Caran d’Ache wraps festive creativity in Toile de Jouy
A collector's box of water soluble pencils and Neocolor II wax pastels arrives dressed in the Swiss house's signature pastoral print, a gift for anyone who works across mixed media.
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Caran d’Ache’s new Toile de Jouy collector’s box arrives as a gift wrapped in the gentle narrative of the storied French textile pattern. The box contains ten coloured water soluble pencils and ten Neocolor II Aquarelle wax pastels in a palette that moves from soft pastels to lustrous metallics, each stick inscribed with the Swiss maker’s name in crisp white lettering against warm wood casings and jewelled sheaths.
The water soluble pencils dissolve into luminous washes when wetted, their warm earth tones and cooler shades arranged in deliberate sequence. The Neocolor II pastels offer opacity and richness, their dense pigmentation yielding to water and blending with the ease of oil, yet without the mess. Together they form a complete language for the mixed media practitioner who works across paper, canvas and found surfaces, moving between dry mark making and wet application with the fluidity the tools themselves suggest.
The box itself carries the toile’s delicate pattern on cream linen, its bucolic scenes and ornamental flourishes rendered in the subtle mauve and grey that Caran d’Ache reserves for its most considered seasonal editions. The packaging arrives ready to gift, ribbon attached, though many who receive it find themselves reluctant to open it at all. Those who do discover a set calibrated for serious work, not token gestures. The pencils sharpen to a precise point; the pastels resist crumbling. This is Swiss craft applied to the pragmatic business of making art.
The set is available from selected retailers and directly from the house.
Imagery courtesy of Caran d'Ache (@carandache).
