about PAINTED EARTH

PAINTED EARTH is owned and run by Deborah Preston. Established in 2002 and run as a home based business for 5 1/2 years it moved into retail premises in the Byron Bay Arts & Indusrtry Estate in May 2008. In July 2008 Daniel Wurm from the Greenpainters association began working in the shop with Deb. We sell a large range of non-toxic eco friendly paints and wood finishes that have been carefully researched and sourced from six different manufacturers. The shop address is 4/18 Centennial Circuit, Arts & Industry Estate, Byron Bay. Open hours 8am - 5pm Monday to Friday, 9am - 1pm Saturday. Ph 02 6685 7522.

The vision is to keep PAINTED EARTH small enough to give personal service but large enough to be sustainable, and to continue developing our knowledge and experience of the different eco friendly paints and finishes available so that we can supply a range of products for both domestic and commercial use. We choose to stock only good quality products so that people will have an enjoyable and satisfying experience when using them.

about DEB

Deborah's passion for things natural, non-toxic, and environmentally responsible spans 20 years of studying, working, and cooking in the Natural therapies, Organic, and Health food industries in Sydney. She moved to the beautiful Byron shire in 1999 and now lives on a rural property in Yelgun. As well as managing Painted Earth Deb also still caters part time for yoga and meditation retreats at Sangsurya using organic ingredients, and does bush regeneration in her leisure time.

about THE COMPANIES who make these paints and finishes

All the companies who make these paints and finishes are dedicated to making environmentally responsible and health conscious products. They do not just have some environmental lines. All of their lines are made with the environment and people's health in mind and their manufacturing plants conform to high environmental standards and pollution control. Purchasing products from these companies helps them to continue manufacturing in this way.

Starting in 2002 PAINTED EARTH began selling the natural paints and wood oils, made by LIVOS and BIO to alternative minded people in the Byron shire and surrounding areas of northern NSW and Queensland. After several years of experience and much research it was decided to expand to include the newly available OIKOS range of low VOC acrylic paints, so as to provide for a wider range of people - specifically those wishing to use conventional paints and colours while desiring them to be as odourless, non-toxic and environmentally friendly as possible.

Certain specialty paints made by PHOENIX PAINTS in WA have been included to provide industrial level paints - such as a hardwearing water-based epoxy flooring paint and a highly durable, high temperature metal paint. Whilst not as odourless and non-toxic as the OIKOS paints these are waterbased and low VOC and hence the most environmentally friendly option for industrial strength paints.

Australian Company COOEE was included for their excellent outdoor wood protection product Timbertreat - a combination of natural lanolin and other non-toxic ingredients for the demanding task of protecting timber in our harsh Australian conditions. Timbertreat has been certified for use on organic farms.

A relative newcomer VOLVOX is a European company now winning the highest environmental award in Europe, the Ecolabel Flower Symbol, for it's clay paint.

Whilst there are now regulations in Australia on the use of certain heavy metals and toxic chemicals in paints and finishes we are still lagging behind Europe and the US in regulating to remove all of these toxic components, particularly VOC's, from paints and finishes. Hence many of the paints and finishes sold by PAINTED EARTH are made by European companies LIVOS, VOLVOX and OIKOS. We have combined these with environmentally minded Australian companies BIO, COOEE and PHOENIX.

about this WEBSITE

This website was begun in 2006 in response to a need to categorize and explain the growing range of products now available, as well as to make it possible to purchase them on line. It is currently a "work in progress". It is possible to purchase some products directly from the website, however to purchase those not yet up you will need to phone us on 02 6685 7522.

The introduction of the website and online buying means expanding to Australia wide sales. Though this is still in its infancy the aim in time, is to link up with other distributors of these paints and finishes around Australia, so that your order can be sent directly to you from the nearest possible source, thus saving on transporting goods unnecessarily long distances.

about NATURAL paints and LOW VOC paints

Further reading about natural and low VOC paints can be done at each of these links.