Colour plays a significant role in our day-to-day lives. It influences our mood, conveys our unique style and comes together to create environments that inspire and challenge us. And no one knows that better than South Africa’s paint-maker, Plascon.
Creating inspiring and healthy environments
From colour palettes to product design and with its tagline “together we got this”, Plascon is committed to developing innovation that improves the lives of its customers. And this extends naturally from lifestyle and aesthetics to health and the environment.
SAINC visited the Plascon Innovation Lab to learn how recycled packaging and in-paint air purifying formulations are pioneering the way to a “re-invented, re-imagined and re-connected” customer experience.
The SAINC team also visited the National School of the Arts in Braamfontein, which is an institution that celebrates both colour and diversity in South African society and is a natural fit as Plascon’s social investment education partner. The team met inspiring young artists, whose creativity and colourful personalities were apparent in spades - and discovered more about the variety of initiatives that formulate the NSAs partnership with Plascon – from renovations and signage to whimsical and colourful art installations.
Then heading off to Newtown Junction, the team met former students whose artworks had been selected for installation as murals in the precinct. They team also discovered powerful ways in which art has evolved to become a voice for social activism, sparking conversation and changing perspectives across the socio-political spectrum.
South Africa is a rainbow nation and seeing young artists blooming, blossoming and owning their creative voice is a powerful reminder of the hopeful future ahead of us.
THE STORIES
Brenda Sakellarides is the creative director of the National School of the Arts, which prides itself on being a multi-cultural and diverse community that celebrates difference. She recounts the partnership with Plascon and its recognition of the value the school brings, and the power of a brand association with NSA. Since then, Plascon had worked to be a change maker in the space, supporting the maverick creativity of these colourful student artists. Sakellarides said she felt emotional watching her students blossom and own their creative voices.
Naledi Moleko is a National School of the Arts alumnus, who loved her time as a student and the freedom it allowed her to be her artistic self. Moleko uses her art as an expression of heritage and how she feels in response to the issues we face in society today. Her artwork was selected by Plascon to feature on a wall in Newtown Junction. The piece is about embracing, highlighting vibrant colours and depicting the cultures of South Africa, and when Moleko first saw the installation at scale, it brought tears of joy to her eyes.
Suvasin Moodley holds the interesting title of head of decorative marketing at Plascon and embraces and brings to life the company’s tagline of “together we got this” in his role. “Plascon’s social investment activities are predominantly focused on education, from early childhood development to a fundamentally strategic partnership with the National School of the Arts. The use of colour is so important in our individual and collective psychology, and Plascon’s work with the NSA is aimed at uplifting the students and the environment in which they are studying.”