Pentel Celebrates 80 Years of Success in Writing

Japanese writing instruments and art materials manufacturer Pentel is celebrating 80 years of successful business in 2026.  The company will be spreading the word at the London Stationery Show, showcasing new products, as well as recent successes and established favourites.

Founded in 1946 as the Japan Stationery Co. Ltd. by the late chairman Yukio Horie, the business initially purchased and sold stationery products.  Mr Horie was among the first entrepreneurs in Japan to predict that arts and cultural pastimes such as music, painting, sculpture and writing would increase significantly in popularity after the Second World War.  He made it his mission to develop crayons and pastels that would realise the dreams of his customers, and he quickly established his first factory to take on the challenge of developing art materials.

For the first decade the business produced crayons and oil pastels, which later inspired the company’s new name ‘Pentel’, combining the words ‘painting’ and ‘pastel’ and suggestive of ‘pen’ – the next stage in the company’s history of product development – in addition to ‘tell’, as in communicating.  The company began exporting to overseas markets in 1953 and just over ten years later had opened another two factories.

Keen to provide alternative methods for people to feel the joy of expressing their creative ideas Yukio Horie focused his attention on developing a range of innovative new products, including in 1960 the Pentel Pencil, the world’s first mechanical pencil with a push button for advancing the lead.

During the 60s Pentel truly came to the attention of a global market.  In 1963 the company launched the fibre-tipped Sign Pen.  Different to any other pen on the market at the time, Sign Pen achieved a major publicity coup when, after a trade fair, a sample fell into the hands of US President Lyndon Johnson, who was extremely enthusiastic and, according to contemporary press reports, ordered the pen by the boxload.  After this was reported in the press Sign Pen became incredibly popular and was even adopted by NASA, travelling into space on a Gemini mission in 1966.  Such was the level of publicity that Sign Pen became a huge, ongoing success, with billions sold to date around the world.

Sign Pen was followed by the Pentel Pen, a permanent marker with a robust acrylic fibre tip, known as N50.  A must-have in factories, warehouses and offices around the world N50 soon became the tried and trusted marker for permanent, waterproof and fade-resistant results on most surfaces, including metal, plastic, wood, glass, rubber and thick card.

Important product milestones were achieved in the 1970s, with the launch of two of the company’s most iconic products:  the green-barrelled Ball Pentel rollerball and the P200 series mechanical pencil.  To be cool at school in the 1980s no self-respecting pocket or pencil case was complete without a Ball Pentel.  Further product innovations followed in the 80s and 90s, with the invention of the first valve-controlled correction pen and the smooth flowing Hybrid gel roller range in 26 colours.  With the arrival of a new century Pentel continued took superior product performance to a new level with the launch of EnerGel, the first ultra-quick drying rollerball pens, resistant to smudging and suitable for right and left-handed writers.  Today EnerGel is available in a range of styles, tip sizes and colours.  Special editions of EnerGel have helped Pentel in the UK to raise more than £2.48 million collectively for the charities Breast Cancer Now and Prostate Cancer UK.

Further innovations have launched in the last decade, including Hybrid DualMetallic gel pens, with iridescent ink that writes in different sparkling shades on dark or light coloured paper and two recent award winners:  Mattehop, a vibrant gel pen with ink that almost looks like plastic when it lays down and can even be used to write on photos, and Floatune, a pen featuring a new generation of ink, with dual-ball tip technology, which won the Writing Instrument of the Year Under £10 award at the 2025 Stationery Awards.

Art at its Heart

True to the company’s roots, Pentel continues to launch exciting new products for art and creative hobbies.  The Pentel Arts range offers a fantastic choice of products for both seasoned practitioners and those seeking a new pastime.  As a Japanese company brush pens are in Pentel’s DNA, and the choice of colours and tip styles will delight everyone from the artist to the hand lettering enthusiast.

Recent extensions to the Pentel Arts range including the ingenious Expressive Sets, two sets featuring eight Pentel Brush Sign Pen Twin Tip pens, a mini Aquash Water Brush and two palette sheets.  The brush pens can be applied directly to paper, watered down to soften the colours, or, to create an even wider range of shades, several ink colours can be laid directly on to the palette sheets then mixed using the water brush to create colours as desired.  The specially created sets are ideal for manga or landscape drawing.  Manga and anime enthusiasts will love using these and other manga sets that feature Pentel brush pens and Pointliner drawing pens.  Two new three-piece Manga Essentials sets offer brush pens and fine liners chosen specially for drawing Shojo (face) or Shonen (action)-style characters and scenes.

Each year Pentel looks forward to offering a slice of Japan through its special edition EnerGel Kawaii pens with cute themes based on Japanese culture.  These have included Japanese snacks and the intriguing Japanese onomatopoeia collection.  2026 will see the latest in the development of this fun series, supported by eye-catching merchandise to draw attention in-store.

In recent years Pentel companies around the world have offered products from PLUS Corporation, one of Japan’s biggest stationery companies, which acquired a majority share in Pentel Co. Ltd. towards the end of 2022.

In the UK Pentel now offers a wide range of PLUS products for office and leisure time including premium quality Curved Blade Scissors, Staple-Free Staplers, glue tapes and correction rollers and the innovative Guard Your Identity Camouflage Roller.

The Era of ASTRUM

Now, as Pentel Co. Ltd. enters its ninth decade the company has made an important announcement.  From 1 April 2026 the company’s name will change to ASTRUM CORPORATION.  A spokesperson said, “In order to drive our transformation towards becoming one of the world’s leading general stationery manufacturers the company has opted to conduct a staged merger through to 2028.  To highlight the significance of this integration our corporate name is set to change from Pentel Co. Ltd. to ASTRUM CORPORATION.”

The name ‘astrum’ which refers to a celestial body, was chosen to “encapsulate the bridging of intelligence and sensitivity sought after in a stationery company”.

Each brand within the ASTRUM family will maintain its own unique brand identity and the long-established and widely recognised Pentel name will be maintained as a business brand globally.

Pentel UK marketing manager, Wendy Vickery, says, “For 80 years Pentel’s mission has been to develop and deliver user-friendly writing instruments and art materials that enable people all over the world to express their ideas creatively, conveniently and imaginatively.  As we celebrate this important anniversary and enter the era of ASTRUM we will continue our commitment to innovation, quality and performance, introducing desirable new products, strengthening our production and supporting our customers as we look ahead to an exciting future together.”