At Kremer Pigments in Chelsea

Video editing credit: J Hiraldo

January 2026 update to this post! Roger and Rachel are keeping the pigment business alive at the same location, with New York Pigment Co (instagram / website)

On 29th Street between Seventh and Eight Avenues in the heart of NYC’s garment district (in District 3), Kremer Pigments sells over 1500 colors. Theirs are not synthetic colors, but natural pigments.

As its founder Georg Kremer says:

“Everything that is in the world can go into these colors. There are groups of colors who come out of the earth, other colors come out of plants…there is really nothing you cannot make a color out of.”

Georg, a chemist, established Kremer Pigments in Germany in 1977. A friend was looking for “smalt” – an intense blue color made from cobalt-containing glass, originally used by Egyptians and used again in Baroque art. Georg reproduced the recipe to create the color and the idea for the company was born. 

Thirty-five years ago he expanded to New York, to meet the demand from artists and others. First they were based on the Lower East side and for the past 20 years have been at the 29th Street location.

“This place is the source to look at the pigments. Color is something you cannot easily describe by words, nor by any meaning of measurements.”

At the time they moved in, the street was still lined with fur stores, most of which have since closed. The walls of his store, like many along the block, have vertical ridges at intervals to prevent fur coats from resting directly against the wall. 

Sadly, at the end of November the store will close. Recent tariffs and other import fees have dramatically increased the costs so that the store cannot go on.

When NYC 51 to 1 visited the store it was busy with customers buying products in a closing sale. Georg says the customer base includes art restorers looking for exact matches of colors, modern artists, plasterers and also violin-makers, who use the colors to dye their violins. He says:

“It’s like the difference between buying frozen food that you warm in the microwave, or going to Union Square Market to buy ingredients. Then you need to know how to cook the food. The same with these pigments.” 

Georg hopes to find a franchise solution to keep the US business going. Meanwhile, customers will be able to buy their products on the Kremer websites, available in multiple languages. He adds that their headquarters and business in other regions are not affected:

“We are flourishing in Asia and in Europe – and in the Central European community, of course.

China, India, all these Asian countries are doing well.”

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The Kremer Pigments Store is in District 3. Live or work in this district? Share a meaningful building or place here!