How it all began
Our long company history began in 1881, when colour chemists Josef Horadam and Hermann Schmincke came across the traditional resin-oil paint recipes of art professor Cesare Mussini in Florence. These unique paints, based on the traditions of the old masters, differed greatly from the normal oil paints of the time, which were produced without resin.
Based on these recipes, we founded our company in 1881 under the name H. Schmincke & Co. and named our first product ‘Mussini’. Years later, in 1892, Josef Horadam developed the liquid-poured watercolours named after him and obtained European patents for them. To this day, Mussini artist resin oil paints and Horadam artist watercolours are the most famous Schmincke products worldwide.
Quality for all artists
We soon added smaller, specialised ranges for art professors to our range of resin oil paints. But we wanted to make our quality accessible to more artists. So we created a ‘standardised’ range that was more affordable but of the same quality – the finest pure artist's oil paints known today as Norma Professional.
Under the second generation of owners, led by Dr Julius Hesse, the finest soft pastels and an extensive range of gouache paints found their way into the hands of artists, graphic designers and retouchers.
After a forced break due to the war, the third generation, led by Consul Ernst O. Hesse, added artist acrylic paints, first developed in the USA, to our range. A new era of creativity dawned.
With our 100th anniversary in 1981, we began to expand more aggressively throughout the world under the leadership of managing director Peter Hesse. Mussini, Norma Professional, Horadam watercolours and pastels – all these top-quality products found fans all over the world. With the newly developed Academy line, we created high-quality paints at a lower price in order to serve a broader range of users with good paints.
Our vision
We are proud to offer artists the best materials to transform their creativity into art. The satisfaction of artists is both an incentive and a source of reassurance for us. We believe that good colours can make the world a more beautiful and peaceful place, and we are proud to contribute to this.
Our owl seal bears the founder's motto ‘MELIORA COGITO – I strive for the better’, and this motto accompanies us every step of the way in our journey to produce our artists' colours
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