1780

In 1780 Richard and Thomas Rowney, both apothecaries living in Oxford, were grinding perfumed powders to colour and sweeten wigs. Their business continued to thrive until King George IV “removed” his wig. As a gesture of respect, polite society followed and other than in the legal and medical professions, wearing wigs became unfashionable.

1783-1825

The company soon gained a good reputation and they swiftly relocated to Oxford Street. This area, known at the time as Fitzrovia, had become famous to both amateur and professional artists.

1825

By this time Thomas Rowney’s son, George, headed the company and soon established a close relationship with John Mallord William Turner, leading to George Rowney and Company being appointed official lithographer of Turner’s famous paintings.

2016-Now

The Daler-Rowney group joined the F.I.L.A. Group (www.filagroup.it).

“F.I.L.A. and Daler-Rowney combination is a perfect fit for enhancing both of Rowney's product offering, geographical coverage and sales channel development. Rowney remains as one of the best well-known brand with excellent quality and product range.

 

Watercolour range:

• Artists' Watercolour

• Aquafine Watercolour

• Aquafine Watercolour Ink

• Simply Watercolour

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Gouaches

• Aquafine Gouaches

• Simply Gouaches

• Designer's Gouaches​

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Oil Colour range:

• Artists' Oil

• Georgian Oil

• Georgian Watermixable Oil

• Graduate Oil

• Simply Oil

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Acrylic Colour range:

• FW Acrylic ink

• FW Pearlescent ink

• Graduate Acrylic

• Simply Acrylic

• System 3 Acrylic

• System 3 Heavy Body Acrylic

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Paper

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• Aquafine Watercolour Paper

• Simply Watercolour Paper

• The Langton Prestige Watercolour paper

• The Langton Watercolour paper

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Brushes

• Acrylic brushes​

• Watercolour brushes

• Oil colour brushes

• Mixed Media brushes

• Palette Knives

Colour factory

Daler-Rowney’s main offices and colour manufacturing are situated in a four and half acre site on the edge of the green belt in Bracknell, Berkshire. This has been the hub of R&D, production and warehousing ever since the company moved from London in 1967 to keep pace with the rapid expansion of business in home and overseas markets. The move continued the company’s presence as a UK manufacturer of colour since 1783

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Production now consists of 27 filling lines handling everything from 5ml to 5L units in batch sizes from 10 units to 67,000 units.

Rowney's mill room, which is key to the outstanding quality of Rowney's colours such as Georgian oil or Cryla Heavy Body Acrylics, can produce batches of anything from 10L to 1,000L. Our current annual output is around 30-35million units per year with the capacity to reach 50million.

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Brushes Factory

In 1969, Robert Simmons, later to be acquired by Daler-Rowney Ltd, opened an artist brush factory in La Romana in the Dominican Republic. Robert Simmons was the US brand leader in art and craft brushes and the facility was well placed to service the US market and beyond.

Daler-Rowney acquired the business and the expertise of the artisans working there in 1994 and has since developed the site further. In addition to the continued brush production, canvases, sketchbooks, gummed and spiral pads and portfolios as well as paint sets and art kits are also manufactured on the 18,000 square metre site. It also became the first Free Trade Zone company in the Dominican Republic.

The site which counts 450 employees is committed to support them and the wider community. Daler-Rowney is not only assisting the Altos de Chavon Art School which is an internationally awarded Art School in La Romana - http://altosdechavon.edu.do/en/ - but is also creating projects with local artists.

The factory has recently received a special recognition award from the Dominican President Danilo Medina and in 2019 celebrated its 50th anniversary.