Long time readers won’t be surprised to learn that I’m a long time and avid follower of Brad and the Pen Addict blog (and podcast). It was through a guest post on the blog that I learned about Magasin Sennelier, an art supply shop in Paris.
The shop is on the famous left bank overlooking the Seine, where it’s been since 1887. Inside, I doubt it’s changed all that much, with beautiful wooden shelves crammed full of paints, pens, pencils, bushes, sketchbooks, pastels. . .
I mean, this is the graphite pencil station:
I almost popped.
I’m pretty set on my pencils of choice and they didn’t have any Hi-Unis there but they did have my second favourite pencil, the Tombow Mono, as well as dozens of other amazing brands. I bought some Faber-Castell Pitt Graphite pencils. These go up to 14B(!) and I’ve been wanting to try them out but had never been able to remember what they were called, so it was good to see them in the flesh.
Upstairs there are a few fountain pens and inks (I bought a small bottle of Pilot Iroshizuku Syo-Ro), a room full of easels, and a paper room. I fell in love with the paper room. Paper’s something I don’t vary all that much but is the one part of my practice where I can be enticed to experiment a bit. I need to be able to see the paper though. It’s no good buying it online (not unless I already know what it is I’m getting). I’ve never seen so much gorgeous paper in one place. I’m wittering on about it I know. The tragedy was that there was no practical way of getting the large sheets of paper I’d have wanted to buy back home. I’ll just have to go back another time.
Unbeknownst to me, my wife Julia bought me a gorgeous little sketchbook. When the cashier realised she was buying a gift, she wrapped it beautifully. It was very busy the day we went in (I suspect it always is) but they still took the time to do that.
Basically, this is a gorgeous shop with an incredible range of art supplies, at (mostly) reasonable prices. Worth a visit if you’re lucky enough to find yourself in Paris, just be prepared to want to spend a lot of Euros.
Oh, that’s a candy store, isn’t it!! I had to keep my hands in my pockets to keep from buying everything!
This is where your wallet goes to die. If you don’t come with a list, you’ll end up buying much more than you need. Going to Sennelier requires much self-restraint.