Unison Colour HQ – Here We Come!

When you’re planning your summer holiday, what are you looking for? Tropical beaches, action packed activities, local cuisine & wine perhaps. Well, that’s a pretty nice list but we (my husband and our two dogs) decided to stay in the UK this year and planned a trip to Northumberland.

It’s not somewhere we’ve been to before, but we’d heard the rumours about endless beaches, all dog friendly, dramatic castles, scenic views and of course it’s home to Unison Colour. What wasn’t to like. We booked a dog friendly cottage, and I sent a begging email to Liz at Unison Colour to see if we could visit to see the birthplace of the much-loved soft pastels. Although my husband isn’t an artist, he was interested in learning what it was all about, and of course our dogs don’t need an excuse for a trip in the car.

We were greeted by Liz and taken into The Old Rectory, where we met Kate Hersey, Victoria, Jim, Sue & Judy all seated around the farmhouse table. As luck would have it, we’d arrived just in time for the morning coffee break and were also treated to some delicious homemade cake. It did all feel a bit surreal to be honest and it was difficult not to grin from ear to ear.  Refreshed, Liz then took us on our tour.

First stop was the mixing room were the chief alchemist Jim does his magic.  There were so many stunning-coloured minerals it was like being inside a rainbow. Jim explained the mixing process and it was surprising to feel the weight differences between some of the minerals.  The trusty Kenwood mixers (other brands are available) are kept busy, whilst Jim works from his recipe sheets. These are a well-guarded secret so no photography is allowed. Everything goes through the quality controller tzar otherwise known as Hazel.  She wasn’t there on the day we visited but Jim told me she has a very keen eye and will reject mixes which are not quite right.  Liz also mentioned Hazel is a very good maker of pastels and hand draws the beautiful colour charts.

Next it was onto the barn housing the pastels blobs drying on blotting paper to reach just the right consistency before being expertly hand rolled. This fell into the very capable hands of Sue, who offered me the chance of having a go, what could possibly go wrong !

It was only after I’d tried a few times, that Sue shared it had taken her 4 years to master the process. You can watch my efforts below.  Thankfully Sue was able to rectify my attempts, otherwise some of you would have ended up with some extra chunky pastels.

Once rolled the pastels then go to the drying room before finally ending up in what I’m calling the Sweet Shop.  Here we found Judy boxing up half stick pastel sets.  It was all I could do not to go around every container and grab one of everything.

Finally we were taken into the R&D department, where for reasons of national security I can’t share anything – suffice to say this is where they dream up new product ideas. 

After our visit we treated our dogs to a lovely local walk along part of Tarset Burn, close to Unison Colour HQ.

The tour of this magical place had been all I’d hoped for and more. Each soft pastel has been lovingly hand made by several members of the team and crafted into little magical sticks that bring joy to not just the artists who use them, but the wider public who see the artworks.

A big thank you to everyone at Unison Colour for such a great tour and making us feel so welcome. I appreciate my soft pastels even more having seen how labour intensive the process is.