A new paint job can do wonders, whether it’s a home, a factory or a ship that you’re renovating. It not only freshens things up and provides a striking new look, but it can also give effective protection against the elements.

Sigma Coatings has long been a market leader in Malta’s paint industry, and ‘protecting and beautifying the world’ is at the heart of what it does. The Sigma Coatings brand is built on 300 years of experience in the paint business, and its link to Malta goes back some sixty years, first in the marine and industrial business, and then in the architectural paints market.

I met with Patrick Tabone, Managing Director at Sigma Coatings (Malta) Ltd (Sigma Coatings Malta), to have a better understanding of what the company offers and its plans as it continues to service a wide range of clientele and economic sectors.

Mr Tabone immediately refers to the long heritage of the company. The Chairman of the company, Anthony Critien, has been connected to the Sigma brand since the 1960s, helping to provide premium-quality marine paints to ships docking at the Malta Dry Docks.

By the 1980s, Sigma Coatings Malta was established and began local production, also moving into the Architectural Coatings (home paints) sector, where it has become a market leader.

Internationally, Sigma Coatings is now a brand of PPG, a leading multinational coatings company headquartered in Pittsburgh operating in more than 70 countries. This gives Sigma Coatings Malta access to a vast range of products and solutions and to a massive capacity for research and innovation.

I asked Mr Tabone what distinguishes Sigma Coatings Malta from its competitors in the architectural paints market. Here, his emphasis is very clear: Sigma Coatings paints provide superior, consistent performance. While they might not be the cheapest paints calculated per litre, they represent excellent value when their high quality and longer lifetime are taken into account.

“Many people don’t necessarily look forward to renovations. They just want their home to look great, and they want the paint job to last as long as possible – a reliable, high performance paint that will give them a few extra years before needing a touch-up is always worth investing in.”

In fact, he goes on to say, Sigma paints are particularly prized and insisted upon by users who know they will live closely with the results of their work – for example homeowners, large organisations with their own maintenance teams, like hotels and schools, and quality contractors who care about their reputation.

When asked to what he attributed this reputation for consistence and high performance, Mr Tabone pointed to the company’s international links. “Producing paints under licence to a major multinational like PPG means the highest production standards, including closely audited processes and the use of only the best raw materials sourced from pre-approved suppliers. Once you are using the best raw materials, and you are processing them in tried and tested ways, you are going to get consistently great results.”

But quality is not only restricted to the actual paint in the bucket, Mr Tabone is keen to insist; it also extends to the services around it.

“Take colour for instance. We don’t just have any old colour chart; we are part of the Voice of Colour, a purposely designed colour system developed by PPG that plugs us into a whole raft of colour tools that our customer can use.”

The 2023 PPG Colour of the Year, for example, is Vining Ivy. According to PPG, it “intertwines a bold blue and a refined green to create a colour symbolic of deep water.”

The Voice of Colour chart itself is now available online, allowing clients to explore a vast range of colours from the comfort of their home. Furthermore, an easy-to-use tool called the Colour Visualiser allows anyone to upload photos of their own rooms or buildings to see how they would look painted in any colour.

The company has also built up an extensive gallery of pictures showing how different rooms, such as bedrooms, or kitchens, may be painted to beautiful effect.

All of these tools are available here. “We can all do with a little inspiration sometimes,” smiled Mr Tabone.

He also points to the strong network of retail outlets across the islands that stock Sigma paints. There are around 150 hardware shops across Malta and Gozo that offer products from Sigma, and around 25 of them also have Sigma Coatings tinting machines that can mix any shade required on the spot.

The company continues to invest heavily in its production facilities and assets, with the twin objectives of increased sustainability and constant improvement. Mr Tabone noted that Sigma Coatings Malta is now completely energy self-sufficient thanks to renewable sources, and even supplies a considerable amount of surplus energy to the national grid. It also ensures the recycling and reuse of water in the production process resulting in very limited wastage.

As I researched this piece, I found that Patrick Tabone is also a keen athlete specialising in ultrarunning, including an unprecedented 190km run for charity around Malta and Gozo’s coastline. Among his latest runs was the 100km Eiger Ultra-Trail mountain run, with an elevation gain of 6700m – a massive challenge requiring a lot of stamina without any doubt.

Very much like the products on offer by Sigma Coatings Malta, durability seems to be a part of the package.