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I\u2019m Josh Cooperman, host and publisher of Convo By Design and this is a new series of the show called The Design Messengers. A Monday episode of the show sharing design trade info you need to know. I have three items of interest for you. The loss of another design industry brand, a new Booklook. Call this something old and something new, about something old.
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\nFirst up, the loss of another iconic brand. Kelly Moore Paints. The global design business doesn\u2019t have enough brands. Think about it, let\u2019s just look at paint\u2026 Sherwin Williams, Farrow and Ball, Benjamin Moore, Behr, Valspar, Backdrop, Rust-Oleum. It sounds like a lot but it\u2019s really not when you think about how many residential, commercial and industrial projects need to be served. When one is lost, you have to wonder why and what the ramifications will be.
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\nAs of this writing, Kelly-Moore has not announced its closure on the website or socials, which I find disappointing. If you are going to bail, tell your customers first, as loudly as you can. Yes, you will lose sales, but it\u2019s the right thing to do. Thank goodness for good journalism. On Friday, January 12th, Kelly-Moore Paints in Irving, Texas let hundreds of workers go and in a press release, announced what they call a \u201c\u2026 Plan of r Orderly, Ou-of-Court Wind Down of Company Operations.\u201d The company pointed to a decades long legal struggle stemming from asbestos litigation. Kelly-Moore estimated legal liabilities in excess of $170 million. A number, they apparently could not overcome.
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\nThe company was founded by William Kelly and William Moore in California, 1946 and acquired by Flacks Group in 2022. Tis is a company that was founded on fair value, fair pricing and offering a designer quality paint to the masses. They were one of the largest independents in the country with over $400 million in annual sales. \xa0
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\nFrom the press release in September 2022, their goals and aspirations were big. \u201cThe purchase of Kelly-Moore Paints is part of Flacks Group\u2019s multi-stage investment thesis around industrial companies with strong manufacturing footprints and global distribution. The acquisition, when combined with its existing portfolio company Germany-based Pleuger Industries, puts Flacks Group\u2019s industrial vertical on track to exceed $1 billion in revenues in the next two to three years.\u201d That presser did not age well.\xa0
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\nI have a BookLook for you. A new book by Elizabeth and Ethan Finkelstein. They are the founders of @CheapOldHouses and hosts of HGTV\u2019s show by the same name. I am not a huge fan of the made for TV shows about design these days for one main reason, the are not authentic. They aren\u2019t real when it comes to taste, style and design-build. But i\u2019m not a hater, I just want better. And this show is a favorite of mine. I believe Elizabeth and Ethan, I believe in them. I love old houses, renovations and road trips. All of this is incorporated in the show and when I received the book, I found something more to love. The book is a series of short tories about\u2026 cheap old houses. The places, people, kids, dogs and how much these homes cost to buy and restore.
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\nThis is a big deal and I will tell you as someone who left LA for a smaller town, lives in an old home and one that is in the process of being reimagined, as you can see through the Tulsa Remote Design House segments on the show and videos on our IG feed. I can tell you, leaving the big metropolitan city for a smaller town,