In search of the origin of color. Apt in France.Yellow gold

Ocher Factory in Apt France

July 2022

While researching information about the still existing factories producing natural colors, I came across Ocres de France. Always searching the Internet, we do not know what exactly we will find, when going to the meeting point. However, although the visit to the factory was brief, it was content.

As we pull up to the parking lot near the factory, we know that the yellow kingdom is just around the corner! Yellow walls and yellow asphalt makes it understandable, that it leads us to the factory.

The factory us located in small town Apt in Luberon.

Yellow sole from shoe too 😂! Surprisingly, the factory is right in the center of a small Apt town. A small, but touristy little place. Just a bit hidden, so actually you dont see it from the Main Street.

At the entrance, we are greeted by a kind lady, inviting us inside. Entry is possible only to the factory store, where you can get acquainted with the types of products that the factory produces. Nooo… 😢 Again… Well… I take it with smile 😃. I have emailed them earlier, but did not get any respond. But that’s it, next time I will call before coming.

The nice lady explains to us what the factory is manufacturing and shows a short film in which we can get acquainted with the factory process ...

More useful is the information she shares with us, giving a tourist map, with places where we can go. But, she warns us, that many places are closed due to extreme heat and fires in France.

But we are more interested in factory itself.. As the Ocres de France story of family says. The story of factory, is a bit story of the ocher itself.

It is 1780, when the story of Jean-Etienne Astier starts, who sets up an industrial process of separation of ochre and sand and is first manufacturer manufacturer of ochre.

But all it’s begins, when young Astier studies the properties of ochreous yellow and red sands, that stranded the place he come from. Roussillon. Area of gold dust were including also Gignac, Rustrel, Gignac.

Jean-Etienne Astier

The coloring power of ocher was not really exploited as such, until the end of the 18th century . In 1810, he already operated two factories near the village and a factory in Roussillon itself.

We have to remember, that in this golden time for ocher, when was huge fight with Russian and American markets, there was no safe production of excavation of this gold sand. Many unhappy people working and living in the area. The gold dust was everywhere!

After 30 years of monopoly on market producing The Mathieu factory is a former ocher production plant which produced around 1000 tons of ocher per year between 1921 and 1963. Abandoned for several years in the state of industrial wasteland, it can be visited since 1994. Washing systems , the kiln and mills have been restored to understand the different stages of ore processing, from extraction to shipping.

This technical history of ocher is placed in its local and international economic and cultural context so that everyone can grasp the past, current and future challenges of this material which remains an unalterable natural pigment and of secular use.

After nice, but short visit we drive 13/15 min towards Ocher Conservatory in Roussillon.

xoxo

JZR