is a privately-held Japanese

manufacturing company Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a range ...

stationery Stationery refers to commercially manufactured writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, writing implements, continuous form paper, and other office supplies. Stationery includes materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter paper) ...

products. The name is a combination of the

English words English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

''pen'' and ''tell'' (as in, telling a story). Pentel is also the inventor of

non-permanent marker A marker pen, fine liner, marking pen, felt-tip pen, felt pen, flow marker, sign pen (in South Korea), vivid (in New Zealand), texta (in Australia), sketch pen (in South Asia) or koki (in South Africa), is a pen which has its own ink source ...

technology. Most Pentel products are manufactured in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The company is regarded as the inventor of the fibre-tipped (felt-tip) pen in 1963. Nowadays, Pentel produces a wide range of products that include

writing implement A writing implement or writing instrument is an object used to produce writing. Writing consists of different figures, lines, and or forms. Most of these items can be also used for other functions such as painting, drawing and technical drawing, ...

art materials Arts media is the material and tools used by an artist, composer or designer to create a work of art, for example, "pen and ink" where the pen is the tool and the ink is the material. Here is a list of types of art and the media used within tho ...

and office goods.

History

The company was founded in 1946 as "Japan Stationery Limited" in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

by Yokio Horie, with the purpose of manufacturing

crayon A crayon (or wax pastel) is a stick of pigmented wax used for writing or drawing. Wax crayons differ from pastels, in which the pigment is mixed with a dry binder such as gum arabic, and from oil pastels, where the binder is a mixture of wax an ...

s and

pastel A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...

s. The first products for sale were released in 1951, followed by

pencil A pencil () is a writing or drawing implement with a solid pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage, and keeps it from marking the user's hand. Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving a trail ...

s in 1960. In 1963 Pentel launched the "Sign Pen", a fibre-type pen that was used by then President of the United States

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

, who bought a dozen of them to sign photographs, apart from being adopted as the official writing instrument of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

and going into space with a

Gemini Gemini may refer to: Space * Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac ** Gemini in Chinese astronomy * Project Gemini, the second U.S. crewed spaceflight program * Gemini Observatory, consisting of telescopes in the Northern ...

mission in 1966.History of the Pentel Sign Pen
on Pen Cult website Demand for a Sign Pen was so extraordinary that the Tokyo factories could not supply all requests. The Sign Pen was one of Pentel's most successful products with more than two billion units sold. In 1971 the company changed its name to "Pentel Co. Ltd." and one year later, the green

rollerball pen Roller ball pens or roll pens are pens which use ball point writing mechanisms with water-based liquid or gelled ink, as opposed to the oil-based viscous inks found in ballpoint pens. These less viscous inks, which tend to saturate more deeply ...

with water-based ink, was launched. Horie remained as President of the company until his death in 2010.History of pen and writing instruments
About Inventors site. Retrieved March 11, 2007. In the 2010s, Pentel launched the "Pocket Brush", a

fudepen A , also known as a brush pen, is a cartridge-based writing implement used in East Asian calligraphy; it is, in essence, an ink brush analogue to a fountain pen. Overview The Japanese manufacturing company Kuretake was the first to launch a br ...

that used replaceable waterproofReview: Pentel Pocket Brush Pen
by Teoh Yi Chie, December 28, 2014 ink cartridges, like

fountain pen A fountain pen is a writing instrument which uses a metal nib to apply a water-based ink to paper. It is distinguished from earlier dip pens by using an internal reservoir to hold ink, eliminating the need to repeatedly dip the pen in an inkw ...

s (and unlike conventional brush pens, which are more like

marker pen A marker pen, fine liner, marking pen, felt-tip pen, felt pen, flow marker, sign pen (in South Korea), vivid (in New Zealand), texta (in Australia), sketch pen (in South Asia) or koki (in South Africa), is a pen which has its own ink source a ...

s.)Pentel Pocket Brush Pen: A Comprehensive Guide
June 4, 2019 on Jet Pens Brush pens (designed and recommended for

calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

) have also gained popularity among

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

artists, who choose them to ink their works instead of

dip pen A dip pen or nib pen or pen nib usually consists of a metal nib with capillary channels like those of fountain pen nibs, mounted in a handle or holder, often made of wood. Other materials can be used for the holder, including bone, metal and pla ...

s or traditional

brushes A brush is a common tool with bristles, wire or other filaments. It generally consists of a handle or block to which filaments are affixed in either a parallel or perpendicular orientation, depending on the way the brush is to be gripped durin ...

. One of those artists using Pentel was

Neal Adams Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Supe ...

.Larry Hama interview in Comic Book Resources
June 3, 2009

Products

Stationery

Product lines include ''Sharp Kerry'', ''Sharp P200 series'', ''Graph 1000'', ''Graphgear'' (''500, 800 and 1000''), ''Graphlet'', ''Sharplet'', ''Smash'', ''Stein'', ''Orenz'', ''OrenzNero'' (mechanical pencils or "sharps"); ''Ain'' and ''Hi-Polymer'' (mechanical pencil leads); ''Energel'' (gel ink pens); ''Vicuna'' (hybrid ink ballpoint pen); ''Pentel Pen'' (permanent marker), and ''Sign Pen'' (fine tip marker). Range of products manufactured by Pentel includes:Pentel catalog
on Pentel of America, Ltd. (archived), Sep 21, 2010 Pentel_RSVP_pens

Other products

Pentel produces and sells electronic devices and production equipment in addition to stationery. * Electronic equipment – Touch panel, digitizer (liquid crystal pen tablet), touch switch, electronic pen (airpen) * Production equipment – for industrial robots, industrial automatic assembly machines, precision dies for injection molding, precision hand presses * OEM supply (OEM Division) – Cosmetic parts, stationery, office supplies, medical equipment

References

External links

*
Pentel global
{{Portal bar, Companies Manufacturing companies established in 1946 Manufacturing companies based in Tokyo Japanese stationery Japanese brands Art materials brands Pen manufacturers Office supply companies of Japan Midori-kai Japanese companies established in 1946