Nourishing Tradition with Laura Tofts

Part of learning about color is understanding it's many facets and cultural meanings. Laura Tofts passionately shares her perspective on color from a southern African point of view, describing Zimbabwe's color symbolism across pattern, natural pigments and minerals. Her goal is to bring global color conversations to Africa and spread its traditions with the world. 

Born 47 years ago in Zimbabwe to British immigrants, Laura grew up in the Capital City Harare and completed her High School education there.  In 1996, after completing Tertiary studies in Linguistics and Tourism, Laura moved to Brighton, Sussex, UK and gained experience in various Restaurants and Hotels before landing a position at the American Express Head Office in the European Corporate Travel Department. 

The Call of Africa was too much, and Laura returned to Zimbabwe in early 2000 and joined Avis Car Hire as The National Sales “Lady” .... Until political events in the country saw the rapid collapse of the tourism industry and a very depressed environment. At that point Laura decided it was time for a change and whilst working as a restaurant manager in a 5-star Restaurant in Harare, studied Accounting by night. Once qualified, Laura took up a role as Bookkeeper in a Paint Shop downtown ... and that’s when the Eureka moment happened, and the passion was ignited. 

The following year Laura opened her first Paint Wholesale Warehouse in the Light Industry Area, where she is still based today... 23 years later! Needless to say, Laura Tofts has extensive experience and deep knowledge about coatings and colour design. She is the only NCS qualified colour trainer in Zimbabwe, training architects, interior designers and anyone with an interest in colour. During the last 13 years, she has extended her skillset by delving deeply into specialist finishes, such as cement, texture, wallpaper, and anything else that adds dimensions to a wall. She has earned Certification from The Institute of Concrete of South Africa, specialising in cement for construction. Laura owns The Showroom (recently re-branded from Artisan), a surface design company that supplies top-quality products and creates unique finishes for residential and commercial projects. The Showroom is Zimbabwe’s main distributor of Medal Paints, Cemcrete, Earthcote, Jaxoleum and Wallpaper Inn, Eijffinger, ORAC, among others. 

Laura’s Instagram Page best summarises it all “Africa forever in my Soul, Colour all around me”. 

Thank you for listening! Follow us through our website or social media!

https://www.thecolorauthority.com/podcast
https://www.instagram.com/the_color_authority_/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/78120219/admin/

Transcript

Judith van Vliet: Welcome, everyone, back to the color authority. I know it's been a while. I've been. I've been a little bit busy, to be very honest. Some of you who know me personally, you may know that I moved from Milan, Italy, to Madrid, Spain, and that obviously always creates a little bit of upheaval in one's life. But I am super, super happy to be back here. And this is gonna be the first podcast for 2024, and I'm going to be interviewing Laura Tofts. I am passionate about everything that is color, which I think all of you know, but I'm also very passionate about knowing and learning about cultural differences. And that's exactly what we're going to be doing today. We're going to be learning even more about Africa as a continent, but mainly about Zimbabwe. Laura grew up in the capital city of Harare, and she completed her high school education there. She, however, in 1996, moved to Brighton in the United Kingdom, being born out of British immigrants in Zimbabwe, where she studied linguistics and tourism. After a couple of years in the United Kingdom, the coal of Africa was too much for her, and she returned to Zimbabwe in early 2000, where again she worked in tourism. When political events in the country saw the rapid collapse of the tours industry, creating a very depressed environment, she decided it was time for a change. And while working as a restaurant manager in a five star restaurant in Harare, she studied accounting by night. She started working as a bookkeeper in a paint shop downtown. And that's where her color journey started. Now, 23 years later, she's still in her paint wholesale warehouse in the light industry area. She's the only NCS qualified color trainer in Zimbabwe, training architects, interior designers with an interest in color. In the last couple of years, she specialized in special finishes such as cement texture, wallpaper, and anything else that adds dimension to a wall. Laura owns the showroom. How Laura best explains herself is Africa forever in my soul? Color all around me? Good morning and welcome everybody back to the color authority. And good morning, Laura from Zimbabwe. How are you this morning? And I wanted to welcome you as the first guest in 2024.

Laura Tofts: Thank you so much, Judith. And it's great to be here across the other side of the globe from you and everybody else. And, yeah, it's a sunny day here, really warm and hot. I see you wearing a jersey, so I hope I bring you a little bit of sunshine to your podcast today.

Judith van Vliet: Yes, I hope so, too. And we've talked about this before, when we first connected, I think a while ago. Like most people that have been to Africa. When you've been to Africa, it's like they say, the african fever, right? It's a continent, and with so many diversity, a big diversity in culture, color, obviously, languages, you get hooked very easily. At least I got hooked very easily with Africa, and that's also why I wanted to have you here on the podcast and to listen and to hear more about your perspective, living there, working there, being born there, of course, and what's happening in Zimbabwe.

Laura Tofts: Great. Thank you.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah.

Laura Tofts: I'll be so happy to share you and everybody about my beloved country.

Judith van Vliet: I always start with the same question, even though this is season five, I've decided to continue with that because I've had so many interesting answers to it, which is, what is color? So, personally, what is color to you?

Laura Tofts: Laura, Judith, thank you. I know this is your obligatory question that you ask everybody, but I think it's a great question, and it's one that means so much to me. So when I was at school, and as I'm sure almost 100% of the listeners as well, we were taught that color was three primary colors that you mix together, and you make a whole variety of colors and throw in a bit of black and white to get the different tones. But actually, color is a feeling. It's an emotion. It's something that evokes a memory, and it's something that also creates a memory. So it's something so much more than what you actually see, and this is what excites me and drives me. It's also what I'm willing to impart to any listener, anyone that's willing to listen to me. So as long as you have an audience and the audience have got time to spare me, I can bore you for days on it. Yeah.

Judith van Vliet: That's a beautiful answer. I think, indeed, I've heard, obviously, the answer of that. It's emotion, but I also like that it's a memory and that it is also a future memory, a past memory, and a future memory. When we talk about color in general. I've interviewed many people, and it's so funny that everybody came across color by mistake, just like suddenly it entered their lives. Or in my case, I had a great mentor who said, I'm going to put you on color because I think you're good at that. But what were your learning curves? Because you also came across color, not out of the blue, perhaps, but rather unexpectedly. When did you realize, I want to be in. What. What was it that hit you?

Laura Tofts: Yeah. So after finishing school in Zim, where I obviously grew up, I studied linguistics with tourism, and then I did. What's a rite of passage for a lot of Zimbabweans? And you go over to the UK. And I started working in American Express, in corporate travel, in the head office in Brighton, which lasted for almost five years. But the call of Africa was too much. And so I returned back home in 2000 and reentered the tourism industry, working as the Avis car rental national sales manager. But all of a sudden, there was massive, massive political upheaval in Zimbabwe. And we went from super busy and vibrant overnight to sitting across the desk in the office, looking at each other and wondering what we're going to do next. And no bookings. All the cars literally just sitting in the yard. So I thought, there's no way that I can do this. I can't keep coming to work every day. This is very depressing. What am I going to do? I've only ever done linguistics with tourism. Tourism. Instead, there are no foreigners coming to Zimbabwe. So I took up accounting by night to study, and then by day worked in a five star restaurant as a manager, which was lovely. Really enjoyed that. And so I studied really hard. And very soon now, I was qualified as a junior accountant and got a job in a paint shop downtown in Harare. And I was. So every day I'd go to work with the hopping a skip in my step, and I realized it definitely wasn't the accounts.

Judith van Vliet: Accounting is not something really that I don't think people are passionate about. They're just good at it, but not passionate.

Laura Tofts: Yeah, exactly. They're people that like order and repeat, repeat. And I realized it was every time a customer came in and they were asking the sales staff about color and paint, I would be sitting and eavesdropping and thinking, oh, I wonder what color they're going to land up choosing. And then I realized, no, it's the paint and the color that I'm loving so much. So I decided there and then to find a way to open a paint shop, even though I had no money. And the following year, I opened a paint shop in a light industry area in Harare, where I still am today. So that's like 22 years ago. That was the moment, yeah.

Judith van Vliet: Obviously, it seems rather logical that you would be in tourism, obviously, in such a beautiful country, because I've never been, but it speaks to, I think, many of us. But, yeah, I remember that time when Zimbabwe was hit very badly and everything just came to a stop. And then from accounting to color, I don't think I've heard that one before. No, but you are still in that exact shop that you have, which you've renamed, obviously, in the meantime, and it's been a success, apparently. So you're doing well, even though there was already another shop where obviously you learned more about color, about paint, listening to what people want, what they're needing. You had, like, indirect schooling, let's call it that way, and then a year after, you could open your own place. Well, so you've lived in the UK, as you said, and then Brighton, well known place, obviously, for so many of us who visited London, or at least the London area since many years. And then back in Zimbabwe, what were your learning curves when it comes to the cultural differences, which obviously are. They're huge, probably. But what lessons could you implement between having been as well in the UK and then Zimbabwe and having lived in those two worlds? What does give you that extra knowing those big differences, perhaps, where your competitors do not?

Laura Tofts: Yeah, I love this question. There's so many levels to this. So the one thing to start with is that my mum and dad are english, they're from London and they came out here to Zimbabwe in the early 70s. So I do have a British heritage, so going over there wasn't too much of a culture shock. So I would say that the key differences for me growing up in Zimbabwe and then doing my stint in the UK and then back to Zim, they were more social, environmental and certainly economic. So I would say those three areas really did strike me as very different and contrasting. So what do I mean by these things? So, on the social aspect, Zimbabwe, indefinitely in the 70s, when I was born here and going into the 80s, people were not very integrated between the different classes and obviously cultures. And in fact, I was born into the time of the Rhodesian war, which is actually statistically the longest running bush war in current history of the whole world. So it was a very tumultuous time. And although when the 80s came and there was peace, integration was very difficult because there's obviously pain and hurt on both sides. And then when the 2000 upheaval came, I think there was a second sort of jarring between classes and cultures, whereas I do find UK and Europe, people are a lot more integrated between. I mean, I know it's always isolated and people have different perspectives, but it definitely felt that way to me. But paradoxically, if you walk down the streets of Zimbabwe, everybody's like, hi, how are you doing? Everyone's got a willing smile and people are very open and kind and friendly, which is paradoxical, because, again, it's a generalization, so please don't anyone take offense, but when you walk down the streets in the UK, people are busy in their zone, there's not really much time to greet, and you might not even know your neighbor, even if.

Judith van Vliet: Especially not in London. If you say hi to people in London, they'll think you want something or there's something wrong with.

Laura Tofts: Yeah, yeah, it's a little bit crazy. That was a very strong difference between the two. And paradoxical as mean, the environmental is obvious because Zimbabwe has these big open spaces and great weather most of the year round. You can never really actually say that it's cold compared to other countries. The UK, whilst it does have open spaces, you live in small spaces and it's generally quite cold and gray, especially for me. And then economically, I mean, UK has been in the past, certainly when I lived there, somewhere very stable. You know, that for at least ten, five years, ten years, the price of bread is going to remain the same. And you pretty much know when you go to the bank, you can take money out. But those guarantees have never really existed in Zimbabwe. Prices change, so it's a very fluid and dynamic environment and you've really got to have a lot of resilience. And so I think for that reason, people in Zimbabwe are a lot of entrepreneurs. And you might have a job, but you might also sell things on the side on the weekend, because you just have to make hay while the sun shines because you don't know when it's next going to change. So you have the stable environment contrasting with this very unstable environment.

Judith van Vliet: It makes it more interesting as well. I know it's a bit of a hustler culture because, you know, definitely multiple things. But I think for a creative person like yourself, that's actually a very healthy environment, isn't it?

Laura Tofts: Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head there because I can't ever actually imagine not being in that kind of environment now. I think I would get bored very quickly. It would be a bit of light relief, we could say it'd almost be like going to a retreat, the economic retreat. But I think after a while, I'd be like, okay, I've had enough of that. Now I need to go back to somewhere that you've really got to be on alert a lot of the time and looking for opportunities and creating your pathway.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah. I think in a previous call you taught me what your Internet costs per month, and I was just, how is that possible? I mean, I'm even complaining about my 30 €40 a month and then when I hurt your prize, I'm like, okay, I'll stop complaining. And it's so funny about people. When we are in chaos, even as creatives, we thrive. But in the end, as humans, we always look for stability. But once we get stability, we're bored. So it's a funny balance, right?

Laura Tofts: It is a funny balance. But I do hope for the Zimbabwean people, we're in a really good space at the moment, and there's so much construction, so much vibrancy. And whilst there's still a lot of difficulties, it seems to be a great and exciting place to be.

Judith van Vliet: So I hope that continues, I think, in this moment. So it's interesting. And thank you for highlighting a little bit of the past of Zimbabwe, because I do think depending where you live in the world, we see that even what's happening today, people always have different opinions and different perspectives. And that also depends what you were taught in school and what your history books looked like. Definitely as Europeans, we have a different perspective on what happened in Europe. Now we know. But I think as growing up, there was not a lot of known about that. It was all about the Japan, United States, you know, a very western point of view, and not a lot of people know about Africa, not a lot of people know about Zimbabwe and what happened there. I studied political science, so there's also a personal interest of me. But I think it all has to do about the heritage of a country and how people work, how they live, how they think and how they use color, even though it's perhaps not directly or maybe indirectly, it is connected. But everything that obviously happened to us as a nation or as a people, it connects. And I've heard that with doing interviews with people, obviously from all around the world. Color is such a vibrant core element in every color culture. And we talked about this, I think, in one of the color chats of color marketing group when we first met. And you talked about different color needs in Zimbabwe and also South Africa, because I know you work also with South Africa. Can you tell the audience a bit about those differences? How are the Zimbabwe and south african differences so different from, for example, your experience in UK?

Laura Tofts: Yeah. So going back to that first time that we mean, it was another time of global upheaval. And actually that upheaval brought me into CMG. So I'm actually very grateful for it. A little bit like the political upheaval in Zim in 2000 brought me into the color world. So it just seems to be, that's my pattern. If there's upheaval. I have color growth, so I'm waiting for the next one. Because of the distance between Zimbabwe and Europe and Zimbabwe in the States. I always thought, oh my gosh, I'm never going to be able to attend one of these color chats and workshops. And then suddenly with COVID everything was online and I could sit at home, and as long as there was wifi and power, because also not guaranteed things, I could attend. And so I was gleefully paying and getting onto the workshop. And that very first one, we had a breakout. We were in a little breakout session in a little group, and I can't remember exactly what the workshop or what we were tasked to do, but it was specifically the description of a green as conifer green. And I was mean, I know what conifer green is because I've been to Europe, I have a european family background. I know what conifer green is.

Judith van Vliet: You don't have any?

Laura Tofts: There are some forests, pine forests, but if I actually did a know which had been planted for wood, but if I did a survey in downtown Harare or in rural Zimbabwe, and I said, do you know what conifer green is? I'm pretty sure the majority of people would shake their head and be blank. So that sort of pricked my ears up, and I communicated that to the group, and I was like, well, how does this color description appeals to, in my mind, actually, quite a small section of the globe, because Africa is huge, and I don't know about South America. If they can relate to Connor for green, I'm not sure, but it left me with a big question of how do we bring global color conversations also to southern Africa and make it something that is understood, and then vice versa? Reciprocal conversations about color and feeling from this side. So it opened up a big question for me. I don't know if I have the answer yet, but it's an exciting inroad.

Judith van Vliet: So it's language as well. I mean, it's funny. And we talk about, there's a color marketing group that we are very american oriented because the organization is based out of the United States. There's a lot of Canadians, there's a lot of people from Latin America, Asia, and Europe. It's funny how we talk about color. And that's why also I enjoy this podcast so much, but also the ones that I very often do with Latin America, it's different. And also they have different color needs. Like, they need certain colors to be in a palette, because for their continent, they need warmth, or they need, for example, a certain type of red or a certain type of yellow. How is that with the. I mean, there's so many different cultures in Zimbabwe within one country, so many different cultures, tribes, languages. But how would you be able to say, how do the Zimbabweans interpret color? How would they treat color symbolism or color language? So the green of the conifer green, how would that be described by somebody who's local?

Laura Tofts: Wow. How would they describe the conifer green to the first part of the question or statement? There are 70 different ethnic groups in Zimbabwe. So it's a lot. I mean, the population of Zim is only about 12 million currently, and it's a big country, so there are not many people, but there are a lot of different ethnic groups, and there are two main ones being the Shona and Ndebele. Interestingly enough, the key difference between the different ethnic groups in terms of communicating their different styles is not really color, it's pattern. So the different ethnic groups will either do decorate their bodies with patterns if they're in a specific ceremony or someone is getting married or something like that, or how they decorate their huts, how they now, as fabrics, make fabrics that represent their ethnic group. It's actually more about pattern because they all have a very similar color palette. I hate to disappoint, maybe you or listeners out there, but their color palette is actually quite muted compared to other african countries, and it's very much based on traditional pigments that are found across the whole country. It's a very mineral rich country, so Zimbabwe has a lot of access to a wide range of color pigments. The flag of Zim, however, and there's green in that, which is where I'm getting to, I suppose, in that way, the colors that were chosen for the Zimbabwe flag at the time of independence very much communicate a strong message and using interpretations of the colors that are more global language. So red, very much for the blood spilt during the liberation struggle, white for peace, which, again, is a global language. And green is for the nature, because there's so many national parks and open spaces, as well as agriculture, part of Zimbabwe, and yellow for the mineral richness in the country, and black for the people. So, conifer, back to the conifer green. It would be difficult to find anyone here in a more traditional, less traveled sense that would be able to describe it. I think it would just be a dark green or a green with black. There wouldn't be anything that they could sort of attach to it from traditional sense. So if I can just share with you a little anecdote on this point, is that if someone wears bright, garish colors traditionally, especially in the Shona culture in Zimbabwe, which is the dominant ethnic group, that is seen as being very garish, and you're showing off, and that is not a respected behavior. So unlike a lot of our neighbors, especially the sort of east coast Mozambique people are very colorful, and whereas in Zimbabwe, people are actually a lot more conservative and traditionally less bright and in your face and more sort of earthy and a muted palette. I hope that I can ruffle up the feathers a little bit here and keep introducing color and in a non garish and non offensive way. And the other thing, just about communication of color, another little anecdote that just popped in my head. There's only one word in Shauna for red and orange. There are not two words. So although everybody speaks English here, if you were talking about actually buying groups and ethnics and traditions, you wouldn't be able to communicate the difference between red and orange. It's just perceived as one color, this big can of worms opened as to where does one begin to have the color conversation.

Judith van Vliet: So you would probably say that it's a red with a lot of yellow, hoping that they'd understand. Yeah. Which in the end, that's what it is. Okay, so that's cultural. It's not because they can't see the color. It's purely cultural. It's just the word doesn't exist.

Laura Tofts: Yes, exactly. And although they use. When I say that the palette is quite muted. Red and orange are in the traditional palette because of the pigments from the earth. So anything with iron oxide in it. But of course, it's not bright red or bright orange. It's an earthy round in one.

Judith van Vliet: They're burned oranges and terra. Terra, obviously, of the earth, because that's obviously what also the continent is so famous for, which is this beautiful orange color of its sand and its earth we are seeing so interesting. I'm still on that. Orange and red is the same. My brain has difficulty understanding that. But it's normal. It's normal. And that's what makes it so interesting to know about different cultures. So what we see generally, I think, in the whole, the global south, is the connection back to one's origins and roots. And this is, I think it's been happening since a while. There's obviously a lot of protesting. There's people that want to go back to the heritage, and they feel that very need to go back to that. Is that something that you see also in Zim manifesting to move away from what is global, western, and something that really is going to those 70 ethnicities, for example.

Laura Tofts: Yeah, I love that question as well. So, Judith, do you remember in the NCS palette trend last year, there was passages. I love that. Well, the whole color palette with its sort of butternut and the deep red and all those lovely contrasting colors. And the whole story behind passages was so eloquently put by NTS, where we absolutely now understand where we're rooted, where we came from, and we always want to honor where we came from, as that's what's made us, and also that we just don't want our heritage and our roots to die. We need to keep them alive, but we also understand we have to move it into the present, and in order to keep up with the times and not get stuck in the past and remain innovative and referenceable. Last year, I was so inspired by that that I held an event at my showroom where we show off all our beautiful colors and finishes, and we invited the ladies from the mantopas, which is in the west of Zimbabwe, which is part of bien de Belene tribe. There's been a. I can't remember which year it started, but every year in May, June, which is the dry season, the ladies go out and mine pigments and then make up paints and paint their huts in their own unique patterns. And it became a dying thing until a lady decided to hold a competition. She was so inspired by the beautiful colors and patterns and this old tradition that she started running competitions. And it went from, I think, the first entry. There were, like, ten ladies, and now there are 200 people that enter every year. And then they go into all these rural settlements up in the matopus, which is actually a national park. A lot of national parks integrate villages with the national parks, and a lot of people, they still live a very traditional with nature and wildlife around them. And then a committee decides which area has won which prize. And these photographs were being collected and cataloged, and then a lady from the german embassy in Zimbabwe found them, and then she was like, wow, these are so cool. How are we going to get these patterns and designs and colors out there and give more money back to the community? So she started getting the ladies to paint traditional terracotta pots with their patterns and designs. So we invited the ladies to use the passages color trend and colors from that trend to paint the pots with their patterns, which we then brought to Harare with the ladies, and they shared their story with the audience, and people bought the pots. So for me, keeping, although it's not my. I very much feel that Zimbabwe is my home. So any way that we can participate on a color and pattern platform to keep traditions alive like that and bring them into a more modern, tangible sense, I'm there. I already want one, I'm sure. Exactly. And we're actually working as a committee now with fashion designers, jewelry designers, interior designers, and me on CMF to figure out how we can work with the ladies in the community and perhaps create, say, a 2024 Matopus collection. And I will definitely use the ncs to create a color palette directly based off of the pigments that they've used. I'm going there at the end of March for that exciting trip, and then to get it work with graphic designers and create the patterns into a usable format that can be translated onto wallpaper, fabric, whenever you want. This is so exciting.

Judith van Vliet: Like, I'm getting, like, goosebumps.

Laura Tofts: I know, actually, my eyes.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, I saw you tearing up, like, okay, this is really emotional, and it goes deep. Even as you said, I'm officially not. Well, you are zimbabwean, but you're not part of this ethnicity. It doesn't mean that you can't relate, and you're not empathetic, because it is your country. In the end, it's your.

Laura Tofts: Need to. We need to harness all our skills together to make these things happen. And so it's really exciting.

Judith van Vliet: When Africa was booming, everybody was talking about it. I think Africa is still booming, although you can't say Africa, because that's an entire continent. But for many years, it's been, obviously, Nigeria, which has been doing well in the tech world, but also in fashion. There's not just Nigeria. There's many countries, obviously. I remember doing a big trend story and color palette on some of these countries, and it's so interesting, the creative vibe, but we mainly talked about storytelling and how storytelling is. I think it's a global phenomenon, but it's especially an african phenomenon, because people would go from village to village to city to country and tell very what now is based on afrofictionism, of course, which also, again, is something that a lot of people have been talking about over the last couple of years. But how do you feel that storytelling also in Zimbabwe is related to design and color today? Because I do think this is such a big part of what is african culture and heritage.

Laura Tofts: Yeah, I mean, that has a little bit of a bittersweetness to it, because I think the first thing that came with independence was the wish to be as global and european and western as possible. That was the first thing, which is a very natural response to feeling suppressed and then wanting everything that you never had. A lot of the traditional. Yeah. The sharing of stories, passing down of traditions was shunned quite quickly, and the wish to westernize and be seen as more global was pushed forward. And, in fact, I mentored a lady last year. Nothing to do with color in boxing. One of my past lives, there was an amateur boxing match, and I helped her train for it. She didn't win, but she did really well, and we raised a lot of money. But she's a Shauna lady, and I spent so much time with her, obviously running up and down in hills at time and training early mornings, and she was just shared with me how she actually doesn't really know how to speak Shauna properly. So the art of storytelling and the sharing of stories definitely isn't something that has survived well here. I think it's more this pattern and color and traditional building. You see a lot of that, and it's not just because I work in the industry. There's a lot of that. And, in fact, there are a lot of amazing young and up and coming architects and interior designers who use very modern finishes and styles, but they always inject it with as much traditional pattern and color as they can. And this project that I was telling you about before is definitely one of the ways that we hope to keep that alive. I'm sorry to say that I don't have anything really good to say about that side of it, but there is the awareness of this young lady that I mentored. She is now relearning Shona, her own traditional language. She's also asked her auntie to. Very elderly auntie, please, can you tell me the stories? And I will write them down. So I think there's been an awakening, a reawakening to the fact that, no, we actually can't lose those stories. So I hold out hope that the storytelling will have a resurgence and at least be documented that we can read the stories and share them in a different format to the traditional think it's.

Judith van Vliet: And that's why it's so interesting to hear just about, in this case, Zimbabwe, because there are so many differences between the liberation of all these african countries that came about in a different way, some maintaining a little bit more, and some only now then going back to the heritage and their past. And I think it's beautiful that your friend is actually going to write down those stories, because obviously, when this auntie, who is, I imagine, at a certain age, again, a lot of heritage is lost. So it's important to write it down to make sure that it's actually shared with the next generations. You talked about, indeed, your passion for special finishes, but also about the typical constructions and the typical architecture in Zimbabwe. Now, you also certified then in cement. I imagine that that also has a specific reason. Can you tell us a little bit more about this?

Laura Tofts: Yeah. Besides a traditional flat paint finish and all colors, that inspired me. Very soon, I was like, what can I add to my coatings range, available in my shop? That speaks to the traditional tinted plaster that you see all over Africa. And I know also in the south of Europe, you also see a lot of that, which makes sense with Morocco being so close, because I always loved it. I always loved the imperfectness and the movement of color and the different shades. So on one of my trips to South Africa, I came across a company that translated that look into cementitious products. So tinted cementitious products that could be combed on, brushed on, troweled on, polished for walls and floors and swimming pools. And I was like, that's it. There it is. So on one of their business trips, too, I met with them, and then they came up to Zimbabwe to do a trade fair. And then they offered me the agency for Zimbabwe. And that was 13 years ago. And how I remember that is I was standing at the trade fair heavily pregnant with my third son. And I always remember, right, it was at that time. This product is. And this finish, people just love it. I think they can relate to it, whether it doesn't matter if they're from a european background or from a zimbabwean background. And also now with this sort of resurgence of young and upcoming architects and designers who are using traditional aspects in their modern designs, we're able to translate these products into very refined finishes. But then speak to the past. And I've done quite a few over the last two years where it's a traditional hut design, but in a modern take. And then instead of using the painting of the walls like these ladies, we use stains and stencils and create a very refined version of it. And it's beautiful. So I think that's what drove me today.

Judith van Vliet: I think indeed, when you're looking less where I am in Madrid, in Spain, but if you go indeed to Alalusia, it's full indeed also of this very similar and obviously Greece as well. But yeah, especially the south of Spain, which obviously had a big african and arab influence. You can definitely see that. And it's something that I've also seen then visiting Morocco I think it's interesting because it's so simple. In the end, it's cement, but exactly because it is cement. You have so many opportunities. And what we are seeing right now is obviously the 3d printing of cement or recycled cement. Reinforced cement. Is that a technique they're also using in Zimbabwe already, or is that also something that you see upcoming to change the industry?

Laura Tofts: Well, I haven't seen any printing, 3d printing with cement in Zimbabwe. I have come across a couple of 3d printing guys who are doing small things with sort of plastic, but it isn't a big thing right now. I did see, as a side note, I saw them, they were printing. I saw online someone printing a house out of mud. 3d printing a house out of mud. Did you see that? Out of earth? I just thought that was super cool. That technology definitely hasn't landed yet. There's actually still a strong push towards things like rammed earth, more traditional methods. There's actually a whole department in the Zimbabwe government research where they're continuously researching about using natural earth products. I'd love to see that. Have you seen.

Judith van Vliet: Some smaller? Because these are always projects that start small. I've seen 3d printed houses. They were not in cement. Not in reinforced cement. But I saw the Eindhoven design week. So the dutch design week last year, I saw some tests and trials with it that they're using cement. Indeed. And it's very interesting because obviously you can create different textures and different, not just texture, but also different patterns, which is really interesting, I think. And there's not a lot of waste. I think it's an interesting trend. I don't think it's mass production yet, but what I do sometimes see is that countries that are not part of global north, they talk about sustainability, they don't quite implement it. And what I've seen traveling as well to Africa, but also to Latin America, for example, they're more keen on trying new things, even though it has a smaller setup. It's not mass production, but they actually already have in place a lot more of sustainability practices than we do in Europe and the United States.

Laura Tofts: There are two or three other projects that are happening in zil, not 3d printing. But you triggered some memories here. The plastic obviously is something that we're globally afflicted by. And there's a lot of plastic in Zim, I don't think. We're certainly not the worst in Africa because the numbers of people and not a huge amount of wealth. I find with wealth comes more plastic.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah.

Laura Tofts: There are a lot of guys that go around the streets picking up plastic, because if they take them to the plastic banks, they get money. These are unemployed people. And a friend of mine has got funding and has started creating aggregate from plastic. And he actually lives in Victoria Falls, which is a world Heritage site, as you know. And there's a massive rubbish dump there, driven obviously by a lot of it is by the tourism and the wildlife traips through the rubbish dump, and there's a lot of issues of death associated by plastic. And so that's why he's driving that with his friends there. And he works in construction, so they might not be 3d printing, but there are these other exciting things. And in Bulaway, there's a young guy there that also got a lot of funding for his idea, and he has a brick making machine which is also using plastic. And then in Harare, another lady takes all the plastic and she makes plastic twine from it and which then can be used to make furniture or baling and anything like that, and also plastic refuse bags with 100% from waste. So there are other ways that it's happening here, which I always salute those guys, and they all need a good mention.

Judith van Vliet: They do. No, thank you for doing that. I remember when I did my podcast with Tandiwe, the photographer in Kenya, and she mentioned this too, that she makes in her photography. She tries to visualize always daily objects from kenyan life or african life. And often they are in plastic because they're repurposed, because indeed, you work with the resources that you have available. And here we have so many that we're like, going to get something new and make something new out of mean. That's also changing in the design industry. This week we've got Madrid design festival. You see that also here designers are changing and recyclability, environmental issues. It's no longer trend. It's like, it needs to be part of what you produce. Because if you decide to produce something new, you better do it well, or you need to know about the impact that it's having. Right. And that's something that indeed, in Zimbabwe happens, but then in a different way, due to the economical climate, what is next for you and what are other opportunities that you see? Because she said, Zimbabwe is doing well. There's change, there's positivity, there's optimism. So what are you working on next? And also, how is that connected to the country?

Laura Tofts: So apart from the Matovatak project that I told you about personally? Well, I'm expanding my retail to cope with the demand. So that's very exciting. So that's just exciting for me and my customers, making it more accessible. I think, as you know, I want to expand my knowledge of CMF on a material finish so that I can then impart that knowledge and grow the industry here in a very positive way. And also then being able to reciprocate by sharing zimbabwean colors, traditions, patterns, globally and be able to communicate backwards. So I think I need to empower myself with knowledge before we can do it the reverse way, so that we're all speaking the same language and we've all got the same reference point. And yeah, as I start to grow older, I would really like to spend a lot of time teaching and empowering. We do a lot of painters training, and that's our sort of corporate social responsibility. And I love doing that because what I found also is that as Zimbabwe's economy declines, the oldest child in the family often had to leave school early and therefore is basically illiterate. And then how do they ever get a job? But you don't need to be fully literate to paint. So we hold painting workshops and we find these young men and women, and then we train them for free. And if they keep coming and they committed, they get certification. And then we help them find their little line and they either join the company or help them empower themselves and earn an income.

Judith van Vliet: That's beautiful.

Laura Tofts: So I would love to keep doing stuff like that.

Judith van Vliet: I think it's a balance between obviously having to pay the rent, obviously like everybody else, but also making sure that that miracle stick, which is color, is passed on to a lot of people. So a lot of people will be knowing more about color, learning about color, learning how to apply it, and especially then in Zimbabwe's case, have a know to be able to really make it part of their daily lives and literally put bread on the table.

Laura Tofts: Yeah, it is. It's exactly that. You put the nail on the coming to Zimbabwe.

Judith van Vliet: I'd love to be part of some of these projects for.

Laura Tofts: Oh, that's wonderful. You're welcome anytime, anytime.

Judith van Vliet: Well, this has been. I always say that. I always say that. And after to whoever I'm going to meet throughout the day, like I did a podcast, I feel so energized. And that, again, was so much the case with you. These are, for me at least, moments of inspiration, sharing experiences, and getting so much knowledge into my tiny little head that it always makes my day. So thank you so much for being part on the color authority, Laura.

Laura Tofts: My goodness, thank you. I feel so know, I feel that I've managed to convey so much in such a short time, and you've made me feel even more passionate about my country and what I do somehow. So I don't know if that was possible. And just thanks for the opportunity to share the story with a global audience, and I really look forward to the next time that we meet online and in person in the future.

Judith van Vliet: I hope you enjoyed this last episode. If you are a fan of the color Authority podcast, please let us know by reviewing and rating our show on whichever platform you're listening on. The next episode is coming out next month, and in the meantime, I'm wishing you a wonderful, colorful day.