THE BEGINNING  

In 1792, Wiert Willemszoon Sikkens started a resin processing business in Groningen (the Netherlands). In 1928, the factory set up a second mill, especially for cellulose lacquer. From that time on, Sikkens also produced paint for cars, furniture, trains, aircraft and numerous other industrial applications.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAR REPAIR
In their day, carriage painters specialized in splendidly glossy coatings, rich colors and sophisticated stripes. The beauty of the carriage seemed to indicate the status of its owner. Painting of carriages required great skill, for poor roads meant that  the enamel had to withstand a great deal. The carriage painter had his own workshop, which had to be as dust-free as possible, for the lacquer dried very slowly. Even after the arrival of the car, drying still took a long time. This changed soon after World War I, when cellulose lacquer was introduced. This paint type dried quickly, but could not be applied with a brush. A new trade was developed: car repair.

BODYSHOP TOOLS
The carriage painter’s tools were a wooden screw jack, the frame in which the wheels were painted, a cart for moving the wheel-less carriage, and spraying installations: the compressor, spray-guns and the purpose made tools.
In the modern body shop, traditional manual work has not died out altogether: by creating a personal design on a car of truck, car sprayers can give each vehicle or company its own identity.

MUSEUM
Sikkens has his own museum in the former stately town hall of Sassenheim in the Netherlands. The museum showcases a unique collection, carefully put together over a number of years. It's a genuine tribute to the painter's trade, from house painters and decorators to carriage painters.