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Why Unison Colour...

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.

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They're Highly Pigmented

Unison Colour pastels consist of a high percentage of superior quality pigment with an absolute minimal amount of filler, if required. We believe in authentic colour – no dyes, no imitations, simply pure unadulterated colour.
Red pigment in a bowl

Cadmium and Cobalt pigments

We continue to use the same pigments that John discovered all those years ago. Although cheaper (and more synthetic) alternatives to traditional pigments are constantly being developed, they have so far proved to be both unsuitable and of little use in our exclusively by hand process.

Although there has been some reserve with regards to the use of pigments based on the heavy metals Cadmium and Cobalt recently, these substances prove their value repeatedly. Nothing comes close enough in strength and durability. With careful respect and consideration, we use these remarkable pigments in our pastel formulations and believe that their precious availability warrants appreciation not total avoidance.

Yellow red jars
Orange and violet pigment

Natural Earths

Although some find the idea of painting with earth difficult to believe, this is indeed reality with some of our pastels. The Natural Earth 1-18 colours in our range are comprised of pure refined Italian earth. So naturally beautiful, subtle and simple.
Natural earth jars

They're Handmade

Every aspect of our manufacturing system is “hand-made”. This gentle process produces a high calibre product, buttery in texture depending on pigment content. Each pastel is an individual so may differ slightly in size and shape although every care is taken to achieve uniformity.

They're Soft and Smooth

Texture – we use very many different pigments in the making of our pastels. This results in varying textures from almost the finest sand of Italian earths to the smoothest softness of ultramarine pigments. A true indicator of the pure content of our pastels.

John blending

They're Blendable

Unison Colour pastels are not only blendable, they are versatile – many professional artists use them in conjunction with watercolour and acrylic. They can be used with a paintbrush and water to paint finer details or create true colour washes.

Ocean blue squiggles.jpg

And they're Lightfast

Our pastel colour is faithfully lightfast and again this is due to the real pigment content. Traditional pigments have stood the test of time and show very little evidence of fading or impairment*.

During the making of our soft pastels, we do not add anything that would cause diminishing quality. We have pastels in our possession that are over 40 years old that are still as good as the pastels we made yesterday.

Our pigments have a lightfast rating of 7-8.

*always store pastels and your artwork in dry conditions!
Sunlit blue pastels

Find out more

Time to see our range of Soft Pastels?

So now you know what makes our pastels so good, head over to our shop to see our full range.

Shop OnlineAbout Us

  • Blendable

  • Lightfast

  • Mixed Media

  • Soft and Smooth

  • Highly Pigmented

  • Flexible

  • White dollops in colour sml screen
  • Red pigment in a bowl
  • Orange and violet pigment

Colour Chart Guidance

We believe the colours in our web based colour chart are a faithful representation of our pastel range. But with any colours portrayed on the internet, there’s a whole heap of variables which mean that what you see, may not be what we see. That said, there’s some things that can be done to mitigate some of the variance.

Mobile phone and tablet screens tend to be pretty good for colour, so they’re always worth using, when viewing our colour chart.

We hate to say it, but cheaper computer displays, including laptops, can be rather hit and miss, in both colour and contrast, so they might not reveal the depth of the colour, as well as the true tone.

If you’re really keen on getting your computer up to speed on colour representation, you can use a calibration device to reach your display's fullest potential.

With all that said, if you think we’re way off the mark with any of the colours then, by all means let us know, and we’ll give it another shot.