In the Beginning 

In 1766 William Reeves opened his first shop near St Paul’s Cathedral in Well Lane, Little Britain where he manufactured and sold his own paints. The business was doing so well that he took his older brother Thomas into partnership.  

Reeves was a family orientated business where William’s brothers, children and extended family all helped to give Reeves the quality reputation that it still holds today. However, it was the successful marketing of the Moist Watercolour Paint-Cake invented by William Reeves, which placed Reeves at the forefront of manufacturing artists’ materials. 

Read on 

The shop had a basement in which three young apprentices ground the pigment, and used a new and secret process to develop the innovative water colour paint-cakes.
William and Thomas were so proud of their invention that they sent a sample embossed with the original bluecoat boy device to the society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce. The society of Arts (now known as the Royal Society of Arts) was suitably impressed by Reeves’ refinement of watercolour paints through the invention of the moist paint cake and in 1781 were awarded the Messrs Reeves the ‘Great’ silver palette ‘for the manufacture of Watercolour improved’!

 Read the next chapter