Press

Trainings At Le  Moulin à Couleurs In Écordal

L'Ardennais
9 May 2001

The Mills Have Seen A Great Variety Of Colors

L'Ardennais
9 March 2010

Le Moulin à Couleurs

 Living

Heritage

Company

A Little Corner Of Italy

Matot Braine
December 2012

A Mill Over The Course Of Time

L'Union
19 March 2010

Le Moulin à Couleurs

Factory of Natural Pigments

Habitat Naturel March April 2008

Photograpique Reportage
by Mr. Patrice Niset
Les Miroirs de l'Ombre

 Mr. Niset travels Belgium and France with his camera to capture traditional and rare crafts...

To read the full story, click on the link below

http://lesmiroirsdelombre.com/2012/09/le-moulin-a-couleurs/

The Last Color Factory Focuses On Heritage Restoration

Published on 02/10/2014

By Charles-Henri Raffin

VOUZIERS (08). In Écordal is the last color mill, the last manufacturer of earth colors. It is an independent company that colors everything it wants...at least, almost everything.
 
The business of Emmanuel Poix, managing director of the company Le Moulin à Couleurs in Écordal, is rather unusual. Production of natural earth colors has now become rare, to the point that Emmanual now owns the last factory of earth colors in France, except for a producer of ocher in Roussillon (see box).
The company was bought by his father in 1992, when the previous owner retired, and Emmanuel took it over when his father suddenly died. An unlikely destiny for an accountant who, at the beginning, had no experience with the production of pigments. But he easily adapted to his new task as entrepreneur: “There are many administrative tasks; my first job helped me a lot,” he says.

80 different shades, of which 45 are entirely natural

The scarcity of such activity is first of all due to the closure of all the other color factories during the period between the wars: “There were up to 12 colors mills in the Ardennes,” says Emmanuel, who explains their disappearance with the emergence of synthetic products on the market: “Lead pigments appeared although they were banned in 1942.”

Earth colors that are manufactured by his company are, in contrast, 100% natural. The process is very simple: the earth is extracted from a quarry located 15 kilometers from the factory, then dried at different temperatures depending on the desired colors before being milled. During the drying process, all impurities disappear and the water evaporates. At 200ºC, for example, a natural yellow sienna earth is produced. At 700°C, during calcination, the same sienna earth becomes red. In total, the factory offers 80 different shades for sale, including 45 completely natural colors that are manufactured on-site. The remaining 35 are synthetic colors that are only sold by Le Moulin à Couleurs due to the high demand.

Among the main natural tones are sienna, slate, ocher, black ocher, and red from Madras. These are the “basics” from which other colors are developed by varying the blends and temperature. Le Moulin à Couleurs is able to supply powdered pigments in various quantities, from 200-gram bags to industrial qualities of 25 tons. An indispensable asset is the diversity of the clientele: cosmetics manufacturers, fishing equipment producers, artists, and industrial paint suppliers. Emmanuel also relies on large orders for heritage restoration, a field of activity that falls back on authentic products.