The roots of the company can be traced to 1838, when chemist Carl Hornemann founded a paint and
ink factory in
Hanover,
Germany. The date of the first price list of the company, 28 April, is set as the company's foundation date. By 1881 the company had expanded its plant, employing 39 additional people. When Fritz Beindorff took over the company, Pelikan added office products for copying, stamping, sticking and erasing. In 1896, Pelikan started to produce
India ink, achieving great sales success. By 1913, the manufacturing were expanded, and 1057 workers were employed by Pelikan. In 1929, Pelikan produced its first
fountain pen. During
the war, both pen and ink production suffered, and the company produced paints, coatings, and other chemicals with military use. From 1942 on, the company operated
Gestapo labor education camps at their Hanover works, where
forced labourers were employed. In 1978, Pelikan became a stock corporation, changing its legal form from a
GmbH to an
AG, with shares being divided within the Beindorff family and 46 other owners. Six years later, Pelikan was taken over by a
Swiss company. The Hanover-based company was separated into various sub-companies and then sold. In 1996, Goodace SDN BHD, a
Malaysian company, took over the majority of Pelikan holding shares. Pelikan moved to a new office building in Hanover in 2003. Two years later, Geha-Werke company merged with Pelikan, although operating as an independent division. In November 2009 Pelikan purchased rival stationery company
Herlitz, which had been previously bought by "Stationery Products S.à.r.l.", a
Luxembourg-based company. By the time of the acquisition, Herlitz's production facilities were located in the town of
Falkensee,
Brandenburg, with other plants in
Poland,
Romania and
Great Britain. Herlitz's logistics supplied approx. 8,000 distribution centres in Germany directly, with another 3,000 customers throughout Europe. The company had 1,335 employees, 1,100 of which were in Germany. ==Products==