The Colormaker Story

Colormaker Industries in Brookvale is redefining what a local manufacturer can achieve. From its base on Orchard Road, this small but impactful business is proving that paint can drive meaningful change, pairing creativity with clean energy, sustainable practices and community support. It is innovation with heart, made right here on The Beaches.

Paint with purpose: How a Brookvale manufacturer is creating a greener future

Tucked away at 44 Orchard Road in Brookvale is a small business doing big things. Colormaker Industries is known to tradies and architects, artists and designers up and down the Peninsula, across Australia and around the world. It’s known for its eco-friendly paints and inks and for proving that a local manufacturer can lead in sustainability, community spirit and creative impact.

Step inside Colormaker’s factory and you’ll find something rare in the world of manufacturing: everything runs on sunshine.

Six years ago, the team installed a 100 kW rooftop solar array; enough to power the entire operation, then added an EV delivery fleet. Then they went one step further, commissioning a world first ReVolve^® solar storage battery, built around second-life
EV batteries.

The result? Near energy self-sufficiency and a paint range powered by 100% renewable energy.

“There’s a little bit of sunshine in every drop we make,” says Managing Director David Stuart.

Cleaner Chemistry, Healthier Planet

Colormaker hasn’t just focused on renewable energy. They’d already rethought what goes into paint.

Most of their products are now water-based and low in VOCs (volatile organic compounds), giving paint contractors, tradies, renovators, artists and DIYers safer, cleaner options. Crucially, they’ve removed plastic microbeads from all their formulations. Microplastics are known to pollute water ways and damage marine life.

Waste is managed with equal care. Scrap paper and cardboard are repurposed on the premises, while metal and e-waste are recycled. Wastewater is treated to exacting standards. It’s all part of a belief that renovations and creativity shouldn’t cost the Earth.

Local Roots, Global Reach

Despite its modest size, Colormaker’s products reach far beyond the Beaches. Colormaker ships to paint and hardware stores, tradies and applicators, art stores, educators and designers across Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific, the USA, the UK, Europe and Asia.

But their heart remains local.

They donate paint to Northern Beaches schools, support Northern Beaches and Mosman Art Prizes and supply materials for local mural projects (including many that you may have admired on weekend walks). Further afield, they provide free paint to regional galleries, Indigenous art programs, art therapy initiatives and creative workshops for kids in communities that rarely receive such resources.

Creativity for Good: Global Partnerships with Purpose

Colormaker’s impact stretches nationally and internationally through partnerships with aid and advocacy organisations.

They’ve supported FREE THE REEF, a national screen-printing tour raising awareness of threats to the Great
Barrier Reef and donated screen-printing supplies to Every Daughter Matters, a not-for-profit organisation preventing human trafficking of girls from Nepal.

They also teamed up with UK artist Nellie Rose to run screen-printing workshops at Nepal’s Janakpur Women’s Centre, helping women develop skills that support financial independence.

Sharing the Know-How: Education, Outreach & Advocacy

Colormaker believes sustainable business learnings should be shared.

They host university researchers, school groups, Scout troops and community organisations, offering tours, demonstrations and paid internships, showing how business can be a force for environmental and social good…while running profitably and providing employment and sponsorships for worthy causes on the Northern Beaches and beyond.

Inside the business, sustainability is embedded in every conversation, every decision, every new product trial. It’s a culture of curiosity and continuous improvement. That’s reflected in continuous reinvestment in carbon abatement assets with impressive results. Over 6 years, Colormaker has saved >900 tonnes of GHGs. Their small but growing fleet of solar powered EVs covers 60,000 km per year.

A Northern Beaches Story Worth Celebrating… and Supporting

Colormaker may be small, but its impact is mighty – demonstrating that a boutique local business can be at the forefront of sustainability, innovation and community engagement. In 2023, Colormaker won three sustainability awards and this September, it was amongst the first businesses to achieve NABERS’ brand new NEPI Certification for manufacturing premises, achieving an impressive rating of 82%.
At the time of going to press, Colormaker had been named by the prestigious Banksia Foundation as a Finalist for the 2025 NSW SME Sustainable Leadership Award.

They’re brightening walls, empowering communities and reducing environmental impact, all from their solar-powered factory in Brookvale. It’s colour with conscience and it’s happening right here on the Northern Beaches. You could say that Colormaker is leading the charge!

So if you, or someone you know, is considering painting this summer, then think about where you get your paint. Every dollar spent at a Big Box hardware store leaves our community and leaves it that much poorer. Every dollar spent at Colormaker stays on the Northern Beaches where it’s helping build a better, more resilient future for all of us.

Colormaker sells direct to the trade and the public from their on-site Paint Store in Brookvale and via their website, www.colormaker.com.au. Drop in for paints and advice or call 02 9939 7977.

44 Orchard Road, Brookvale  |  (02) 9939 7977
Shop Hours: Monday- Friday 7:30am-4pm, Sat: 8am-12pm until 27/12/25 only.
Parking available at rear  |  @colormaker_industries  |  colormaker.com.au