In the Stone Age, people created colorful worlds of red iron ore, black coal and yellow clay on cave walls – and the Chinese began lacquering drinking bowls or jewelry boxes 3,500 years ago with a glossy coating extracted from the sap of a local tree. 

“Paints and varnishes are fundamentally sustainable,” says Jürgen Kiroff, a long-time Nordmann customer and head of the Fürth-based company Farben-Kiroff-Technik. “Even if, of course, the term only came up later and in view of raw material shortages.” In the same way, paints and other coatings have always been aligned with the principles of sustainability in how they function: they’re not just meant to beautify objects, after all, but to protect surfaces from wear and tear at the same time.

Journey here to the green roots of the paint and coatings industry and its green future.