Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth a.s. is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

manufacturing company of

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 pape ...

products, based in

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; german: Budweis ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 93,000 inhabitants. It is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is t ...

. Having been established in 1790, it is one of the oldest stationery companies in the world. With four factories in its country of origin (

Městec Králové Městec Králové (; german: Königstädtel meaning “King’s town”) is a town in Nymburk District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,800 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages of Nový and Vinice are adm ...

Broumov Broumov (; german: Braunau) is a town in Náchod District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,100 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Administrative ...

, and

Milevsko Milevsko (; german: Mühlhausen) is a town in Písek District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 8,000 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages of Dmýštice, Klisín, Něžovice, Rukáveč and Velká are administr ...

) and one in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, the company manufactures and commercialises a wide range of

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 thos ...

, and office products, exporting them to more than 90 countries worldwide.

History

The company was founded in 1790 by

Joseph Hardtmuth Joseph Hardtmuth (13 February 1758, Asparn an der Zaya – 23 May 1816, Vienna) was an Austrian architect, inventor and entrepreneur. Inventions In 1789, he invented a new kind of earthenware with a lead-free glaze for tableware production, ...

(1758–1816) of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. In 1802, the company patented the first

pencil lead A graphite pencil, also called a lead pencil, is a type of pencil in which a thin graphite core is embedded in a shell of other material. The pencil shell is typically wooden, but can be made of plastic or recycled paper. History A large deposi ...

made from a combination of

kaolin Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedra ...

and

graphite Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on la ...

. In 1848, Joseph's sons, Karl and Ludwig, took over the family business, and the production was relocated to the

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

n town of Budweis, within the current

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. The products were given awards in many world exhibitions, including in 1855 in New York City, 1856, 1900 and 1925 in Paris, 1862 in London, 1882 in Vienna and 1905 in Milan. At the 1889

World Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

in Paris, the Hardtmuths displayed their pencils rebranded as "Koh-I-Noor Hardtmuth". Each pencil was encased in a yellow

cedar Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae *Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona * ...

-wood barrel. The inspiration for the name was the famous

Koh-i-Noor The Koh-i-Noor ( ; from ), also spelled Kohinoor and Koh-i-Nur, is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing . It is part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. The diamond is currently set in the Crown of Queen Elizabeth The ...

diamond (Persian for "Mountain of Light"), part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, and the largest diamond in the world at the time. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth was

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...

. It became privately held in 1992. Since 2007, it has been a member of the Czech parent company KOH-I-NOOR Holding a.s. Since 2000 the owner of the company is , who serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company. He was declared the Entrepreneur of the Year 2014. The previous owner was

Petr Kellner Petr Kellner (20 May 1964 – 27 March 2021) was a Czech billionaire entrepreneur, the founder and majority shareholder (98.93%) of the PPF Group. At the time of his death, he had an estimated net worth of $17.5 billion, making him the wealth ...

. The company has production facilities in more than 80 countries. It is also a contract manufacturer of small injection-moulded plastic products. Koh-i-Noor was a partner in making

Jiří Barta Jiří Barta (born 26 November 1948) is a Czech stop-motion animation director. Many of his films use wood as a medium for animation. Among his notable films are the 1986 film ''The Pied Piper''. In 2007 he released his first computer-animated ...

's 2009 animated feature '' Toys In the Attic'', and its pencils appear frequently throughout the film.

Products

Koh-i-Noor's range of products include:Products
on Koh-i-Noor website, 25 Nov 2019 Koh-i-noor 1

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Companies Manufacturing companies of Czechoslovakia Manufacturing companies of the Czech Republic Czech brands Office supply companies Pen manufacturers Pencil brands Fountain pen and ink manufacturers Purveyors to the Imperial and Royal Court 1790 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Artists' acrylic paint brands Oil paint brands Watercolor brands Art materials brands České Budějovice