Pro-Arte Brushes

Pro Arte - For the Artist in all of us

Founded in the UK in 1973, Pro-Arte has provided artists with some of the best brushes in the world for over 30 years. Dedicated to continued progression, the company is always on the look-out for new materials, new techniques and tools to improve their range. Testament to their quality is their enviable record of collaboration in brush development with artists.

 As a keen and talented artist, Pro Arte’s founder Roy Thompson left school with the ambition of a career in art materials. Having grown up painting and understanding the materials, he joined Winsor and Newton in sales and progressed through the company with high aspirations.

After years of travelling the UK and visiting art shops, the promised position of sales director never arrived. Because of this, he decided to break free and specialise in his favourite painting tools, and the ones he knew most about- brushes!

In the beginning, Roy didn’t have the ability to introduce manufacturing facilities, but instead had brush making contacts in the UK that could supply him with high quality products at advantageous prices. Once all the right products were selected and secured, he could then build on quality, service and pricing that suited retailers and the artists. A recipe for success that we have endeavoured to maintain to this day.

1983, 10 years after the launch of Pro Arte saw Roy’s son, Peter join the business. He started with the objective to introduce a complete manufacturing facility so that they could handmake brushes to the highest standard, while taking away the reliance on suppliers. Fortunately, this came at the perfect moment when one of the suppliers of the quality natural hair brushes ceased trading. As a result, Pro Arte had the opportunity to employ some of their staff as homeworkers and allowed Peter to learn the skills of high-end brush manufacturing.

This new knowledge gave Pro Arte the ability to move with the times and introduce new brushes, and the rise of synthetic fibres presented this opportunity. Although they were already available, early ranges could not compete with the quality of natural brushes and Pro Arte recognised this. As a result, Peter working closely with Roy (the artist) would eventually perfect an alternative to natural brushes in the form of Prolene. New advancements in hair technology paired with new manufacturing techniques allowed Pro Arte to create new and more specific hair mixes that saw basic synthetics be revised and massively improved.

Peter now runs the business along with his son Johnny, who joined Pro Arte alongside a university degree apprenticeship scheme. The ethos of Pro Arte is to promote from within and provide staff with the opportunities to grow. Johnny has come through the business learning all brush manufacturing techniques, giving a great understanding of the products and processes and allowing for new ideas to compete with the ‘old ways’. Pro Arte like to think they have a good balance between the two.

Just when they think that you have the largest and widest variety of products that any artist would ever need, something inevitably changes, and there’s the need to go back to the drawing board. New synthetic filaments have been a huge new development and the prices of natural hair such as sable and squirrel have skyrocketed, so once again the quest begins to find an even better alternative. This is a huge reminder that the process will always be ongoing.

Click here to see our range of Pro-Arte Brushes