1987
Unison Colour was founded by artist John Hersey who, after many years of not finding a pastel he was happy with, decided to make his own. After years of experimenting, the Unison Colour Soft pastel that you know and love today, was created.
Why not make yourself a cuppa, and watch our beautiful 8 minute film, which will take you on an intimate tour of Unison Colour HQ, while hearing from Kate Hersey, who tells us about the humble beginnings of Unison Colour, and son Dan, on moving onwards into the future.Â
John Hersey was born in 1925. He was a student at the Byam Shaw School of art in London where he won a Rome Scholarship and lived in Italy for several years. On returning to the UK he ran his own business ‘Fine Art Photography’ while continuing with his own work. Over the years he became more and more interested in and passionate about colour.
John had always found inspiration in the clarity of light and subtlety of colour in Northumberland, and in 1980 he moved with Kate and their 4 children to an Old Rectory in the Northumberland National Park.
The project began when John decided that the manufactured pastels available on the market broke easily, were not consistent in texture and did not mirror his colour vision. For several years he worked on methods of production, colour sequences and the texture of his pigment mixtures.
In 1987 he decided to offer the results to fellow pastellists. He and Kate took the original range of colour sets (then just 117 pastels!), and the kitchen dresser, to an art materials show in London. To their surprise there was an immediate interest.
To start with, the pastels were all made in the coach house and the top spare bedroom in the house was used for packing and storage. Eventually, as sales expanded in the USA, things became easier and they were able to construct another workshop and a packing room.
For John, it was a mission to create a world of colour.
Unison Colour is still based in the beautiful Tarset Valley in the Northumberland National Park, and the newly unveiled Northumberland International Dark Sky Park.
Each year nearly half a million handmade soft pastels are made in the workshops and Coach House at Thorneyburn Old Rectory. From here the pastels are sent out to artists all over the world.
I can tell you the exact day I first picked up a Unison pastel: Tuesday February 27th 2018 – the Beast from the East gave me the day that every secondary school teacher hopes for – a Snow Day!
I hope this finds you well during this unsettling and strange time. May 2020 is not how I envisaged…
Inspiration is an exciting phenomenon because we never know when it will strike us. We can’t force it, we can’t just wait for it, but we can go many ways to stumble over it.
I guess there’s truth in the saying that doing art and buying art supplies are two kinds of hobbies (or passions). You can’t have one without the other, but also one can get carried away a little bit too much.
Then ask Away...
Or give us a call on +44 (0)1434 240203
For sales enquiries, including trade, please contact us as below:
liz@unisoncolour.com or call Liz on +44 (0)1434 240203