add site
services
publishers
database
health videos
toolbar
stats
live show
health store
more stuff
JOIN/LOGIN
| advertise add site services publishers database health videos
| | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
GUM CRAYOLA TIMER LIGHT TOOTHBRUSH - Sunstar Butler, Pearson Dental... pearsondental.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]
[edit] HistorySee also: Timeline of Crayola  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]  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 75th anniversary of Crayola crayons. Colored pencils and a line of washable markers were added in 1987.[4] [edit] Crayons 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] [edit] ColorsFurther 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.  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:
[edit] Specialty colors[edit] Metallic FXIn 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. 
[edit] Glitter [edit] Specialty crayonsCrayola 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] [edit] Cultural impactA 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] [edit] Commemorative postage stamp 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] [edit] Crayola Color Census 2000In 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. [edit] The Crayola FactoryThe 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 "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] [edit] Fine artAlthough 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] [edit] Other products 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] [edit] Other brands[edit] Silly PuttyMain 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. [edit] Portfolio SeriesThe 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] [edit] LiquitexBinney & Smith acquired the Liquitex corporation—a producer of fine art supply products—in 1964 but sold it to the ColArt company in 2000.[32] [edit] LicensingNumerous 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] [edit] Christmas LightsIn the 1996–1997 season Crayola produced Christmas lights using their name with colors such as pink, orange, and blue [edit] Corporate informationCrayola 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] [edit] ManufacturingCrayola has manufacturing plants in Easton, Pennsylvania, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Mexico City, Mexico. [edit] Financial dataBecause Crayola LLC is a privately held company, it is not required to release detailed financial data publicly. [edit] References
[edit] External links
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |
