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“Kreidezeit”, in German, is the Cretaceous period of Earth´s development. The name was chosen because chalk, which was created in this period, is our most important raw material for producing wall-paint. The company´s logo represents a stratum.
Kreidezeit Naturfarben GmbH was established by Gert Ziesemann in 1988. Before Mr. Ziesemann founded the company, he worked in a cooperative store selling ecologically grown vegetables. At that time, Germany had a big ecological scandal concerning the Northern Sea. Many seals along the coast died suddenly from polluted water. The waste pollution came from the production of a synthetic mineral pigment: titanium white. The producers flushed it into the sea from large tankers without any idea what may happen with nature as it represented cheap means of disposal.
Gert Ziesemann explained to local people why titanium white is used and that it is an invention of modern times. In former times, chalk had been the most important pigment.
Mr. Ziesemann showed how to make a simple but effective wall paint out of just chalk, curd and borax (alkaline salt). There was a reaction he never expected and many people wanted to buy the paint from him. So he changed his profession and built up a factory for natural paint.
Beginning with just 3 people, the company expanded over time into bigger buildings. All this without any from of advertising apart from 2 – 3 exhibitions each year and, more recently, a website.
Our best advert is the “mouth-to-mouth” propaganda resulting from good experience of our customers.
Today we have about 25 employees, about 200 ecological hardware stores selling our products in Germany and general importers in other countries all over the world: France, Japan, Great Britain, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Czech republic, Estonia, Romania, Russia.
Our current office is located at Sehlem, a small village in the northern part of Germany. All our products (various oil-paints, wall-paints, special materials) are produced in house following our own recipes.
When You hear the word “factory”, you might imagine a modern high-tec building. However, all our products are only made by natural materials and so are our main machines. This includes powder mixers, liquid mixers and huge pots in which wall paints and oil paints are produced.
An antique powder mixer (100 years old, driven by leather belt) can be found outside our factory as a memorial. However it was in fact our very first machine.
We also have a small farm beneath the building where we grow some vegetables like pumpkin. As fertiliser, we use leftovers of our products which are composted nearby.
Philosophy
We are open to make our customers trust in our products. We are open to everybody.
As a visitor, you can look into our production. You can touch and feel everything, talk with all our employees and may ask everybody questions. There´s only one secret: our detailed recipes.
If you visit Germany, please feel to visit us. We will show you everything. You will find a “full declaration” of ingredients declared on every product and data sheet. If You have any question about them you contact us at any time.
With regard to the health of the producers of raw materials, our employees, clients, the environment and the future of our children, we only use raw materials and produce paints which are 100 % safe (non-toxic, fulfilling requirements of DIN 53160 “spittle and sweat resistance” and also EN 71 suitable for children toys).
All of our products can be composted and used as fertiliser later on.
Also, our wall paint can be applied without any body protection. For oil paint (turpentine) it’s enough to introduce ventilation (open windows), but it’s not necessary to wear respiration masks.
We keep old techniques alive. We provide knowledge and know-how by regularly offering seminars concerning special techniques (stucco, tadelakt) and the reintroduction of traditional crafts.
Seminars are attended by home owners, architects, craftsmen in conservation, painters, carpenters and more.
Kreidezeit technical information sheets not only offer information about how to use the products, but also about the tradition. This includes why it works, its function and the origin of raw materials. Only by knowing everything might you have most trust in our products.
The binding agents of oil paint and casein paint are renewable therefore helping to save the Earth’s natural resources. Products using materials from the petroleum industry are not.
Kreidezeit produce breathable paints which are non-toxic, fulfilling requirements of DIN 53160 “spittle and sweat resistance” and suitable for children toys. All products are compostable.
