Our brand is committed to supplying the best performing, highest quality and safest materials to artists and creatives around the world, and has a long history of doing so. Increasingly, we are also confronted with regulatory changes, such as the reclassification of hazards by many local authorities. Products that have been subject to this reformulation carry a label that states "improved formulation" on the front and links to this website via QR code (on the back).
What happened?
One of these reclassifications concerned a substance in 'group 2-ethylhexanoic acid and its salts', which has now been classified as a reproductive toxicant (according to the EU/UK) if its final concentration in the product mixture is more than 0.3%. This is a drying aid currently used in many oil colours and additives, including ours. The regulation will come into force from the 1st of December, when products containing more than 0.3% of ‘2-ethylhexanoic acid and its salts’ will be prohibited for consumer use. This compound is commonly found in driers. We would like to inform you about this with the utmost transparency.
We will of course meet this new requirement by adjusting our formulations. However, it is also part of our tradition to constantly explore and discover how our products can do even more for the artist. Therefore, we have not only revised the formulations to meet the new legal requirements, but we have also achieved other advantages.
What's affected?
The following products are involved. Note that the different versions below represent different language variants of the same product:
What does that mean for the artist?
The new formulations look visually different, which means that the artist will notice a difference at first glance. However, the essential properties and performance will remain the same. We are pleased to announce that the new formulation also contributes to maintaining the brightness and luminosity of oil colours more than ever before. To demonstrate this, you can see below that our Artists' Oil in Titanium White remains significantly brighter when mixed with a high proportion of medium (up to 1:1) and does not darken over time. However, a 1:1 mixture is also an exceptionally high mixing ratio that is usually not applied, so this test in combination with our whitest white is an extreme benchmark.
Artists can continue to use quantities of the old formulation that have already been purchased and have not yet been utilised. But as always, work must be done in an appropriate and careful manner, and direct contact with the substances must be avoided, which also applies to most other professional colours and painting mediums.
