• History
• Characteristics and Advantages
• Application techniques

Keim mineral paints were a Bavarian invention with their roots deep in the Country's heritage. They are synonymous with the technical refinement and high quality also found in other products that emanate from this land of Alps, Kings and Castles.

The scientist Adolf Wilhelm Keim successfully combined waterglass ( potassium silicate ) with inorganic colour pigments and fillers to produce a paint that both penetrates and chemically reacts with the mineral subdtrate onto which it is applied. KEIM becomes a part of the surface whereas organic paints merely form a skin on the surface.

This high quality silicate paint system offers performance, durability, protection and colourfastness that is not knowingly surpassed. Buildings decorated with KEIM in the 19th Century are still in excellent condition today.

Amongst such examples are White Eagle Restaurant, Stein am Rhein and the City Hall, Schwyz, both of which are in Switzerland and were decorated in1891; facades in Oslo (1895) and in Traunstein, Germany (1891).


Potassium silicate was known of in the Middle Ages and termed Liquor Silicium but was not exploited because of a lack of production know how and end uses. Then in 1768 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the prolific German poet and playwright commented upon his own experiments "what most occupied my spirit during a longwhile was the so called Liquor Silicium which emerges if one melts pure quartz sand with an adequate proportion of alkali, whereby a transparent glass is obtained which melts in connection with humid air and gives a beautiful clear liquidity.....".

However Goethe was unable to translate his thoughts into any practical uses. The catalyst for Adolf Keim's development work was King Ludwig I of Bavaria. This monarch, who is synonymous with the Bavarian Fairytale Vastles, hand a great passion for the arts. He longed to have the fine Italioan lime fresco work in his own kingdom but the harsh climate north of the Alps destroyed such fresco work within a short time. Whereupon he appealed to Bavarian sccientists to develop a paint that had a similar appearance to the lime frescos but also had much greater durability.

The unique solution to these requirements was embodied in Keim's invention - a liquid silicate binder that becomes a part of the surface to which it is applied and binds the colour pigments and fillers into it as well.

Keim's classical mineral paint enabled hoim to build his position as the leading manufacturer of mineral paints for the decoration of facades through research-based improvements of the product characteristics and widespread knowledge of the various substrates.

Todays environmental problems have led to increasing demands for environmentally harmless, long lasting and high quality paints. Keim has reponded to this by providing a large range of mineral based products. The successful reapplication of a proven basic concept.

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