Founding, family ownership, and early expansion (1761-1896) Faber-Castell was founded in 1761 in Stein,
Germany, by cabinet maker
Kaspar Faber (1730–1784) as the A. W. Faber Company. It has remained in the Faber family for eight generations. The company expanded under Kaspar Faber's great-grandson,
Lothar von Faber (1817–1896), and his wife Ottilie. Lothar opened branches in New York (1849), London (1851), Paris (1855), and expanded into Vienna (1872) and St. Petersburg (1874). The company also began offering products other than pencils, opening a factory in
Geroldsgrün,
Bavaria, where slide rules were produced, a slate factory in
Geroldsgrün, and producing ink and paint in
Noisy-le-Sec, near Paris.
Securing global recognition To combat counterfeit A. W. Faber products, Lothar petitioned the
Reichstag to put in place trademark protections in Germany. As a result, the Act on Trade Mark Protection came into effect in 1875, and protections were expanded in the 1894 Act on the Protection of Trade Marks. Lothar's first trademark was registered in 1894, with the registration number DE 43. Outside of Germany, the trademark was also registered in the United States (where it was one of the earliest ever registered), Russia, England, Spain, France, and Italy during Lothar's time as the head of the company. In 1898, Lothar's granddaughter and heiress, Ottilie "Tilly" von Faber, married Count Alexander zu
Castell-Rüdenhausen, and the couple became progenitors of the
Faber-Castell family. 1908 saw the release of the Polychromos
coloured pencils, which continue to be made and widely used today. Nevertheless, the company survived and saw further growth following the war with the construction of new, expanded manufacturing facilities and new company acquisitions. The company's name was also officially changed following Alexander's death in 1928, becoming A. W. Faber "Castell" Bleistiftfabrik (Pencil Company). The two shared resources in an effort to operate more efficiently and bring down their costs. In the following years, Roland gradually bought up shares of Johann Faber until it was fully acquired (along with its Brazilian subsidiary) in 1942. This strategic move brought the popular Goldfaber colored pencil line under the Faber-Castell umbrella. During this period, further expansion came through the acquisition of the renowned
fountain pen maker, Osmia. In 1939, the
Third Reich seized the Stein Castle near Nuremberg, previously owned by Count Roland von Faber-Castell, a seventh-generation head of the Faber-Castell pencil manufacturing company. The Nazis removed Count Faber-Castell from his leadership position and reportedly used the castle's bell tower for
Allied bombing raid interception. Amidst managerial changes, Count Roland's wife, Nina, converted the company into a
sole proprietorship, effectively regaining control. By 1942, the company had been renamed A. W. Faber-Castell. In the years following
World War II, the company expanded internationally into Ireland, Austria, Brazil, Peru, Australia, and Argentina, as well as re-acquiring several subsidiaries which had been lost in wartime. It also began offering new products, such as a
mechanical pencil,
ballpoint pens,
plastic slide rules (instead of wood), and an
India ink drawing pen. The Faber-Castell logo was changed in 1950 to an oval design, incorporating the Faber-Castell family crest and the green color which the company had been using since 1905. Today, the company operates 10 factories and 22 sales units, with six in Europe, four in Asia, three in North America, five in South America, and one each in Australia and New Zealand. The Faber-Castell Group employs a staff of approximately 6,500 and does business in more than 120 countries. == Products ==