Pentel Co., Ltd. (ぺんてる株式会社) is a privately held Japanese manufacturing company of stationery products. The company name was derived from the trademark used for one of their first widely known products, a portmanteau of the English words painting and pastel,[4][5] but has since been interpreted as a combination of the words pen and tell (as in telling a story). Pentel is also the inventor of non-permanent marker technology. Most Pentel products are manufactured in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Brazil, Mexico, and France.
The company is regarded as the inventor of the fibre-tipped (felt-tip) pen in 1963. Nowadays, Pentel produces a wide range of products that include writing implements, art materials and office goods.
History
The company was founded in 1946 as "Japan Stationery Limited" (Nihonbungu Kabushiki Kaisha) in Tokyo by Yukio Horie, with the purpose of manufacturing crayons and pastels. The first products for sale were released in 1951, followed by