John Stubbs, Founder & CEO whose father had to quit school at age 15 and find a job in a car paint workshop in North London, grew up fascinated by design and the environment. Throughout his career — whether it was volunteering on conservation projects, working with retail extraordinaire Mary Portas or delivering complex industrial design projects for global brands — he has always pushed for making a positive impact for people and the planet.

Supported by Emma Bestley, Co-Founder & Creative Partner and friend of over 20 years — and both unemployed, entering the first UK lockdown due to Covid-19, and with no money in the bank, they have since grown YesColours into the UK’s newest and most exciting homegrown paint brand. Attracting major influencers and stylists, as well as powerhouse architectural and creative partners to a new vision of what a paint company should be, stand for and who it should serve.

imilarly obsessed with colour and design Emma also is one of the lucky few to have Grapheme Colour Synesthesia, which means her brain merges her senses so she always sees colour and emotions in words, numbers, and even days of the week. Alongside her artistic talents as a painter, Emma has worked in museums, fashion buying and events within the media industry, including one of the world's most recognised advertising agencies.

The YesColours palette, born of Emma and John’s inspirations from around the world, real-life experiences, food and music, are all part of our mission to open up colour to everyone — enabling people to be confident in the colour choices they make, not led by trends or seasons but instead led by one thing: a love of colour.

Not just meant to inspire, our palette is intended to be culturally diverse, along with aiming to increase wellbeing for those of us now using our homes as our places of work, fitness, and even education — which has been thrown into the spotlight since Covid-19 with increased homeworking and pressure on our most precious of things: our private space.

YesColours is also taking a different approach to sustainability — by focusing on UK-based issues such as waste, recycling and landfill, along with supporting innovative new technologies developed by UK manufacturers. YesColours use sustainable raw materials, design and production based in the UK to offer up alternative products that benefit the environment as well as making it easier for customers to make better informed choices, and recycle their waste more easily.

Our paint is just the start of the journey — and we can’t wait for what’s to come.

Welcome to the world of YesColours.