THIS STORY STARTS IN 1830 ON THE CÔTE D'AZUR
A family business that creates its store but also develops its formulas of varnishes and oil colors for artists, with a constant concern for quality.
Thanks to this know-how, it was able to supply the main painters such as Cézanne, Bonnard, Ambrogiani ... staying on the Coast.
This until Laurence and Bruno CHARVIN discovered it and bought it back in 2000.
It is with this unparalleled passion and this perpetual quest for quality that we set out to develop the entire existing range but also to create a number of other products. But also this quest to transmit a French cultural heritage ...
By rejecting the plasticization, consumerism and delocalized mass manufacturing towards which the fine arts world was engulfing, we undertook a manufacturing on a model that we could consider as utopian or even crazy ... The choice of raw materials of high quality, without real economic regard on their cost, the creation of the widest range of oil colors in the world,…
It was a crazy bet that I believe we were able to meet. And it is with the help of a professional team, the collaboration of artists sharing the same values that we continue our quest. Let us rediscover authentic values and true products of meaning, of pictorial longevity.
THE SPECIAL FEATURES OF OUR PRODUCTS
Our ranges of colors in oil, acrylic and gouache are as follows: a very wide range of colors, which allows the painter to have a choice of our color palette, almost endless combinations.
Because it should be remembered that after three color mixtures, the shades obtained turn gray.
This is not seen when it is used, nor when it is applied, but quite simply when it is dried.
We are not asking you to use all of our colors but rather a subtle choice of shades that suit you, in a word a personal choice.
In addition, we respect the profession of the painter and for this we use the best raw materials on the market in our production.
In addition, we manufacture all of our production in France in this respect and not in countries with low labor costs with limited and unreliable raw materials, in order to justify the interest of relocation.
INTERNET: WHY?
The French and export market is trusted by large French companies that are more financial than professional, who do not care about the history and ethics of this profession, leaving it to a few specialists in love with their profession.
The latter continue to explain and maintain an ethic while the others make from their virtual monopoly on the sale of substantial margins on the import of low-quality products, manufactured in low-cost countries to establish themselves on the market.
The result is catastrophic and no longer obeys an ethical logic but on the contrary a purely financial institution.
Let's take some examples:
- color range reductions
- use of median ingredients
- canvases to paint as a real kite
- use of cotton, an unreliable material over time
- end of sales advice but only price argument
- the monopoly position leads to dubious practices such as remittances of RFA
- the end user without advice is unable to progress in his work
- the knowledge acquired over the years is gradually being lost ...
And we'll stop there ...
AN ANCESTRAL EXPERTISE
