As an independent manufacturer of hand-crafted oil paints and oil painting mediums I have had one aim since founding the company in 1992: to manufacture my own professional grade oil colours and mediums of unsurpassed quality.

To create perfectly balanced products it is critically important that premium oils, pigments, diluents and resins are selected and properly formulated with the intention these materials handle with the utmost performance possible. When formulating, it is the products' function that decides the materials chosen and the proportions used. Within the manufacturing process, every operation is the direct responsibility of one person for each stage. From selection, to refining, blending and milling. The attributes of Langridge's paints and mediums comes from our adherence to these rules and to never take short-cuts. We always remember that the product is a 'tool' for the artist and that our success can only be achieved by always listening to artists and providing products of real value to them.

Before emigrating to Melbourne, Australia, I studied Fine Art (Painting) at Bristol in the UK under a traditional system of composition and colour study. An integral part of my study was the preparation and stretching of canvas, the manufacture of paints, mediums and primers for our own use and the basic education in the proper construction of paintings.

I learnt the artist's materials trade, first, whilst growing up in my parent's art shop from the age of 15 and later, in London, working first for Cornelisen & Sons and later for Roberson & Company, one of the oldest and most venerated art materials manufacturers in the world. At 28 I left London and moved to Australia to start my own oil paint company manufacturing artist grade materials for artists and friends within the Melbourne art world.

The original factory was in Langridge Street (from which we derive our name), Collingwood where, for the first 12 years, we built a reputation on manufacturing professional quality oil mediums, varnishes and grounds. Also supplied from the beginning were products that are of particular advantage to artists in their practice such as artist grade dry ground pigments and raw materials for the home manufacture of colours and mediums.

In 2004 Langridge moved to a larger factory in Yarraville where we were able to expand our product range.

Seven years in the making, Langridge Professional Grade Oil Colour were created because artists told me they wanted an oil paint of the same quality as our high specification mediums. Manufactured in the Langridge factory they are painstakingly blended, mixed and triple-roll milled to obtain a paint with the highest pigment loading and strongest colour development. The resulting range of paints has the fullest chromatic strength, intense tinting power, excellent lightfastness qualities and extremely clean colour-mixing potential on the palette.

Langridge has sourced the highest specification pigments from around the world. Every colour is verified for its origin and identified for its chemical characteristics to provide the artist with a range of pigments noted for their quality of grade and fineness, ensuring the maximum benefit in tone and chroma. As a small scale company of only 5 dedicated employees we constantly look for new colours and new processes to make our paint even better.

If you have any questions regarding Langridge products in their application and usage, please do not hesitate to contact me.

David Coles