In arty circles Green and Stone (G&S) have always had the edge on hand-made framing and supplying art materials. G&S are a legendary family business based in London’s Kings Road since 1934; the family changed from the Green family to the Baldwin family in 1978. The shop was famously a creative hub of information for artists and an invaluable treasure trove of quality paraphernalia for drawing, painting and giving. Beginners and serious artists gather here to browse and purchase essential or rare canvases, papers from Japan-India-Nepal and Bhutan, brushes, artist’s oil, acrylic and water colours, including the specialist Charvin collection, made on the French Riviera and used by Cezanne and Bonnard.
Over the years G&S have supplied materials to HRH the Prince of Wales and Prince Philip, Anish Kapoor, John Cleese, Billy Connolly, Quentin Blake, Augustus John, Eduardo Paolozzi, Margaret Thatcher, Francis Bacon and Paul Wyeth; the list of past and present customers reads like a Who’s Who of the art world.
The Baldwin’s have grown the business so successfully that last year they outgrew the Kings Road premises and moved to the nearby Fulham Road, where they are surrounded by some of London’s premier interior designers. During the move Rodney Baldwin transferred the management of everything to his delightful and vivacious daughter Hester Baldwin. Hester works in the shop engaging with customers and artists, she is not painter but extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic about her products; it is refreshing to meet someone so excited about what they do every day.The new shop is even better than the old shop, instead of the old double fronted shop, G&S now occupies two shops joined together, the front half of No. 251 is the new gallery and No. 253 is the shop, there is also a huge double lower floor. The light from the back and the front transforms the myriad displays in the shop; the combined shop and gallery have natural flow through, the product range has grown to include small antiques (glasses-inkwells), gifts, stationery, artists accessories, crafts, art classes and equipment for children. The selection of art kit selected from global sources by the 22 staff must be unparalleled in the world of physical retailing. All the staff are part-time so the rest of the time they can be artists, when I visited G&S they were gearing up for the staff artwork show in the gallery.
The gallery is painted in a pleasing shade of grey, suited to the exhibition at that time ofthe garden paintings of Kate Corbett-Winder; Kate joined an illustrious list of previous exhibitors including Emma Sargeant, Mariella Baldwin and Manolo Blahnik. Kate is as renowned for her gardening skills as her painting skills, one feeds the other, this was her third dedicated show and the abundance of red dots indicated the demand for her loose colourful compositions.During the spring and summer Kate splits her day between her flowerbeds and her studio in Wales, always experimenting with the texture, colour and pattern of her planting/painting. She photographs everything, thus providing inspiration for her paintings during the gloomy winter months when her garden is dormant. Kate’s paintings personify her passion for her art and provided an enticing invitation to the wonderful world of Green and Stone.