Formerly called
|
Binney & Smith Company |
---|---|
Subsidiary of Hallmark Cards (formerly Binney & Smith Company) |
|
Industry | Handicraft |
Founded | March 31, 1885 | (as Binney & Smith Company)
Founder |
|
Headquarters | Forks Township, Pennsylvania, United States |
Number of locations
|
11 |
Area served
|
Worldwide |
Key people
|
|
Products |
|
Brands |
|
Number of employees
|
1,300 (2012) |
Parent | Hallmark Cards |
Website | crayola |
Crayola LLC is an American handicraft company, specializing in artists' supplies, it is known for its brand Crayola and best known for its crayons. The company is based in Forks Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, USA. Since 1984, Crayola has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Hallmark Cards. Originally an industrial pigment supply company, Crayola soon shifted its focus to art products for home and school use, beginning with chalk, then crayons, followed later by colored pencils, markers, paints, modeling clay, and other related goods. All Crayola-branded products are marketed as nontoxic and safe for use by children. Most Crayola crayons are maufactured in the United States.
The company also produces Silly Putty and a line of professional art products under the Portfolio Series brand.
Crayola, LLC claims the Crayola brand has 99% name recognition in U.S. consumer households, and says its products are marketed and sold in over 80 countries.
The company was founded as Binney and Smith by cousins Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith in New York City on March 31, 1885. Initial products were colorants for industrial use, including red iron oxide pigments used in barn paint and carbon black chemicals used for making tires black and extending their useful lifespan. Binney & Smith's new process of creating inexpensive black colorants was entered into the chemistry industries competition at the 1900 Paris Exposition under the title "carbon gas blacks, lamp or oil blacks, 'Peerless' black" and earned the company a gold medal award in chemical and pharmaceutical arts. Also in 1900, the company added production of slate school pencils. Binney's experimentation with industrial materials, including slate waste, cement, and talc, led to the invention of the first dustless white chalk, for which the company won a gold medal at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.