Bauwerk Colour
Bauwerk Colour is a paint brand that reflects our environment through a harmonious process with nature.
Words: Emma-Kate Wilson | Photography: Amelia Stanwix
Interior design & styling - Georgia Ezra of Studio Ezra. Build - Morris and Co. Photo - Amelia Stanwix.
“I’ve designed the home is that every space is intricate and beautiful and unique,” says Georgia Ezra of Studio Ezra. Interior design & styling - Georgia Ezra of Studio Ezra. Build - Morris and Co. Photo - Amelia Stanwix.
Bronwyn Riedel and her husband started Bauwerk in South Fremantle in 2000, after discovering a ‘harmonious’ relationship between old stone buildings and limewash paint. The former textile designer found her keen eye for colour, and Bronwyn’s husband’s German background, unfold into the popular brand today.
What sets Bauwerk apart from other paint companies is the ethically sourced minerals they use for their limewash paint — followed up with a ‘paint master’ who conjures up the pots of magic. “You have to be a bit like a winemaker because it’s all alchemy — taking limestone, and heating it, slaking it, and then age it,” Bronwyn shares. “Only then you can make it into paint.”
For designer Georgia Ezra, using natural paint was crucial for the homely vibe that reflects nature and an eco-feel. “I really wanted a home that when I walked through that front door, I felt relaxed and calm, and I was taken off the streetscape into my own escape,” she explains.
The walls are painted in Bauwerk’s dusty pink hues and mushroom greys and change tones throughout the day. Interior design & styling - Georgia Ezra of Studio Ezra. Build - Morris and Co. Photo - Amelia Stanwix.
Interior design & styling - Georgia Ezra of Studio Ezra. Build - Morris and Co. Photo - Amelia Stanwix.
As the colours are 100% natural, they offer a changing scale of tonal reflections throughout the day. And thanks to the limewash pigments, each does this is a different way, so an entire wall may have its own idiosyncrasy.
In Georgia’s home, this is something she loves, and the designer wouldn’t be able to pick her favourite room, as the kaleidoscope of colours makes her love each spot. The pink hues and mushroom greys change throughout the day, offering Georgia an endless source of variation. “I think it’s really important to layer the tones on the wall,” the designer reflects. “How much of an effect it has on the overall look of the home, and how it exudes feeling.”
“You have to be a bit like a winemaker because it’s all alchemy — taking limestone and then heat it, slake it, and age it.”
“I love our kitchen and living room in the morning or late at night when we just put the wall lights on, and it’s a soft hum of pink,” shares Georgia Ezra. Interior design & styling - Georgia Ezra of Studio Ezra. Build - Morris and Co. Photo - Amelia Stanwix.
“Every room has a different energy— it certainly evokes a beautiful mood and feeling.”
Interior design & styling - Georgia Ezra of Studio Ezra. Build - Morris and Co. Photo - Amelia Stanwix.
Interior design & styling - Georgia Ezra of Studio Ezra. Build - Morris and Co. Photo - Amelia Stanwix.
The connection with the environment and the earth is mirrored in Bauwerk’s philosophy to sustainability — something that was second nature to Bronwyn. In their production, they use 100% green power, and instead of being made of plastic, Bauwerk is made from clay, minerals and natural pigments. “You can paint without fumes, wash-up and disposal are safe and non-polluting, we leave no toxic chemicals in the environment in the production of our paints,” they share.
For Georgia’s colour palette she mirrored her own studio’s tiles — especially one called EZR -0187. “It’s one of my mosaic tiles, and they’re all one glaze, they’ve got this beautifully soft, clay pinky tone to them and so everything was fed off the floor,” Georgia adds.
“It’s certainly a space that we feel; every room feeds off a different energy,” Georgia shares. “My son’s room is a soft, dirty blue. In the middle bathroom, I have a moss green, and in my daughter’s room, there’s a mauve. In the kitchen and living space, it’s warm. And in the laundry, it’s cooler.”
Painting with Bauwerk is like a collaborative process, between the light, the walls, and your own sense of colour and feelings. Expect to relax into the tonal palette, and let the earthy atmosphere transform your home.
Interior design & styling - Georgia Ezra of Studio Ezra. Build - Morris and Co. Photo - Amelia Stanwix.
Interior design & styling - Georgia Ezra of Studio Ezra. Build - Morris and Co. Photo - Amelia Stanwix.
“Limestone has a crystalline structure, so when you see it under a microscope, it refracts light and bounces off in millions of different directions.”
Interior design & styling - Georgia Ezra of Studio Ezra. Build - Morris and Co. Photo - Amelia Stanwix.
Interior design & styling - Georgia Ezra of Studio Ezra. Build - Morris and Co. Photo - Amelia Stanwix.