From artist to colorist

For me, it started when I trained as an artist at the Forum Painting School in Malmö in the early 1980s. As an artist, I preferred to paint with linseed oil paint over other paints. My pictures gained a light and depth that I lacked in all other painting. But as an artist, you are naturally curious. That's why it came naturally to me to experiment with making my own linseed oil paints. From there, it wasn't long before I saw what else could be done. I painted on wood with linseed oil paint, I painted on stone with linseed oil paint, I painted on metal. Now my paint production developed to the point where fellow artists bought my paint. And with this, the embryo of what is today Ottossons Färgmakeri was born.

In 1989 I registered the company Gunnar Ottosson Färgmakeri and a couple of years later the family and the company moved to Genarp. ​​With that, paint manufacturing became my main occupation, even though I still make art and exhibit. In the following years during the 90s, the scope of the business increased. In 1992 I bought my first larger rolling mill, from the Danish Riksbank, which had used it to manufacture printing ink for banknotes. I hired my first employees in the following years. My children also had no problem getting summer jobs. Word of mouth brought us steadily more customers and by the turn of the millennium we were too crowded on Lillegårdsvägen. The paint factory then bought an industrial plot 1000 meters from the paint shop and at the same time was transformed into a limited company.

During the 2000s, we have seen a renaissance for linseed oil paint both in Sweden and abroad, and we currently export paint to Scandinavia, the Baltics, Poland, Slovakia, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, the USA and New Zealand. Exports account for approximately one third of our sales. We have been contacted by and supplied paint to several castles, churches, palaces and other historic buildings. We are noticing a strong growing interest among private individuals in painting with linseed oil paint, and linseed oil paint is therefore no longer just of interest to those interested in building conservation, but to everyone.

/Gunnar Ottosson