There is a specific kind of weekend silence in New Zealand. It’s the sound of a lid being pried off a tin, the rhythmic schloosh-schloosh of a wooden stirring stick, and the satisfying, tacky “thwack” of a brush meeting weatherboard. Whether it’s a weathered garden shed, a spare bedroom destined for a new arrival, or the entire salt-sprayed exterior of a classic Kiwi villa, painting is more than a chore—it’s a rite of passage for the New Zealand homeowner.
In an era where the cost of living has us all checking our balances, the luxury of “calling the painters in” is becoming a rarity. Instead, we’re rolling up our sleeves. There’s a profound, quiet pride in standing back—sore shoulders, paint-flecked hair, and all—to look at a perfectly coated wall and think, I did that. But because it’s a big, exhausting job, we only want to do it once. We want a paint that survives our brutal UV rays and horizontal rain; we want a paint that doesn’t harm the backyard we love; and deep down, we want a paint that started right here. We want a paint that feels like family.
The Man in the Garage
Resene’s test pots were first of their kind in New Zealand
The Resene story doesn’t begin in a sleek corporate boardroom, but an Eastbourne garage near Wellington. Ted Nightingale was a builder who was introduced to concrete construction by the Americans during the war. He soon saw its advantages and was quick to incorporate concrete into his and his clients’ buildings. He had one significant problem however: the paints available at the time failed over concrete (and other cementitious surfaces like plaster) due to its alkalinity.
Most available paints and coatings were oil-based. When you put oil-based paint onto alkaline concrete, a nasty chemical reaction called “saponification” occurs. Essentially, the lime in the concrete reacts with the oil in the paint, turning the coating into a sticky, useless mess that literally turns into soap and slides off the walls.
Ted knew he needed an alkali-resistant coating—one that wouldn’t react with the concrete’s volatile chemistry and would help weatherproof the building. His efforts resulted in a cement-based coating he called Stipplecote, which was also the name he gave his fledgling business. Soon he had given up building and became a paint manufacturer.
In the late 1940’s Ted developed a product called Cemstick which in simple terms was a PVA additive for both concrete and for Stipplecote. Cemstick improved the flexibility and adhesion and was soon licenced around Australasia. Not long after, he was visited by a British supplier who told him that they were experimenting with the PVA used in Cemstick to make a true waterborne paint.
As you can no doubt imagine, it was not long – 1951 to be exact, that Ted developed one of, if not the first, true waterborne paints in the Southern Hemisphere.
He called his new paint “Resene PVA Semi-Gloss’, with the name Resene a derivative from the resins used to make his paint.
The Great Shop-Window Scepticism
Today, we take water-based paint for granted. In 1951, it sounded like a scam. “If I can wash the brush in water,” people reasoned, “the first time it rains, my whole house will wash away.”
Ted Nightingale was as much a showman as he was a chemist. To prove his critics wrong, Resene set up in-store demonstrations. Passers-by and painters would stop in their tracks to watch a man paint a board, then immediately—right there in front of them—rinse his brushes in a bucket of clear water. The crowds waited for the paint on the board to dissolve or run. It didn’t. It stayed firm, vibrant, and tough. It was a “seeing is believing” campaign that broke the lead-based paint monopoly and changed the New Zealand landscape forever.
Innovation
Tony Nightingale
As the business grew, it remained a family affair. Ted eventually handed the reins to his son, Tony Nightingale. Tony took his father’s inventive spirit and added a massive dose of colour. Under Tony’s leadership, Resene didn’t just sell paint; they worked closely with architects, helping with specifications and mixing colours for them. They also changed the industry by going directly to professional painters, essentially cutting out the middlemen, who at that point controlled the New Zealand paint market.
It was this symbiotic relationship with the design community that lead to Resene and Tony’s gamble on colour, and in 1969 launched the British Standard 101 colour chart. With 101 colours, it was an instant hit with architects and homeowners, so much so that a Listener article on design listed it as an essential design tool.
It also required the development of a point-of-sale tinting system, one of the first globally and a game-changer. Since then, Resene has been synonymous with colour, with a procession of innovative and exciting developments achieved, based around colour and quality.
These include the introduction of a comprehensive range of Testpots, virtual colour systems, colour bases, as well as venturing into colour spaces not previously available in standard DIY paint finishes.
Resene’s also has a keen sense of community spirit. This community spirit extended to the very streets we walk on. Through the PaintWise program, launched in 2004, Resene found a brilliant way to handle “leftover” paint. While the metal tins are crushed and recycled, the unused waterborne paint is collected and often donated to community groups and local councils. This “recycled” paint has become a secret weapon in the fight against graffiti. By providing free or low-cost paint to cover up tags, Resene has helped keep New Zealand towns looking sharp, turning what would have been waste into a community asset that restores pride to our neighbourhoods. One of Resene’s most recent products is Re-Paint, sold through Mitre 10. It is available in a limited number of colours and is made using recycled Resene paint.
80 Years of Trust: A Legacy Continued
As we move through 2026, Resene is celebrating a staggering 80 years since Ted Nightingale mixed that first batch in his garage. Today, the legacy continues through the third generation, with Tony’s son, Nick Nightingale, leading the company. In a world where iconic local brands are often sold off to massive offshore corporations, Resene’s independence is a point of national pride. It means the values Ted started with—innovation, quality, and looking out for the person next door—haven’t been lost.
Nick has ensured the brand stays as fresh as a new coat of “Alabaster.” They’ve led the way in Environmental Choice-approved paints, ensuring that the air our children breathe inside our homes is as clean as the air outside. They’ve embraced the modern DIYer, providing the tools, YouTube tutorials, and expert advice that turn a daunting job into a rewarding weekend project.
Resene didn’t become a household name through flashy global advertising budgets. It became a household name because it was tested—by our notoriously fickle coastal weather, by the sticky fingers of three generations of children, and by the sheer grit of the weekend warrior.
In survey after survey—including those carried out by Reader’s Digest—everyday New Zealanders have consistently named it the country’s most trusted paint. Why? Because we know that inside every tin is 80 years of Ted’s garage-born ingenuity, a lot of Kiwi heart, and a finish that makes us proud to stand back and say, “I did it myself.” It is more than just paint; it is the colour of our history and the protection for our homes’ future.
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