At a glance

Every stand at Decorex is immaculate - ours was lived in. For the Trade preview of The Colours We Keep, COAT built a home mid-life rather than a showroom, and filled it with small pieces of evidence pulled straight from the campaign's character films.

Visitors who looked closely found a cereal box, a pencilled height chart, a pie still on the side, poetry on the fridge, post on the console table and a set of car keys. Each one belonged to someone from The Colours We Keep short films. 

The concept

The Colours We Keep is ten new shades named after the things people hold on to. One Man's Trash, Cross Stitch, Portobello, Fable, Field Notes, Rambler, Scout's Honour, Cassette, Cross Country and Best in Show. Trade would see them first, at Decorex, three weeks before everyone else.

The stand brief had three parts:

• Show the colours as they'd actually be lived with. Not on a perfect plinth, but in rooms that hold evidence of someone.
• Stand apart at a show built on polish. Designers walk past hundreds of beautiful stands. We wanted one they'd remember.
• Make the stand the first chapter, not a one-off. Everything on it had to carry straight into the films, the 3rd November retail launch.

A stand you could live in

The campaign follows three characters: Gerald and his dog Ralph, on the same muddy walk they've done a hundred times. Tommy, finally handed the car keys by his dad. And Amina, reading a story aloud to her little brother Marley, the way big sisters do.

So instead of building an installation, we built the home where their stories meet. Real rooms, painted in the new shades, mid-life rather than styled. A coat over a chair. Something in the oven. The sense that someone had just stepped out and would be back any minute.

"The most meaningful rooms aren't perfect. They're full of the things people hold on to. We wanted the stand to feel like that, because that's what the colours are for." - Rob Abrahams, Co-Founder, COAT Paints

It also let the colours do what they were designed to do. Every shade in the collection is muted, warm and knocked back with a little black pigment, so it keeps its depth in cool British light and comes into its own under lamplight. A lived-in room, lit like a real home, showed that better than any spotlight could.

The details

Nothing on the stand was there by accident. Every object was lifted from a film, so the stand worked as a trailer you could walk around in.

COAT Pops cereal

A box of COAT Pops sat on the kitchen side, straight out of the Fable film. It's the breakfast of Amina and Marley's world, a small, slightly silly detail that made people stop, smile and pick it up. 

The height chart

On the doorframe, a pencilled height chart: Amina, Marley, and Ralph. The dog got his own line, naturally. It's the one detail that quietly brings two films together, and it says everything about the collection in a few pencil marks. These are the things you'd never paint over.

Gerald's pie, and the recipe

Gerald's handwritten pie recipe was propped up on the side, with the pie itself beside it. Rambler, our deep, earthy chestnut, is Gerald and Ralph's colour, rooted and unhurried and a little bit muddy. A homemade pie felt like the most Rambler thing we could put on a stand.

Poetry on the fridge

Magnetic poetry on the fridge door, half-finished, the way it always is in a real kitchen. A nod to the storytelling at the heart of the campaign, and one of the most photographed corners of the stand.

Post on the console table

Letters addressed to Gerald, Tommy, Amina and Marley, waiting by the door. Small proof that these people exist, and that they're all welcome in the same home. It was also the simplest way to introduce three stories before anyone had pressed play.

The car keys

A set of car keys left out, ready to go. In Tommy's film, his dad finally hands them over, and with them, his trust. A cassette goes in, the road starts, and everything goes wrong in all the right ways. Cassette, the colour, is just as dependable: a calm, steady shade that holds up beautifully in a north-facing room.

From stand to screen

Decorex was where people met the objects. The films are where they meet the people who own them. Anyone who picked up the car keys in October sees them handed over in Tommy's film. The pie turns up on Gerald's table. The cereal box is back on Amina and Marley's kitchen side.

That continuity runs through the whole launch:

• The films. Three character films, one per story, each built around its hero shade: Rambler for Gerald and Ralph, Cassette for Tommy, and Fable, our quiet, faded teal, for Amina and Marley.
• COAT Coverage. Our newspaper was handed out on the stand, with an interview with Abi on making the films, and a wordsearch tied to Tommy's story. 
• Trade first. Trade visitors could shop the full collection from 11 October, made to order in London, three weeks ahead of retail.
• 3rd November and beyond. The Colours We Keep are available to everyone to enjoy.

The result

A stand doesn't have to end when the show does. By borrowing its details from the films, ours became the opening scene of the campaign, and gave every visitor a reason to come back and watch what happens next.

See the stories behind the stand, and the ten colours they belong to:

• Watch the films: 'Cassette', 'Rambler' and 'Fable'
• Explore The Colours We Keep 
• Order Peel & Stick samples of all ten shades in The Colours We Keep Sample Pack