Daler-Rowney Ltd is an art materials manufacturer based in Bracknell, United Kingdom, and a part of the F.I.L.A. Group. It sells a wide range of artist products such as paints, artist surfaces, brushes and a range of accessories.
History
George Rowney & Co. Ltd.
The business was established as T. & R. Rowney in 1783 by the two brothers Thomas and Richard Rowney as a perfume maker and wig supplier with a shop on Holborn Hill in London, and soon moved into supplying writing materials and then artists' materials. The brothers then went out of partnership, with Richard concentrating on the perfume and wig business, and Thomas on the artists' supplies. In 1806, Thomas's son, Richard, started an apprenticeship in the business and on its completion set up in partnership with his brother-in law, Richard Forster, as Rowney & Forster, and began supplying famous artists including Constable and Turner. Forster retired about 1832, and in 1837, the company became known as George Rowney & Company when Thomas’s son, George Rowney, took over the firm. One of the company's successful products was the Birchmore Board, used widely at the turn of the century 1900. In 1924, the business was incorporated as a limited company, George Rowney & Co Ltd. The company was merged with the Daler Board Company in 1983 to form Daler-Rowney Ltd. Current CEO is Patrick Giraud. George Rowney & Company relocated many times during the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1963, Rowney was the first manufacturer in Europe to introduce an artist’s acrylic colour, under the brand name Cryla. In 1969, the company moved out of central London to its present address and headquarters in Bracknell. The business had passed through generations of the Rowney family. Tom Rowney was the final Managing Director from within the Rowney family. Having no family successor for the company, he looked for a buyer. In 1969, a majority holding was sold to the Morgan Crucible Company and then in 1983, the year of Rowney’s bicentenary, the company was sold on to the Daler Board Company.
Daler Board Company
The Daler Board Company was established in 1946 by the Daler family. On his return from a German prison camp, Terry Daler founded a sign writing business together with his brother Ken and brother-in-law Arthur. Ken created a new type of surface for oil painting that pulled the thick oil colour off the brush. Cardboard was sealed and primed through a mesh which became a commercialised product called the "Daler Board". Between 1945 and 1960, Daler developed a variety of products such as pads, canvas panels, stretched canvases, mountboards and artists' luggage. In 1975, they introduced the first synthetic brush to the artists material market. In 1983, the Daler Board Company purchased the George Rowney Company to become Daler-Rowney Limited as it is known today. In 1988, the company established distribution offices in Cranbury, New Jersey, United States and in 1994 "Robert Simmons" brand of artists' brushes was bought. In 2006, Daler-Rowney acquired the US brand Cachet, a hardback book publishing line. In February 2016, Daler-Rowney was acquired by the Milan-based F.I.L.A. Group.
Headquarters and manufacturers
The Daler-Rowney Head Office is located in Bracknell, Berkshire, in the southeast of England. The company moved from central London to its present address and headquarters in Bracknell in 1969. The process of manufacturing is divided into two different sites: the colours and paper products are produced at the headquarters in Bracknell; the brushes are manufactured in La Romana, Dominican Republic.
