atelier KAWACHI ART SUPPLIES SHOP
The atelier was launched experimentally in 2024.
It serves both as the production studio for BIG OIL PASTEL and as a shop, open only on weekends.
At the atelier, we always stock a wide range of colors,allowing you to choose your favorites and create your own original set.
In addition to oil pastels, we also offer original goods and a curated selection of art materials.
Among them, our original workwear is especially popular and can also be enjoyed as a fashion item.
We also host exhibitions of oil pastel works, as well as workshops and other events.
Please note: The current atelier in Shibuya, Tokyo will close at the end of June 2026, and will be relocated.
Letter from
Hiroko Kawachi
Letter from
Hiroko Kawachi
My family business is an art supply store called KAWACHI, founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1920. It still operates three stores in Osaka today.
For more than 20 years, I stood behind the counter and served customers face to face. An art supply store is a joyful place, overflowing with color. I was always thinking about how art materials could be enjoyed by more people, not only by artists.
In 2017, I became independent from KAWACHI and launched a new brand based on the idea of “an art supply store that even people who don’t draw can enjoy.” That brand is KAWACHI ART SUPPLIES SHOP.
In Japanese, it is written as 河内洋画材料店, the original trade name KAWACHI used when it was first founded.
Among the items I created for the brand, I wanted to make something truly original—something the world had never seen before. One day, I imagined a giant oil pastel measuring 3 cm square and 10 cm long. When I asked manufacturers whether they could make it, they refused. So I decided to make it myself.
That was the beginning of my journey of creating oil pastels on my own.
If I was going to make them, I wanted them to be of a quality that professional artists would recognize. After all, I had spent years carefully choosing which manufacturers’ products deserved a place in our family store. I knew what quality meant.
That is how BIG OIL PASTEL was born.
I carefully developed the formula so that drawing with it would feel joyful and deeply satisfying. I use high-quality, lightfast pigments and blend them generously with highly refined oil. The result is buttery smooth, with rich, vivid color that appears beautifully even with a light touch.
Later, I began creating a smaller version—one eighth the size—called BIG OIL PASTEL Baby.
Around that time, I also began to enjoy creating colors as if I were painting, responding to my mood that day or to the theme of each set. I do not record the color recipes. For that reason, the colors have no names or numbers, and most of them are limited editions.
Each batch comes out slightly differently. That is the beauty of making them by hand.
Every BIG OIL PASTEL Baby 100 Colors Limited Set is unique. Once a set sells out, the same one will never be made again.
Please enjoy these colors,each one available only once.
Hiroko Kawachi
About Us
Shop Information
2-45-3 Tomigaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0063, Japan
Telephone:+81-50-5364-5982
Open: Irregular schedule
History of KAWACHI
KAWACHI
About KAWACHI
I would like to share the story of KAWACHI, my family’s art supply store in Osaka,
western Japan, where we still operate three stores today.
KAWACHI was founded in 1920 by my
grandfather, Syun Kawachi. In its early days,
the store was known by its original Japanese name, KAWACHI YOUGA ZAIRYOU TEN ( 河内洋画材料店 ). Today, we simply use the name KAWACHI in English.
The original store also included a gallery space, where many well-known Japanese artists gathered to exchange ideas and discuss art.
From the very beginning, KAWACHI offered a wide range of art materials, including Japanese-made oil paints, watercolors, and pastels, as well as European brands such as
Winsor & Newton, Lefranc, and Schmincke.
We still have a catalog dating back to 1929. At that time, KAWACHI even offered original pastels specially produced for the store by manufacturers.
Although these products are no longer available today, they remain part of our history
These artist smocks（BLUCE) first appeared in our 1929 catalog. Recreated from the original pattern, they have become one of Kawachi Art Supply Store's bestselling products, bridging nearly a century of artistic tradition.
In 2017, I inherited the original name, 河内洋画材料店 , and established a new brand under the English name KAWACHI ART SUPPLIES SHOP.
This brand was created with a simple belief:
art is not only for those who create it, but for
anyone who wishes to enjoy it.
DRAW YOUR WORLD
I hope you enjoy our world of art.
Hiroko Kawachi