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Crayola

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Crayola LLC
IndustryArts and crafts, Toys
PredecessorBinney & Smith
FoundedNew York City, New York (1885)
FounderEdwin Binney
C. Harold Smith
Headquarters1100 Church Lane

Easton, Pennsylvania 18044-0431

United States[1]
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]
ParentHallmark Cards
DivisionsCrayola, Silly Putty, Portfolio Series
Websitehttp://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

See also: Timeline of Crayola
"Black and white photographs of Crayola's founders Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith, circa 1900
Crayola's founders Edwin Binney (left) and C. Harold Smith (right)

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]

In 1903, the company produced its most famous innovation—the first brightly-colored child-friendly crayons, 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] The crayons that had existed previously were toxic and either too expensive for general use or dull in color and produced for industrial uses such as marking shipping crates.[7]

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
Modern (2009) 64-crayon pack sporting built-in sharpener

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 The Smithsonian National Museum of American History curator David Shayt.[8]

In 1977, Binney & Smith acquired the rights to Silly Putty.[9] Crayola markers were introduced in 1978 to coincide with the 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
Crayola telescoping 150 crayon tower

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[10] all the way up to 832 "Classpack" bulk boxes marketed to schools.[11] The colors contained in a package have ranged from 2 up to 200 (although a 200 color package includes "special effect" crayons such as glitters or 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.[12][13][14] 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.[15]

Colors

Further information: List of Crayola crayon 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
Officially retired Crayola crayon colors

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 mistakenly being linked to the skin color of Native Americans, although the name actually referred to a red pigment from India.[16] "Prussian Blue" was renamed to "Midnight Blue" since the country of Prussia has long since ceased to exist and the name fell into disuse.

Here are the colors of crayons that are included in the 8, 16, and 24 packs:

8 pack +8 = 16 pack +8 = 24 pack

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
Metallic FX crayons
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
Glitter crayons

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.[12]

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.[17]

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.[8]

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[18] and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, with the official 100 billionth crayon molded by Fred Rogers himself in February 1996 at the plant in Easton.[19]

Commemorative postage stamp

United States 32 cent postage stamp featuring a vintage eight color crayon box
A 1998 USPS stamp commemorating Crayola crayons. Note the Roman numeral date "MCMIV" at the bottom of the gold medal seal

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.[20] 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.[21]

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."[22] Overall, "Blue" came in first, with "Cerulean" second and "Purple Heart" third.[23] Full results are available here.

The Crayola Factory

The Crayola Factory is located at 30 Centre Square, Easton, Pennsylvania at Two Rivers Landing,[24] 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.[25]

A young girl draws with Crayola crayons at the Crayola Factory
A girl draws with Crayola-brand crayons in the Crayola Factory

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.[26]

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.[27]

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.[28]

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.[29]

Other products

A variety of Crayola products available for sale at a New York art supply store
A selection of Crayola products for sale at Lee's Art Shop in Manhattan

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.[30]

Other brands

Silly Putty

Main article: 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,[31]

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.[32]

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.[33]

Christmas Lights

In the 1996-1997 season Crayola produced christmas lights using their name with colours 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.

Financial data

Because Crayola LLC is a privately held company, it is not required to release detailed financial data publicly.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Crayola company profile". Retrieved 2009-06-26.
  2. ^ "Our Commitment to Crayola® Product Safety". Crayola. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  3. ^ a b "Binney & Smith becomes Crayola LLC". Binney & Smith. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
  4. ^ a b c Kathryn DeVan (Fall 2008). "Crayola Colors Children's Memories in 64 Shades and More". Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ a b c d e "The Colors of Childhood". Smithsonian Magazine. 1999. Retrieved 2009-06-22. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help),
  7. ^ "History and Development of Crayons". Crayola. Retrieved 2009-06-26. (Microsoft Word format)
  8. ^ a b Elizabeth Armstrong Hall. "American Icons -- Crayola Crayon". Dennis Hall. pp. 180–183.
  9. ^ "Silly Putty History". Crayola. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
  10. ^ "Crayons — Hospitality packs, regular crayons and bulk packs". hotelfun4kids.com.
  11. ^ "Crayola Crayon Classroom Packs". Dick Blick Art Materials. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
  12. ^ a b "Draw & Color Crayons". CrayolaStore.com.
  13. ^ "CRAYOLA CRAYONS 32 PACK". OfficeMax. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
  14. ^ "Crayola 120ct Original Crayons". Amazon.com.
  15. ^ "Crayola® Telescoping Crayon Tower - 150ct. (52-0029)". CrayolaStore.com. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
  16. ^ "Crayola Crayon Chronology". Crayola LLC. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  17. ^ "The 20 Most Recognizable Scents In The World". list of the day. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
  18. ^ "Sesame Street: How Crayons are Made". Children's Television Workshop.
  19. ^ "Crayola Celebrates 100 Years — Did You Know..." Crayola. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  20. ^ "Crayola Crayons (I Remember JFK: A Baby Boomer's Pleasant Reminiscing Spot)". Retrieved 2008-10-19.
  21. ^ "1900s Celebrate The Century Issues". Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Retrieved 2009-06-16.
  22. ^ "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.
  23. ^ "Crayola Color Census 2000". Crayola. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
  24. ^ "Directions to The Crayola FACTORY®". Retrieved 2009-06-26.
  25. ^ "The Crayola FACTORY® at Two Rivers Landing". Retrieved 2009-06-26.
  26. ^ The Crayola Factory
  27. ^ Crayon Craziness: Dinner: Impossible
  28. ^ "Crayola Factory". RoadsideAmerica.com. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
  29. ^ Ann Cathryn Orsinger. "Artist spotlight: crayon artist Don Marco". Cowboys & Indians Magazine. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
  30. ^ "Crayola® Products". Retrieved 2009-06-26.
  31. ^ "Portfolio Series Products". Retrieved 2008-02-26.
  32. ^ "THE HISTORY OF LIQUITEX ACRYLIC ART MATERIALS". Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  33. ^ "Licensing: Crayola Plans To Think Out Of The (Crayon) Box". All Business. 2004-06-07. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
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