For Mathilde Barthoux, color is more than just a creative pursuit – it’s a strategic business lever. As a color stylist and marketer for our Architectural Coatings business in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, she translates global trends and regional insights into palettes that connect with customers, differentiate brands, and drive growth.
“Color influences how we feel and how brands stand out – it can bring calmness, energy, or even confidence. A part of my role is to turn those emotions into design solutions that inspire and help our customers to create unique spaces using our products.”
Based in France, Mathilde supports our leading decorative paint brands, including RIPOLIN™, GUITTET™, and SEIGNEURIE™, bringing trend-driven palettes and expert color guidance to both professional and DIY audiences, working with CHROMATIC™ color eco-system.
Her background in interior design and the trend-driven automotive industry gives her a unique perspective on color, materials, and textures. She brings this expertise to architectural coatings, helping shape new product lines, guide regional launches, and create color solutions that blend creativity with everyday functionality.
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Bridging Creativity and Strategy
Mathilde’s work bridges design creativity with customer and market needs. She plays a key role in shaping PPG’s annual Global Color Forecast – an internal workshop where color experts from across the company come together to define upcoming color directions for architecture, consumer goods, and industrial design. This year, she organized the event in Paris, bringing global teams together to co-create the next Color of the Year.
“In the end, we’re helping customers make confident choices and dare to color in their space to tell their own story, no matter whether it’s architect, dealer or end-customer client,” Mathilde explains.
One project that illustrates Mathilde’s approach is the Signature color chart, developed for Guittet brand using 132 curated shades from PPG’s full color palette. Inspired by the layered structure of perfume, the chart guides users from bold accents to foundational tones, helping create balanced, harmonious palettes. Mathilde led the creative direction, storytelling, and color training, to help dealers bring the concept to life in their showrooms.
This project is being rolled out in 16 showrooms for one of our largest independent customers, following a March 2025 training session with 15 of their sales representatives. A second rollout with 15 more showrooms is already underway with another customer. This work drives growth by enhancing the client’s ability to make confident, informed color choices, streamlining their processes, and improving their product offerings. For our company, it deepens customer relationships and strengthens our role as a key partner in delivering creative, value-driven solutions.
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Transforming Global Trends into Tailored Color Solutions
For Mathilde, helping customers use color more meaningfully is one of the most rewarding parts of her role – and a true expression of our purpose in action. She sees color as a powerful way to beautify – it can enhance wellbeing, create identity and support more sustainable environments. “Every palette we build, every shade we select, is about making the world around us more inspiring, more sustainable, and more human.”
Mathilde’s cross-functional and cross-cultural collaboration makes her a key partner in driving both innovation and business impact. She works closely with teams across marketing, research and development, and sales to translate global and regional trends into meaningful color strategies.
“It’s incredibly motivating to work with passionate teams across countries. Everyone brings something different to the table – and that’s how we push boundaries.”
