Koh-I-Noor

The well established brand Koh-I-Noor was founded as early as 1790 in Austria, under the name Hardtmuth after the founder Joseph Hardtmuth. The company was the first to patent pencils made from a mixture of graphite and clay - the first modern day pencils. The name Koh-I-Noor was launched in preparation for the World's Fair in 1889, referring to the diamond with the same name which was the largest diamond in the world at the time. At this time in history, the highest quality graphite came from China, where the color yellow was considered a royal color. To emphasize the high quality of the pencils and give regal associations, Koh-I-Noor's pencils were painted yellow and because of this ingenious marketing, many people still think that a pencil has a yellow body.

In addition to the iconic pencils, Koh-I-Noor today manufactures a range of other materials and tools for drawing. Here we have lead holders and charcoal perfect for sketching, circle templates for exact circles, erasers among other exciting products.