Japanese pen maker remembers the milestones.

 

Global writing instruments and art materials manufacturer Pentel is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year with a look back at some company milestones.

 

Founded in 1946 as the Japan Stationery Company by the late chairman Yukio Horie, the business initially purchased and sold stationery products. Horie was among the first entrepreneurs in Japan to predict that arts and cultural pastimes such as music, painting, sculpture and writing would increase significantly in popularity after the Second World War. 

 

For the first decade, the business produced crayons and oil pastels, which later inspired the company’s new name ‘Pentel’, combining the words ‘painting’ and ‘pastel’. The company began exporting to overseas markets in 1953 and in 1967 opened an office in Australia. 

 

Horie focused his attention on developing a range of innovative products, including in 1960 the Pentel Pencil, the world’s first mechanical pencil with a push button for advancing the lead.

 

In 1963 the company launched the fibre-tipped Sign Pen, which achieved a major publicity coup when, after a trade fair, a sample fell into the hands of US President Lyndon Johnson.

 

The President was extremely enthusiastic about its ease of use and the pen became incredibly popular with unit sales of two million.

 

The Sign Pen was even adopted by NASA, travelling into space on a Gemini mission in 1966.