Don't touch. Don't try. And buy!

Welcome to the art materials industry.

The art materials industry was built around a paradox:

artists are expected to make sensitive choices... without ever allowing them to feel.

Buying blindly has become the norm.

Marketing has quietly replaced touch, glide, and feeling.

And we let it happen... without making too many waves.

What if we stopped asking visual artists to buy blindly?

The musician does not rely solely on his ear to choose his instrument.

Touch plays an essential role in sound, comfort, expression.

No one would dream of asking a guitarist to buy their guitar without first trying it out.

You see where I'm going, right?

Why should it be different for visual artists?

Is the sense of touch less important… simply because what is created is looked at instead of listened to?

To ask the question is to answer it.

Art materials are the visual artist's musical instrument.

Creating is not just a visual activity.

It is a living, complete gesture, which engages touch, hearing, rhythm, bodily memory.

All of this matters… and much more.

And none of this is on a datasheet.

We agree — the technical sheet is important!

It is thanks to this that we can understand and objectively compare a material.

Because you can't compare apples to oranges.

And you don't compare student art materials with artist-grade materials.

Two qualities… two roles

Artist-grade materials are designed to provide the best creative experience for the artist, support their momentum, and ensure a durable final result, also designed for the longevity of the work.

Student-grade ones are designed to allow experimentation at a lower cost.

And honestly?

I even think we should rethink these labels.

Talking about “artist quality” or “student quality” implies that you have to have “reached a certain level” to deserve to create with good tools.

But providing the best creative experience for an artist has nothing to do with their talent or professional status.

It's a question of passion, pleasure, self-respect.

You don't need to aim for the big museums to experience the best in your creative process.

Creating is sacred enough to deserve a good instrument.

(Maybe we should find some other words… one day, maybe.)

Equal quality… two different experiences

Quality is no guarantee of satisfaction in the world of visual creation.

In the end, it's your feeling that has the last word.

And this is where the visual artist no longer buys blindly, but with his senses wide open.

This is exactly why we create testing spaces.

Because materials of equal quality offer a radically different experience from one person to another.

And we saw this very concretely during our event for watercolorists on April 12, 2025, in Trois-Rivières.

That day, dozens of watercolorists came to experience PygmaliART.

They tested two high-quality papers: Baohong watercolor paper and Hahnemühle paper .

Both:

• 100% cotton • Acid-free • Professional quality • Available in several textures

But… some preferred Hahnemühle.

Others swore by the Baohong.

The fact remains that many liked both... but it was a question of texture , gesture , feeling .

💬 “I thought I would like Hahnemühle and was ready to buy it… but in the end, I preferred the one I didn’t think I would like: Baohong Torchon paper. What a surprise!”

It was not an error of judgment.

It was a discovery.

Because the feeling spoke louder than preconceived ideas.

It's not the quality that makes it click, it's the feeling.

Even excellent material will be of no use if it does not resonate with your gesture .

And this is what we too often forget in the world of visual art:

It is not necessarily the quality that will dictate your pleasure in creating,

It's the feeling.

And no one can choose that for you.

We do not sell art materials:

We invite you to discover them, experience them, feel them.

Days like April 12 are there to break the mold.

We want to give you an experience with your senses open:

• To reconnect with your feelings and validate them
• To put the choice of materials back in the right place: in your creative process, not in a consumer reflex
• So that you leave with the conviction that your investment supports your approach, your pleasure, your creative voice

And I do this because every time I see an artist change their mind by testing rather than guessing—by listening to their feelings rather than agreeing to go in blindly…

I tell myself that we are exactly where we should be.

Because this is just the beginning.

💬 Would you like an event like this to take place in your area?

Write to me! It always starts with a conversation → hello@pygmaliart.com

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There will be a registration pop-up on our site as soon as you arrive.