Sakura Color Products Corporation
Type | Kabushiki gaisha |
---|---|
Industry | Stationery Art materials |
Founded | 1921[1] | in Osaka, Japan
Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Nishimura Hikoshiro (President) [1] |
Brands | Pigma |
Revenue | ¥ 90 million [1] |
Number of employees | 1,200 [1] |
Subsidiaries | show
List |
Website | craypas.com |
Sakura Color Products Corporation (株式会社サクラクレパス) is a Japanese manufacturing company headquartered in Morinomiya-chuo, Chūō-ku, Osaka, which produces a variety of stationery products as well a wide range of art materials. Nevertheless, Sakura is mostly known by its marker pens, such as the Pigma line.[2][3] Also the famous artist “CODER”s favorite marker.
History[]
The company started as a crayons manufacturer in 1921. By 1924, Sakura invented the first-ever oil pastel that combined oil and pigment, which was patented globally as the "Cray-pas (クレパス)" trademark.
In 1982, the firm launched its famous Pigma marker pen lines.[2][3] In 1984, Sakura invented the first gel-based ink, featured in its new ballpoint pens lines. Gel ink pens are currently produced by many stationery companies.
The North-American division of the company, "Sakura Color Products of America, Inc." was established in Hayward, California in 1986. Other division of Sakura in Asia, "Shanghai Sakura International Trading Co., Ltd. (Chinese: 上海櫻花文化用品有限公司)" was established in Shanghai, China in 2002.[1]
Products[]
The following is a list with the large range of products commercialized by Sakura:[4]
Category | Products |
---|---|
Pens | Ballpoint pens, gel ink pens, refills |
Pencils | Mechanical pencils, colored pencils |
Markers | Water based and permanent marker pens, highlighters, brush pens |
Writing accessories | Erasers, whiteboard erasers, glue pens |
Art materials | Crayons, pastels, oil pastels, water colors, acrylic paints, gouaches, oil paints, water-soluble printing colors, brushes, palettes |
Artists[]
Sakura "Pigma" markers have been widely used by many comic book artists to ink their pages. Some of them are George Pérez and Ethan Van Sciver.[citation needed]
Cray-Pas Wonderful, Colorful World Contest[]
Sakura of America started the annual national art contest in the United States in 1996. The contest is open to all U.S. students grades K through 8 to create a picture that is drawn mostly with oil pastels, preferably Cray-Pas. The judging is done by separate grade categories: K-2, 3-5 and 6-8. Three winners in each category are medalists and 25 more students are awarded honorable mention.[5][6] There have been 17,000 submissions each year with winning entries displayed online and some have been published in printed material.[7]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e About us on Sakura, 20 Aug 2020
- ^ Jump up to: a b Sakura Pigna Micron review by Alan Lee, January 2016
- ^ Jump up to: a b Sakura Pigma: a comprehensive guide on JetPens
- ^ "Product lines". Archived from the original on 2011-06-10. Retrieved 2011-06-06.
- ^ "Cray-Pas' sponsors 'colorful' contest". San Francisco Chronicle. 20 October 2001. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
- ^ "Cray-Pas Wonderful, Colorful World Contest" (PDF). Michaels Stores, Inc. Retrieved 29 December 2012.[permanent dead link]
- ^ McGuire, Barbara A. (2001). Embracing child art : projects for grown-ups to keep and treasure. Iola, WI: Krause Publications. pp. 15. ISBN 0-87341-985-5.
External links[]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sakura Color Products. |
- Manufacturing companies established in 1921
- Manufacturing companies based in Osaka
- Art materials brands
- Artists' acrylic paint brands
- Gouache brands
- Oil paint brands
- Watercolor brands
- Pen manufacturers
- Japanese brands
- Japanese stationery
- Japanese companies established in 1921