Kuretake is a Japanese manufacturing company 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, ...

s. The firm began its activities manufacturing ink and brushes and then expanded its range of products, producing mainly

pen A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...

s. Current range of products manufactured by Kuretake includes markers, brush pens, inks,

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

History

Founded under the name of "Kuretake Sumi" in 1902, the company originally started by producing brushes, a brush similar in style to certain

brushes, sharing a generally thick wooden or bamboo handle, and a broad soft hair brush that when wetted form a fine tip. The brushes produced by Kuretake Sumi were designed for , or inkwash painting. In 1965, Kuretake Industries Co., Ltd. was established as a plant specializing in the production of writing instruments while Tokyo office was established. In 1986, a subsidiary, "Kuretake U.K. Ltd." was established in the West Midlands,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. In 2014 another subsidiary, "Kuretake ZIG Corporation" was established in Sacramento,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Products

Kuretake (and its subsidiary brand, "Zig") manufactures a wide variety of markers, such as

highlighter A highlighter is a type of writing device used to mark attention to sections of text by marking them with a vivid, translucent colour. A typical highlighter is fluorescent yellow, colored with pyranine. Different compounds, such as rhodamines ( ...

s and watercolor markers. The firm also gained reputation for its " brush pen", similar to a

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 s ...

with a brush-shapered flexible tip but refillable, using replaceable ink cartridges like

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

s do. The brush pen by Kuretake was the first using cartridges (although

Pentel is a privately-held Japanese manufacturing company of stationery products. The name is a combination of the English words ''pen'' and ''tell'' (as in, telling a story). Pentel is also the inventor of non-permanent marker technology. Most Pente ...

would later launch a brush model that used cartridges also). Through its brand "ScrapBooking", Kuretake produces other stationery items such as papers, templates, corner punches, color selectors, and photo tapes.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuretake (Art Products) Companies based in Nara Prefecture Manufacturing companies established in 1902 Japanese brands Japanese stationery Art materials brands Ink brands Pulp and paper companies of Japan Design companies established in 1902