FROM INVENTING THE PENCIL ...

In medieval times they used a kind of pencil, an oblong piece made from silver and lead, which was more suitable for scratching than for writing.

In the Fifteenth Century a mixture of lead and tin was produced in Italy. This is still seen as first stage of developement of today's pencil.

In 1658 graphite mines were first discovered in England. Graphite is the raw material still used for manufacturing of pencils today. Only at that time the graphite was cut into small pieces and covered in wood. A revolution for all artists in the world! However, due to the difficult production, the pencil was an object of great value, not affordable for everyone!

In 1790 Josef Hardtmuth from Vienna managed to invent the ceramic lead - a sensation! He mixed graphite dust with ceramic clay and burnt the leads in an oven. By varying the quantities of clay he was able to define the hardness of the lead. This manufacturing process is still effective (see How a pencil is made)! Josef Hardtmuth established the later company Koh-I-Noor Hardtmuth AG.


... UNTIL TODAY

The Tradition
CRETACOLOR looks back upon a long history (by taking over the production site of Koh-I-Noor in Hirm 1996, after their bankruptcy) of crafting high quality drawing, sketching and writing material, made according to time honored Austrian traditions.

The Knowledge
Our continuous research and development and state-of-the-art facilities are one of the cornerstones of our established repution in the field of artists' materials all over the world. We always aim at fulfilling the highest demands of our customers.

The Quality
As part of this tradition, we use only the finest quality raw materials. In short, the CRETACOLOR name is synonymous with exacting Austrian quality, so ...