La Maison du Pastel
A true luxury…
Located in the Marais district of Paris, La Maison du Pastel is a maker of exquisite pastels in colours that have been passed down through the shop's history.
Originally founded in 1720, the artisan business was acquired by Henri Roché, a chemical engineer in 1870.
Boxed set of Henri Roche Plein Air/Landscape pastels
It was he that collaborated with some of the most famous artists of the day, including Degas and Whistler, to come up with an array of beautiful colors in a myriad of shades.
Today they produce over 1600 shades, and they do it by hand.
I'll tell you right now, these pastels are expensive. Some of the most expensive in the world, if not the most.
However, if you see how they are made, you'll begin to understand why.
And the end of this post, I'll include a link to a beautiful video made of their shop that features Pierre Boncompain, a pastel artist who uses their supplies to create fabulous landscapes and portraits.
My sketchbook of color charts I’ve made.
My book of color samples/chips. This is the page I did for the Henri Roche pastel set I have.
Another reason why any pastel is or isn't expensive has to do with the amount of pigment used in making them. Inexpensive pastels will have a lot of filler - powdered clay or chalk vs a very high quality pastel that will contain primarily pigment.
If you've ever bought artist grade paints before, you know that certain colors are more expensive than others. That's because certain pigments or more expensive. Lapis Lazuli, for example, used to make true ultramarine blue, I believe costs more than gold by weight.
Something I love about the Henri Roché pastels, as they're known, is their packaging. You can buy sets of pastels in wood boxes, which make them even more expensive, but I don't mean those.
I'm talking about the regular box a set would come in.
It's just cardboard but it's wrapped in a laid paper with their brand seal on it. I guess that's one of the advantages of owning a heritage company that goes back centuries- you have the original logo, before it was called a logo, to add to the historical atmosphere of your products.
The pastels themselves have a little wrapper with both the dragon and the name Henri Roche printed, then on the pastel itself ROC is embossed onto each stick.
All these little details...they don't make the color or the pastel work any better but there is something about these fine details that let you know that care was taken in their making and when someone puts that much attention into their work, it is rare that they would produce a product of anything resembling mediocrity.
Video: 'The Feel of Color' with Henri Roché, Maison du Pastels on YouTube can be found here. It shows their process of making the pastels, their history from beginning to present. And it features the pastel artist, Pierre Boncompain.
www.LaMaisonDuPastel.com
To buy these pastels in the USA, you can find them at The Fine Art Store