise, at the bottom of the app you can choose color harmonies. You will be recommended suitable colors to pair with.”

If one wants to customize one’s colors, Nippon Paint’s advantage is that it uses automation instead of manual labor for blending. The colors come out more accurate and reproduce the exact shade with same consistency in stores such as Wilcon Depot, AM Builder and CW Coat.

“Filipinos need to get used to the brand,” said Yoong. “Our products are water-based and solvent-free.”