175 years of MADE IN GERMANY |
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The pencil is where it all began - 3rd October 1835 saw the start of a German success story
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Long before Johann Sebastian founded his own pencil manufacturing plant on 3rd October 1835, one of his ancestors, Friedrich Staedtler, had already been active in the pencil-making trade with records of him in Nuremberg's city annals dating as far back as 1662.
He was able to transfer the experience and expertise he had gathered in the traditional craft of pencil making in the workshop of his father Paulus Staedtler to the new, industrial factory - officially recognised and certified by Nuremberg’s city council.
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In the 26th February 1834 edition of the publication ‘Korrespondenten von und für Deutschland’ (‘Correspondents from and for Germany’), Johann Sebastian Staedtler announces to the “highly esteemed trading class and members of the art community that, following extensive research, I have finally succeeded in producing red pencils which, as far as quality is concerned, are far superior to any of their forerunners, and which, just like blacklead pencils, can be sharpened to a fine point, offer superb writing performance, do not change their colour and maintain a consistent degree of hardness.”
J.S. Staedtler had created the coloured pencil - originally intended specifically as a tool for artists but now, for generations already, an indispensable colouring utensil for all and sundry.
Around 1840, the industrious Nuremberg-born pencil maker was manufacturing around 63 different kinds of pencil and, as from 1856, was producing both round and hexagonal cedar wood pencils, each in 48 different colours.
In 1866, he employed a workforce of 54 and had an annual production volume of over two million pencils.
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Nowadays, around 2.200 people work for Europe's largest manufacturer of blacklead and coloured pencils. As to be expected in today’s environment of globalisation, the company has since established international subsidiaries around the world and production plants on all continents but, nevertheless, it is in Nuremberg, the home town of its founder, that the heart of the company still very much beats.
This is where more than two thirds of all writing instruments are still made. The quality seal "‘Made in Germany" has become an integral part of the STAEDTLER brand.
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The company’s origins and history are still of great importance - even under difficult economic conditions.
STAEDTLER is one of the oldest industrial companies in Germany and has always remained true to its manufacturing base in Nuremberg.
With STAEDTLER products to be found in over 150 countries around the globe, STAEDTLER sees itself as a kind of ambassador, promoting "Made in Germany" on a worldwide scale.
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A historic brand shapes its future ... |
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... this is the company's philosophy being one of the leading pencil manufacturers worldwide.
Over the decades, other new and successful Staedtler models have been added to the original range of traditional blacklead and coloured pencils.
Here too, the company has held true to its roots.
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It is, for example, at the company’s manufacturing plant in the north of the Nuremberg that the ink for the Lumocolor OHP pen - which celebrates its 55th birthday in 2009 - and triplus fineliner is mixed and where, in modern production lines, plastic granulate is melted and then moulded to form their caps and barrels, fine writing tips inserted and an extensive quality control system enforced to guarantee the precision and reliability of every single writing instrument.
This ensures that a product found in a sales outlet somewhere in the Australian outback two years after production is of the same high quality standard as it was when it left our factory in Germany two years before.
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