I’m a professional decorator who specialises in lazure painting; a glazing technique in which layers of translucent colour are applied to a white surface. I’ve been lazure painting for over twenty years and have coloured buildings in Santa Cruz, Portland, New York, Chicago, Reykjavik, Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Kirov, Tbilisi, Sarajevo, Basel and all over the UK including Northern Ireland. I’ve painted schools, churches, therapy rooms and an array of commercial and residential buildings. Most recently for Heatherwick Studio, the company who designed the opening ceremony of the London Olympics and the new London double decker bus.

I grew up in Bradford, West Yorkshire and in my twenties I worked as an industrial decorator. I was part of a team working in the huge textile mills in Halifax and Bradford as they were converted into shops and offices. I also trained as a specialist applicator for the concrete reactors at Sellafield nuclear power station. 

I first saw lazure painting in a village in North Yorkshire and knew immediately that is what I wanted to do. However, there was no easy route and had to wait some years before the door started to open. I got my first opportunity to learn at The Goetheanum in Switzerland whilst working as a volunteer. Soon after, I was invited to work for Robert Lord of Colour for Buildings Ltd. He was one of the finest lazure painters in the UK so it was great to spend a few years with him. I also worked with Francis Gregory in Sweden painting exclusive apartments in Stockholm city centre; he coloured Abba’s recording studios. It takes seven years to be a lazure painter and I continued as a colourist in America for a long time after. Now at 56, I’m still as passionate about my work as when I first began because every space is unique and always a challenge artistically.

Lazure painting developed out of the teachings of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925).

If interested in having bespoke interior decorating in your home or building, please do not hesitate to contact me.  

Thank you for visiting.

Gary Chippendale, M.A. 14/07/2019

garychipp@yahoo.co.uk

07708 130339

“We mold our lives in clay and light” – Pablo Neruda