International Paint, abbreviated as International, is a brand of the Marine & Protective Coatings business unit of AkzoNobel.
History
In 1881, the German brothers Max and Albert Holzapfel, along with Charles Petrie, founded the Holzapfel Compositions Company Ltd in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, producing marine coatings for the local shipping industry. The name International was then coined as their paint brand. The company expanded, first moving to larger premises in Gateshead, and in 1904 to a large factory in Felling, where its modern-day headquarters are located.[2][3]
As early as 1889, the company took production to Russia, Denmark, Italy and Germany, and in 1901 to the United States, where it was registered under the name International Paint Co. Inc. in New Jersey, with production taking place in Brooklyn, New York. In the period before the First World War, new factories were added in Sweden, France and Japan