Crayola
Crayola's corporate logo | |
Industry | Arts and crafts, Toys |
---|---|
Predecessor | Binney & Smith |
Founded | New York City, New York (1885) |
Founder | Edwin Binney C. Harold Smith |
Headquarters | 1100 Church Lane Easton, Pennsylvania 18044-0431 |
Number of locations | Manufacturing:[1] Easton, Pennsylvania Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Mexico City, Mexico International sales and marketing offices:[1] Canada, England, Australia, France, Mexico, Italy and Spain |
Key people | Mike Perry, President and Chief Executive Officer Dona Fisher, Vice President & Chief Financial Officer Sharon Hartley, Vice President, U.S. Marketing & Sales Peter S. Ruggiero, Vice President, Operations[1] |
Number of employees | 1,250 (2006)[1] |
Parent | Hallmark Cards |
Divisions | Crayola, Silly Putty, Portfolio Series |
Website | http://www.crayola.com/ |
Crayola is a brand of artistry supplies manufactured by Crayola LLC—founded in 1885 as Binney & Smith—best known for its almost ubiquitous crayons. Originally an industrial pigment supply company, it 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 non-toxic and safe for use by children, making the brand a perennial favorite among teachers and parents.[2]
The company also produces Silly Putty and a line of professional art products under the Portfolio Series brand.
The Crayola brand has 99% name recognition in U.S. consumer households, and its products are currently sold in over 80 different countries.[3]
History
!["Black and white photographs of Crayola's founders Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith, circa 1900](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/84/Bio_binney.jpg/220px-Bio_binney.jpg)
The company was founded by cousins Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith in New York City in 1885 as Binney & Smith. 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.[4] 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.[5][6] 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.[6]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/27/Crayola1.jpg/567px-Crayola1.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Crayola_Ad_1905.jpg/220px-Crayola_Ad_1905.jpg)
In 1902 Binney & Smith developed and introduced the Staonal marking crayon. Then Edwin Binney, working with his wife, Alice Stead Binney, developed their own famous product line of wax crayons beginning on June 10, 1903.[7], which it sold under the brand name "Crayola." The Crayola name was coined by Alice Binney, wife of company founder Edwin and a former school teacher. It comes from "craie," the French word for "chalk," and "ola," for "oleaginous," or "oily."[6][8] Crayola introduced their crayons not with one box but with a full product line. By 1905 the line had expanded to offering 18 different sized crayon boxes[9] with 5 physically different sized crayons, only two sizes of which survive today - the "standard size" (Standard sized crayola crayon is 3 5/8" x 5/16") and the "large size" (Large sized crayola crayons are 4" x 7/16"). The product line offered crayon boxes contained containing 6,7,8,12,14,16,18,24 or 30 different color crayons. Some of these boxes were targeted for artists and contained crayons with no wrappers, while others had a color number printed on the crayon wrapper that tied to a corresponding number on a list of color names printed inside the box lid, but some boxes held crayons with their color names printed on their wrappers.
The Rubens Crayola line started in 1903 as well (not in the 1920s as previously documented by so many sources)[10] was directly targeted toward artists and designed to compete with the Raphael brand of crayons out of Europe. The crayon boxes sold anywhere from 5 cents for a "No.6 Rubens" box containing 6 different colored crayons to $1.50 for the "No. 500 Rubens SPECIAL ARTISTS & DESIGNERS CRAYON" box containing 24 different colored larger (4 1/4" x 1/2") crayons[11].
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Rubens_Ad.jpg/220px-Rubens_Ad.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/Rubens500_inside.jpg/220px-Rubens500_inside.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/Rubens500.jpg/220px-Rubens500.jpg)
![Crayola yellow and green sixty-four color box shown on a table with sixteen of the crayons from the box arrayed in front of it](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/31/Crayola-64.jpg/220px-Crayola-64.jpg)
In 1949, Crayola dramatically expanded its available crayon colors by introducing the 48-color pack. Further expansion took place in 1958 with the introduction of the 64-color pack that included the company's first crayon sharpener built into the box. The 64-color box was called "a watershed" moment in the history of the Crayola crayon by Smithsonian National Museum of American History curator David Shayt.[12]
In 1977, Binney & Smith acquired the rights to Silly Putty.[13] Crayola markers were introduced in 1978 to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Crayola crayons. Colored pencils and a line of washable markers were added in 1987.[4]
Crayons
![Crayola plastic telescoping 150-crayon tower extended for use](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/28/Crayola-Tower-Pack.jpg/220px-Crayola-Tower-Pack.jpg)
Crayola crayon packs come in a range of sizes from packages of just a few crayons sold to establishments such as hotels and restaurants to hand out to their young guests[14] all the way up to 832-crayon "Classpack" bulk boxes marketed to schools.[15] The colors contained in a package have ranged from two up to 200 (although a 200-color package includes "special effect" crayons such as glitters, neons, etc.). In general, though, the most common retail packages are multiples of eight with 8, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 96 and 120 packs being marketed today.[16][17][18] A 150-crayon pack featuring a plastic telescope-like case was introduced in 2006 and includes 118 regular color crayons, 16 glitter crayons and 16 "Metallic FX" crayons as well as a built-in sharpener at the apex of the tower.[19]
Colors
As the size of Crayola crayon packs increased from the original eight pack, the variety of colors available have also increased—reaching 120 unique standard crayon colors by 1998. Since 1998, new colors have been added, but always replacing existing colors. In all, thirteen colors have been retired, bringing the total number of regular colors ever produced to 133.
![Thirteen retired Crayola crayons no longer produced](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/Retired13.jpg/220px-Retired13.jpg)
The thirteen officially retired crayon colors are "Blue Gray", "Lemon Yellow", "Orange Red", "Orange Yellow", "Violet Blue", "Maize", "Green Blue", "Raw Umber", "Thistle", "Blizzard Blue", "Mulberry", "Teal Blue" and "Magic Mint".
Some colors have been simply renamed rather than replaced, often due to cultural sensitivity issues. For example, "Flesh" was changed to "Peach" since not all people have a white complexion, and "Indian Red" was changed to "Chestnut" out of concern that the name was thought to be a reference to the skin color of Native Americans, although the name actually referred to a red pigment from India.[20] "Prussian Blue" was renamed "Midnight Blue" since the country of Prussia had long since ceased to exist and the name had fallen into disuse.
Here are the colors of crayons that are included in the 8, 16, and 24 packs:
8 pack (1908) | +8 = 16 pack (1924) | +8 = 24 pack (1973) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() Red |
![]() Orange |
![]() Carnation Pink |
![]() Red Orange |
![]() Violet Red |
![]() Scarlet |
![]() Yellow |
![]() Green |
![]() Yellow Orange |
![]() Yellow Green |
![]() Dandelion |
![]() Green Yellow |
File:Crayola-Blue.jpg Blue |
![]() Violet (purple) |
![]() Blue Green |
![]() Blue Violet |
![]() Cerulean |
![]() Indigo |
![]() Brown |
![]() Black |
![]() Red Violet |
White | ![]() Apricot |
![]() Gray |
Specialty colors
Metallic FX
In 2001, Crayola released its Metallic FX specialty crayons featuring metallic colors; the new set of crayons were named by Americans and Canadians via mail-in vote.
![The sixteen metallic fx crayola crayons](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/18/Crayola-metallicfx.jpg/220px-Crayola-metallicfx.jpg)
Crayola Metallic FX Crayon Colors | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
File:Crayola-MFXmetallicseaweed.jpg Metallic Seaweed |
File:Crayola-MFXblastoffbronze.jpg Blast Off Bronze |
File:Crayola-MFXbdazzledblue.jpg B'Dazzled Blue |
File:Crayola-MFXsheengreen.jpg Sheen Green | ||||
File:Crayola-MFXsonicsilver.jpg Sonic Silver |
File:Crayola-MFXcybergrape.jpg Cyber Grape |
File:Crayola-MFXbigdiporuby.jpg Big Dip O'Ruby |
File:Crayola-MFXsteelblue.jpg Steel Blue | ||||
File:Crayola-MFXgoldfusion.jpg Gold Fusion |
File:Crayola-MFXmetallicsunburst.jpg Metallic Sunburst |
File:Crayola-MFXalloyorange.jpg Alloy Orange |
File:Crayola-MFXilluminatingemerald.jpg Illuminating Emerald | ||||
File:Crayola-MFXbittersweetshimmer.jpg Bittersweet Shimmer |
File:Crayola-MFXrazzmicberry.jpg Razzmic Berry |
File:Crayola-MFXshimmeringblush.jpg Shimmering Blush |
File:Crayola-MFXdeepspacesparkle.jpg Deep Space Sparkle |
Glitter
![The sixteen glitter crayola crayons](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6c/Crayola-glitter-crayons.jpg/220px-Crayola-glitter-crayons.jpg)
Specialty crayons
Crayola has also recently added other specialty crayon products to its lineup, including scented crayons, washable crayons, triangular-shaped crayons, sidewalk crayons, twistable crayons, window crayons, and large-sized crayons.[16]
Cultural impact
A Yale University study found that the smell of Crayola crayons is one of the most recognizable scents for adults,[6] ranking at number 18 trailing coffee and peanut butter that were number one and two respectively, but beating out cheese and bleach which placed at 19 and 20.[21]
The Smithsonian National Museum of American History maintains a collection of Crayola crayons founded by an original 64 color box donated by Binney & Smith in 1998. The collection now includes more than 300 boxes of crayons.[12]
The Crayola crayon was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame as a founding member at its inception.
Crayola has been featured in segments from the popular children's shows Sesame Street[22] and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, with the official 100 billionth crayon molded by Fred Rogers himself in February 1996 at the plant in Easton.[23]
Commemorative postage stamp
![United States 32 cent postage stamp featuring a vintage eight color crayon box](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/Crayola.jpg/220px-Crayola.jpg)
In 1998, the United States Postal Service issued a 32 cent postage stamp to commemorate the cultural impact the product has had on almost all Americans.[24] Although the crayons debuted in 1903 and the stamp is titled as such, the box depicted includes the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair Gold Medal insignia (dated MCMIV) won by Binney & Smith for their dustless chalk[6] so it can not be the original 1903 package design.
The stamp is part of the 1900s decade sheet of the Celebrate the Century souvenir sheet series and was designed by Carl Herrman, illustrated by Richard Waldrep and printed by Ashton-Potter USA using the offset/intaglio process.[25]
Crayola Color Census 2000
In 2000, Crayola held the "Crayola Color Census 2000" promotion in which Americans were asked to vote for their favorite Crayola crayon color. Celebrity entrants George W. Bush chose "Blue Bell," Tiger Woods chose "Wild Strawberry," and Courtney Cox Arquette chose "Red."[26] Overall, "Blue" came in first, with "Cerulean" second and "Purple Heart" third.[27] Full results are available here.
The Crayola Factory
The Crayola Factory is located at 30 Centre Square, Easton, Pennsylvania at Two Rivers Landing,[28] separate from the main manufacturing plant in the same city. The "Factory" is open to kids of all ages. Despite its name, the "Factory" is not an operational full-scale manufacturing plant, but rather a museum and visitor center geared towards familiarizing guests with Crayola's history and products.[29]
![A young girl draws with Crayola crayons at the Crayola Factory](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/ce/Girlwithcrayons.jpg/220px-Girlwithcrayons.jpg)
A "discovery center" was built that showcases the manufacturing process of crayons. There is also a "Crayola Hall of Fame" in which the retired crayon colors are displayed.[30]
The Crayola Factory was recently featured in a Food Network episode of Dinner: Impossible. A dinner was held for 150 employees of the Crayola Factory to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 64 box of crayons. Chef Michael Symon's mission was to create an eight course tasting menu for this event where all eight items of the menu had to match eight randomly chosen Crayola crayon colors.[31]
In October 2003, the Factory unveiled "The World's Largest Crayon," a 15-foot crayon weighing 1,500 lb as part of its celebration of the 100th year of Crayola crayons. The giant crayon is blue and was made of leftover crayon bits sent in by children across the United States.[32]
Fine art
Although marketed towards children and amateur artists, there are several professional artists who have specialized in using Crayola crayons as their primary medium. Don Marco, who works with Crayola crayons and construction paper, is one of the better known crayon artists—having sold over one million prints of his original artworks.[33]
Other products
![A variety of Crayola products available for sale at a New York art supply store](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bb/Crayola-Shelf-Products.jpg/220px-Crayola-Shelf-Products.jpg)
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Crayola LLC produces a broad range of products other than their famous crayons under the Crayola brand name. These include color pencils, markers, inks and paints, modeling clays, coloring books and artists' tools. As with all Crayola products, these are all marketed as non-toxic and safe for use by children.[34]
Other brands
Silly Putty
Silly Putty is a silicone polymer children's toy used for various purposes. Silly Putty was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2001.
Portfolio Series
The Portfolio Series, a line of water-soluble oil pastels, watercolors, drawing pencils, colored pencils, and acrylic paints that are marketed to artists and educators.[35]
Liquitex
Binney & Smith acquired the Liquitex corporation—a producer of fine art supply products—in 1964 but sold it to the ColArt company in 2000.[36]
Licensing
Numerous products ranging from bath and personal care items to bedding and electronics are produced by other companies using the Crayola brand name under license.[37]
Christmas Lights
In the 1996–1997 season Crayola produced Christmas lights using their name with colors such as pink, orange, and blue
Corporate information
Initially formed as a partnership in 1885, Binney & Smith incorporated in 1902. The corporation became a publicly-traded company under the symbol BYS on the American Stock Exchange in 1963 and later moved to the New York Stock Exchange under the same symbol in 1978.[4] In 1984, the company was acquired by the Hallmark Cards company, a privately held corporation.[1] On January 1, 2007, the "Binney & Smith" moniker was retired in favor of the "Crayola LLC" corporate name to showcase the company's well-known brand, which is in use in more than 80 countries and had 99% name recognition in U.S. consumer households.[3]
Manufacturing
Crayola has manufacturing plants in Easton, Pennsylvania, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Mexico City, Mexico.The color pencils are made by Faber-Castell brazilian plants.
Financial data
Because Crayola LLC is a privately held company, it is not required to release detailed financial data publicly.
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Crayola company profile". Retrieved 2009-06-26.
- ^ "Our Commitment to Crayola Product Safety". Crayola. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
- ^ a b "Binney & Smith becomes Crayola LLC". Binney & Smith. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
- ^ a b c Kathryn DeVan (Fall 2008). "Crayola Colors Children's Memories in 64 Shades and More". Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
- ^ Catalogue of Exhibitors in the United States Sections of the International Universal Exposition Paris, 1900. Paris: Société Anonyme des Imprimeries Lemercier. 1900. p. 425. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
- ^ a b c d e "The Colors of Childhood". Smithsonian Magazine. 1999. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
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ignored (help), - ^ The Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office. Vol. Vol 105. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Jul-Aug, 1903. p. 968.
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(help) - ^ Kitchel, A.F. (1961). The Story of a Rainbow. Easton, PA: Crayola LLC.
- ^ New York Teachers Monographs. Vol. Vol 7 (No 1 ed.). New York, NY: American Book Company. Mar 1905. p. 125.
{{cite book}}
:|volume=
has extra text (help) - ^ The Art of “Crayola” Painting. Easton, PA: Binney & Smith. 1904.
- ^ The Youth’s Companion. Boston, MA: Perry Mason & Co. Oct 18, 1906. p. 524.
- ^ a b Elizabeth Armstrong Hall. "American Icons -- Crayola Crayon". Dennis Hall. pp. 180–183.
- ^ "Silly Putty History". Crayola. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
- ^ "Crayons — Hospitality packs, regular crayons and bulk packs". hotelfun4kids.com.
- ^ "Crayola Crayon Classroom Packs". Dick Blick Art Materials. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
- ^ a b "Draw & Color Crayons". CrayolaStore.com.
- ^ "CRAYOLA CRAYONS 32 PACK". OfficeMax. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
- ^ "Crayola 120ct Original Crayons". Amazon.com.
- ^ "Crayola Telescoping Crayon Tower - 150ct. (52-0029)". CrayolaStore.com. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
- ^ "Crayola Crayon Chronology". Crayola LLC. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
- ^ "The 20 Most Recognizable Scents In The World". list of the day. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
- ^ "Sesame Street: How Crayons are Made". Children's Television Workshop.
- ^ "Crayola Celebrates 100 Years — Did You Know..." Crayola. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
- ^ "Crayola Crayons (I Remember JFK: A Baby Boomer's Pleasant Reminiscing Spot)". Retrieved 2008-10-19.
- ^ "1900s Celebrate The Century Issues". Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Retrieved 2009-06-16.
- ^ "Crayola Color Census 2000; Make Your Color Count in Cyber-Search for America's Favorite Crayon Colors". PRNewswire. 2000-08-07. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
- ^ "Crayola Color Census 2000". Crayola. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
- ^ "Directions to The Crayola FACTORY". Retrieved 2009-06-26.
- ^ "The Crayola FACTORY at Two Rivers Landing". Retrieved 2009-06-26.
- ^ The Crayola Factory
- ^ Crayon Craziness: Dinner: Impossible
- ^ "Crayola Factory". RoadsideAmerica.com. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
- ^ Ann Cathryn Orsinger. "Artist spotlight: crayon artist Don Marco". Cowboys & Indians Magazine. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
- ^ "Crayola Products". Retrieved 2009-06-26.
- ^ "Portfolio Series Products". Retrieved 2008-02-26.
- ^ "THE HISTORY OF LIQUITEX ACRYLIC ART MATERIALS". Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ "Licensing: Crayola Plans To Think Out Of The (Crayon) Box". All Business. 2004-06-07. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
External links
- The Crayola Official Website
- Video: How Crayons are Made on YouTube from Sesame Street
- A crayon collectors site with extensive info on Crayola crayons and boxes
- Orange: A Crayola raw materials data sheet from the 1970s Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- Binney & Smith Timeline
- Color Chronology from Crayola.com
- Crayola Crayon Colors: A Timeline from infoplease.com