Introducing New Caran d’Ache Products

Pencils.com is excited to announce that we’ve added several new offerings from Caran d’Ache, the Swiss pencil makers best known for their extremely high-quality art materials and writing instruments. Over on Timberlines, WoodChuck posted a fantastic article discussing the history of Caran d’Ache and their historic relationship with CalCedar. Here’s an excerpt in which he discusses the history of the Caran d’Ache name and their distinct logo:

Originally founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1915, as Fabrique de Crayons Ecridor the company was acquired in 1924 by Arnold Schweitzer, predecessor of the present day owners. At that time Mr. Schweitzer acquired his pencil factory he gave it the name Fabrique Suisse de Crayons Caran d’Ache in honor of a famous French artist he very much admired, Emmanuel Poiré. Under the pseudonym “Karandash”, which is the Russian word for a pencil, Poiré worked as a designer and caricaturist in Paris during the Belle Epoque.

The term “Karandash” is derived from the Turkish phrase “kara tash,” which means “black stone,” referring to the graphite found in pencils. He was most famous for his “Stories without words” which were printed by most of the illustrated newspapers of the time, and he is considered one of the fathers of the comic strip. In fact, the painter’s original signature, slightly modified, is still used today as the highly distinctive logo of all Caran d’Ache Fine Arts products…