Formerly | Banks, Son & Co. (1832–1916) Derwent Cumberland Pencil Co. (1916–) |
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Company type | Private (1832–1980) |
Industry | Art materials |
Founded | 1832 |
Fate | Acquired by ACCO Brands in 1980, becoming a brand |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Products | Pencils, Paints, Art Blocks, Pastels, Pens, Art Accessories |
Owner | ACCO Brands |
Website | derwentart.com |
Derwent (formerly the "Cumberland Pencil Company") is a brand of pencils, art materials, and other stationery. The business began in 1832 in Cumberland under the name of "Banks, Son & Co". [1] The company was bought by US corporation ACCO Brands (known then as Rexel) in 1980, [2] and became a brand of their product range. [3]
Keswick remained well known for producing the finest pencils in the world. Previously the pencils had been made by hand in small workshops, but in 1832, the first pencil factory in the area was opened by 'Banks, Son & Co'. This company passed through several hands before becoming the "Cumberland Pencil Company" in 1916. [4]
Derwent colour pencils have traditionally been sold in tins of 12, 24, 36 and 72 different colours. They are also available in a range of wooden presentation boxes or sets of six which are intended to be trial packs.
Derwent's oldest line of colour pencils, Artist, were expanded from a range of 24 to 72 in 1939 and from 72 colours to 120 in 1996. Studio and Watercolour pencils are still available in the 72 original colours. Pastel pencils were introduced in 1994 and come in 90 colours. Derwent also now manufactures ordinary stick pastels.
Derwent Signature was a range of lightfast pencils, available in 60 colours (Signature Watercolour pencils came in 40 colours) but it was discontinued after a few years. New 72 colour ranges include Derwent Coloursoft and Derwent Inktense pencils. Derwent also produces a range of graphite pencils such as Graphitone and Graphitint (a water-soluble colour pigment and graphite mix) and charcoal pencils like Tinted Charcoal as well as special-purpose items such as Aquatone, a range of 24 sticks of pure watersoluble colour. Derwent also created a waterbrush, which houses water in the barrel of a pen which is supplied to a fibre brush via a valve, giving a constant flow of water when the brush meets paper.
Derwent have continued their innovation by launching pencils ranges including Lightfast and Procolour, plus moving into adjacent categories such as paint with the launch of the Inktense Paint Pan Travel Set in 2018.
Derwent was awarded the Queen's Awards for Enterprise. [5] [6] In 2014 Derwent was awarded the Environmental & Energy Awareness Award at the local CN Business Awards. [7]
The Derwent Pencil Museum is the focus of Derwent, and is located in Keswick. A tour is provided by the museum, which shows the history of pencil making and the creation of Derwent pencils.
A pencil is a writing or drawing implement with a solid pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage, and keeps it from marking the user's hand.
A pastel is an art medium that consist of powdered pigment and a binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, or a pan of color, though other forms are possible. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those used to produce some other colored visual arts media, such as oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation. The color effect of pastels is closer to the natural dry pigments than that of any other process.
Derwent derives from the Brythonic term Derventio, meaning "valley thick with oaks". It may refer to:
Derwentwater, or Derwent Water, is a lake in the Lake District in North West England, immediately south of Keswick. It is in the unitary authority of Cumberland within the ceremonial county of Cumbria. It is the third largest lake by area, after Windermere and Ullswater. It has a length of 4.6 kilometres (2.9 mi), a maximum width of 1.91 kilometres (1.19 mi), and an area of 5.4 square kilometres (2.1 sq mi). Its primary inflow and outflow is the River Derwent, which also flows through Bassenthwaite Lake before reaching the Irish Sea at Workington. There are several islands within the lake, one of which is inhabited. Derwentwater is a place of considerable scenic value. It is surrounded by hills, and many of the slopes facing Derwentwater are extensively wooded. A regular passenger launch operates on the lake, taking passengers between various landing stages. There are seven lakeside marinas, the most popular stops being Keswick, Portinscale and the Lodore Falls, from which boats may be hired. Recreational walking is a major tourist activity in the area and there is an extensive network of footpaths in the hills and woods surrounding the lake.
Watercolor or watercolour, also aquarelle, is a painting method in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-based solution. Watercolor refers to both the medium and the resulting artwork. Aquarelles painted with water-soluble colored ink instead of modern water colors are called aquarellum atramento by experts. However, this term has now tended to pass out of use.
Keswick is a market town and civil parish in the Cumberland unitary authority area of Cumbria, England. Historically, until 1974, it was part of the county of Cumberland. It lies within the Lake District National Park, Keswick is just north of Derwentwater and is four miles from Bassenthwaite Lake. The parish had a population of 5,243 at the 2011 census.
Borrowdale is a valley and civil parish in the English Lake District in Cumberland, England. It is in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, and is sometimes referred to as Cumberland Borrowdale to distinguish it from another Borrowdale in the historic county of Westmorland.
Staedtler SE is a German multinational stationery manufacturing company based in Nuremberg. The firm was founded by J.S. Staedtler (1800–1872) in 1835 and produces a large variety of stationery products, such as writing implements, art materials, and office supplies.
A sketch is a rapidly executed freehand drawing that is not usually intended as a finished work. A sketch may serve a number of purposes: it might record something that the artist sees, it might record or develop an idea for later use or it might be used as a quick way of graphically demonstrating an image, idea or principle. Sketching is the most inexpensive art medium.
ACCO Brands Corporation is an American multinational company and is one of the world's largest designers, manufacturers, and marketers of premium business, technology, academic, and consumer products. It was created by the merger of ACCO World from Fortune Brands with General Binding Corporation (GBC).
Prismacolor is a brand of professional visual arts supplies originated in 1938 by the Eagle Pencil Company, and now currently manufactured by Newell Brands. Prismacolor products include, colored and graphite pencils, soft pastels, erasers, pencil sharpeners, and cases. In past years, Prismacolor also produced watercolor paintings and charcoals.
Hand-colouring refers to any method of manually adding colour to a monochrome photograph, generally either to heighten the realism of the image or for artistic purposes. Hand-colouring is also known as hand painting or overpainting.
Winsor & Newton is an English manufacturing company based in London that produces a wide variety of fine art products, including acrylics, oils, watercolour, gouache, brushes, canvases, papers, inks, graphite and coloured pencils, markers, and charcoals.
Seathwaite is a small hamlet in the Borrowdale civil parish of Cumberland, Cumbria, North West England. It is in the Lake District near Scafell Pike and 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Keswick at the end of a minor road that heads southwest from the hamlet of Seatoller, which is where the B5289 road begins its steep climb up the pass to Honister Hause on the boundary between Borrowdale civil parish and Buttermere civil parish.
The Derwent Pencil Museum is in Keswick, in the north-west of England.
Daler-Rowney Ltd is an English art materials manufacturer based in Bracknell. The company, a subsidiary of conglomerate F.I.L.A. Group, manufactures and commercialises a wide range of artist products such as Acrylic, oil, watercolor, brushes, charcoal, pastel, color pencils, and papers.
Royal Talens is a Dutch company located in Apeldoorn that specializes in art materials. The company produces and markets its own products, apart from commercializing other licensed brands, such as Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Bruynzeel. Products commercialised include acrylic paints, oil paints, watercolor paintings, brushes, markers, inks, pastels, pencils, pens, gouache, canvas, papers.
A colored pencil, coloured pencil, map pencil, pencil crayon, or coloured/colouring lead is an art medium constructed of a narrow, pigmented core encased in a wooden cylindrical case. Unlike graphite and charcoal pencils, colored pencils' cores are wax- or oil-based and contain varying proportions of pigments, additives, and binding agents. Water-soluble (watercolor) pencils and pastel pencils are also manufactured as well as colored cores for mechanical pencils.