| Kuretake Co., Ltd. | |
| Type: | Private |
| Founder: | Narakichi Watatani |
| Location City: | Nara |
| Location Country: | Japan |
| Area Served: | Worldwide |
| Key People: | Masanori Watatani, President[1] |
| Industry: | Stationery |
| Products: | Markers, brush pens, inks |
| Num Employees: | 252[2] |
Kuretake Co., Ltd. (株式会社くれたけ, Kabushiki Gaisha Kure Take) is a Japanese manufacturing company of writing implements. The firm began its activities manufacturing ink and brushes and then expanded its range of products, producing mainly pens.[3]
Current range of products manufactured by Kuretake includes markers, brush pens, inks, watercolors.
Founded under the name of "Kuretake Sumi" in 1902, the company originally started by producing brushes, a brush similar in style to certain watercolor brushes,[3] sharing a generally thick wooden or bamboo handle, and a broad soft hair brush that when wetted form a fine tip. The brushes produced by Kuretake Sumi were designed for, or inkwash painting.
In 1965, Kuretake Industries Co., Ltd. was established as a plant specializing in the production of writing instruments while Tokyo office was established.[3] In 1986, a subsidiary, "Kuretake U.K. Ltd." was established in the West Midlands, England.[3] In 2014 another subsidiary, "Kuretake ZIG Corporation" was established in Sacramento, United States.
Kuretake (and its subsidiary brand, "Zig") manufactures a wide variety of markers, such as highlighters and watercolor markers.
The firm also gained reputation for its "brush pen", similar to a marker pen with a brush-shapered flexible tip but refillable, using replaceable ink cartridges like fountain pens do.[4] The brush pen by Kuretake was the first using cartridges (although Pentel would later launch a brush model that used cartridges also).
Through its brand "ScrapBooking", Kuretake produces other stationery items such as papers, templates, corner punches, color selectors, and photo tapes.[5] [6]