Hues of home

Aalto's Toi Maori collection pays homage to traditional colours. Photo / Babiche Martens

New Zealand has long been a land of inspiration for our great painters. The landscape and its politics strongly inform the work of artists such as Colin McCahon, Ralph Hotere and Grahame Sydney. In keeping with this tradition, New Zealand paint companies are increasingly embracing Aotearoa as they strive to create colours that speak to our national psyche and appeal to us at a fundamental level. So even if a genuine masterpiece is beyond your means, at least you're able to cover the walls of your home with hues conceived in response to our own unique geography and culture.

Resene, a paint company started in a Wellington garage back in the 1940s, is well positioned to tap into the quintessential Kiwi mindset. Our relaxed coastal lifestyle is celebrated in colours called Barbecue, Fish N Chips, Jandal, Paua, Pavlova and Pohutukawa - words that evoke an undeniable sense of home. Flax, an earthy shade of green and a nod to our native flora, is as relevant today as it was when launched in the seventies. Bledisloe, Silver Fern, Tana and Warrior mark our collective obsession for all things sport while Blake, Hillary and Rutherford honour our legendary high achievers.

A paint called Akaroa regularly makes Resene's list of top twenty best-sellers. Marketing manager Karen Warman says the colour "reflects the muted, pebble grey hues" associated with its picturesque namesake.

"Its complex hues make it a very easy to live with colour which gives it widespread appeal. It is used for both residential and commercial projects all over the country," she says.

In 2003 Aalto Colour launched its Toi Maori palette - a collection of 21 colours inspired by those used in early meeting houses. This paint range, which was developed in collaboration with museum curators and Maori artists, has been given the stamp of authenticity by Toi Maori Aotearoa. It also featured on Maori Television's popular programme Marae DIY in which marae throughout New Zealand are given makeovers.

Te Po, a dye colour that was used on tukutuku panels in the 1870s, is the most popular hue in the range. Aalto Colour's Prue Cook attributes this to the current trend towards charcoal black on both exteriors and interiors. Kiko, a red earth pigment with a yellow tinge, is also in demand. "Colours of place are significant," says Cook. "The land and the light lend themselves to certain colours. Light in the southern hemisphere is very different to that in the north."

Last year Dulux released a range called Colours of New Zealand in which 900 local landmarks are signified by a unique paint colour. Ordinary Kiwis were asked to nominate their favourite place, mountain, river, lake, beach or island and say which colour they associate with it. Dulux describes the resulting collection as "a colour album of New Zealand ranging from the bright red hustle and bustle of K Rd in Auckland to the dusty cream of remote Stockyard Point on Farewell Spit."