Mar 13 2007
Devine Color's founder, Gretchen Schauffler, loves color and knows a lot about how people see it and use it. Highly regarded by the paint industry as a color visionary and leading innovator, she has taken color out of the realm of the expected and into places only fine artists usually go. She is ready to bring her vision and her approach to fashion, fabric, furniture, and appliance designers and manufacturers worldwide.
As the founder of Devine Color, Gretchen has made quite a splash. She is well known as the creator of the Devine Color Mini Paint Pouches™, uniquely packaged paint samples that have set the color sample standard throughout the paint industry. The concept has been copied leading paint companies from Benjamin Moore to Ralph Lauren. Each sample contains enough paint to cover an approximately 18"-square section of wall or moveable board. These samples allow consumers to test a color before they commit. The concept has gained wide recognition for the paint that goes on like rich yogurt that is Devine Color's calling card.
Vendors that depend on innovative uses of color to market their products are eager to hear Gretchen's ideas on the changing perceptions of color among consumers and the impact it can have on marketing their products. "People's ways of thinking about color are changing," said Schauffler, "and there is a growing need for more creativity in the color choices available to them. Like the shades in a great painting, perfect color cannot stand alone. It is the connection, relationship, and position of a color in an environment that makes it perfect and unique. I want to open people's eyes to the power of color."
Under Gretchen's leadership, her color cottage industry has grown to include over 400 dealers in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Ireland. Devine Color's innovative ideas have earned it coverage in leading magazines, including House and Garden, Latina, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Better homes & Gardens, Women's Day, Out, USA Today, Country Home, Country Living, and Redbook. The company has also been featured on The View and a number of other television programs.
"Gretchen is a truly original thinker," said Scott Goins, Devine Color's CEO. "She has a specific color outlook that translates to many areas of life. Anyone who gets involved with her becomes wildly successful."
"We're merely formalizing what's been happening in our business in the past few years as a natural consequence of Gretchen's way of thinking about color," said Goins. "We are changing our outlook and our business plan to accommodate what's really going on for us. We aren't leaving the paint business behind. We've been doing extremely well. We are merely expanding a winning formula."