General Paints was established in 1953 by Ronan O'Connor, who set up his company in a section of a Famine Workhouse, dating from 1841, in Celbridge, Co. Kildare. The original products produced were gloss paints, oxides, machinery enamels, undercoats and roadline paints, and all products were oil based. In the late 1950's the company began manufacturing decorative paint for houses and in the 1960's General Paints introduced tinting systems to Ireland.

With the advent of emulsion technology from America in the 1960s General Paints became the first European paint company to manufacture a water-based paint using a pure acrylic resin, and is today arguably the leading specialist in acrylic paint technology in British and Irish Isles. Colortrend's acrylic emulsion paints are widely specified by architects and interior designers because of their superior benefits. These include superb colour retention, durability, good adhesion, alkali resistance and scrub resistance. General Paints Limited main brand - Colortrend -includes full product lines of 100% pure acrylic paints. Today water-based paints make up 90% of our decorative house paints.

While General Paints Limited continues to be progressive and technologically focused we have remained true to our original core values of quality and competitiveness supported by technical expertise and the best customer service.

We now focus our energy in three broad areas of activity:

Retailing Paint through company owned stores
Supplying Paint to Independent Paint Retailers
Supplying Customised Industrial Coatings

Color Systems International

General Paints Limited is Ireland's only member of Color Systems International - an international association of independent Paint Manufacturers. This association operates a group buying programme and shares the cost of developing and bringing to the market new colour systems and merchandising tools. The MILLENNIUM Colour System is a proprietary colour system to CSI. Membership of CSI offers General Paints the benefits of group purchasing and gives the smaller independent paint manufacturers and suppliers a collective strength in the face of the multi-nationals and the intense competition in the industry world wide.

Conclusion

Since the year 2000 the company has modernised and expanded our manufacturing and storage facilities and has expanded our Retail, Stockist and Industrial bases. Our sales, production, laboratory, distribution and administrative staff are committed to providing our customers with premium quality paint and coatings at competitive prices backed by a level of technical support and customer service only available from an independent and indigenous company.

General Paints Limited is well positioned for strong growth in future years and will stay at the forefront of new technology in all areas of the paint industry. The company will lead research and development of new products and will maintain our stringent quality controls and standards on our existing product range.