In praise of Lamy’s watercolours

I am not sure how the rainbow drawings at the beginning of the pandemic started. The narrative in the UK seems to be that the rainbow is the NHS rainbow to support the country’s national health system and its workers. I am sure other countries have similar country-specific and country-centric explanations. The rainbow as a symbol for hope in pandemic times might have started in Italy, but I’m not 100% sure, so if you have more information, please let us know in the comments.

Faded rainbows in a window

Our son couldn’t resist drawing a rainbow with his battered Lamy aquaplus watercolour set either. Stationery use is always encouraged!

Still going strong, one year in

You might know that England’s Northwest isn’t exactly the sunshine capital of the world, so I was quite surprised to see that into the middle of the Summer 2020 many rainbow pictures in windows were already rather faded. With the sun being so weak here I assume the many faded rainbows must be due to cheap supermarket-own-brand stationery that can be pretty awful. I don’t remember seeing any non-faded rainbows in the last months (except our Lamy one).

Close-up of the beautifully strong Lamy colours, one year in.

What I really like about the Lamy set is that each colour is individually replaceable, not that I will have much luck finding replacements in the UK, though… Yes, it’s € 5.90 while some no-name alternatives are only £1, but I think it’s so much better than the cheap watercolour sets!


If you are interested in more scientifically done long time tests have a look at Dave’s Paper Mate Biodegradable Mechanical Pencil Biodegradability Test or at his Blue Lead Fade Testing.

1 thought on “In praise of Lamy’s watercolours”

  1. I suspect a lot of these were printed with inkjet printers.

    Reflects badly on them rather than the watercolours that are available.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.