Inside Atelier Ellis: Cassandra Ellis on Purpose and Paint

Everything Cassandra Ellis does in her new studio, and by extension through her paint brand, Atelier Ellis, radiates a quiet, grounded stoicism. Take their mindful approach to sample pots. “We used to offer them, but it really bothered me because I know what happens to them,” Cassandra explains. Instead, customers receive cards brushed in the brand’s thoughtfully curated tonal palette, providing a way to reduce waste without compromising on beauty. “Have you seen one of our paint charts?” she asks, before showing me a collection of hand-painted brushstrokes. “Everything is assembled by hand, but beautifully done,” she adds. “I want it to offer a visceral pleasure.”

Having opened its doors in July, the new Atelier Ellis studio is a welcoming space rooted in utility. Tables sourced from a medical supplier are set on casters, allowing for maximum fluidity and ease. The walls, painted in Khadi and Clarissa, provide a soft backdrop to the precise rows of steel shelving, neatly lined with gleaming paint tins ready to be mixed and labelled to order.

Cassandra begins her mornings at her desk at the front of the building, opposite a growing library of books about topics ranging from Cy Twombly to Norwegian architecture, giving her a moment to gather her thoughts. “We’re thinking about what we should be doing in five, 10, 20 years. Our tagline is, ‘It’s beautiful here’,” she says, “And I mean that in every aspect of what beauty is, not just visually or aesthetically, but materially and environmentally. All of it.”

Fellow New Zealander Janet Frame’s autobiography To the Is-land rests on a shelf above her desk, alongside a poetic note she wrote to capture the inspiration behind her upcoming paint collection. Launching in 2026, the new palette draws from the muddy, migrating tones of the River Thames and acts as a symbolic homecoming after a brief chapter when the brand relocated to the Georgian city of Bath. Returning to London hadn’t been part of a grand plan, but when sourcing a new factory drew Cassandra and her husband Ed back to Sussex, a return to the city felt like a logical and welcome step, ”It’s given me a complete sense of freshness. I’m meant to be back here.”, she says.

Her days are spent in conversation with the brand’s chemist – whom she persistently challenged to develop a cleaner, more eco-conscious resin – and mixing paint colours herself on the drums at the back of the studio. “Like anyone who’s started a business,” she says, lifting a paint tin from the shelf, “I’m constantly jumping between tasks.”

While the team gathers for lunch around the communal table – the same one that hosted a large celebratory dinner when the space was finished – Cassandra mixes ‘Beginnings’, a soft, pale pink, to show me. “I make the colours. Every colour here, I’ve created and then formulated,” she says. With a quick glance at her notebook, she inputs the balance of cyan, magenta, black and yellow, and the drum begins to spin. Within seconds, a delicately pink, deliciously thick paint emerges. “We built a system so we never have to waste materials,” she adds with quiet satisfaction.

A recent collaboration with the Hepworth Wakefield gallery offers a glimpse into Cassandra’s exacting approach to colour. “That’s the formula for Molten,” she says, pointing to the computer. “I was trying to create a shade that looked like Tony’s Chocolonely.”

We move to the front of the building, where a dedicated space allows customers to explore paint finishes carefully applied to offcuts of skirting boards. As Cassandra reflects, “I studied economics at university, and I remember a teacher talking to me about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Home has to be safe, it has to be protected, it has to be uplifting. I think that was the beginning of my life’s purpose. That’s what I was searching for, something that could offer all of that.”

The brand’s eco-conscious philosophy of “not adding to the burden” is evident in even the smallest details. Marble offcuts have been repurposed into worktops and shelving, elevating what others might have discarded. As a former bottle factory, the building holds a legacy of labour and utility — a spirit Atelier Ellis continues to honour through its quiet, purposeful ethos. 

Back in the office, Cassandra gestures toward her 1940s desk. “Some of these things have been with me since I started the business,” she says. “That’s the desk I banged my first tin on. She’ll always be there.”

Running the business alongside her husband gives them complete control over what comes next, freeing them from the pressure to constantly expand into new product lines or areas of the industry. “Do I want to think about shipping tiles?” Cassandra muses, then answers simply, “No. I think you should stick to what you do best, be careful with your growth, and stay welcoming. That’s the job.”

Learn more about Atelier Ellis here.