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Crayola LLC

Predecessor	Binney & Smith
Founded	New York City, New York (1885)
Founder(s)	Edwin Binney C. Harold Smith
Headquarters	1100 Church Lane Easton, Pennsylvania 18044-0431 United States[1]
Number of locations	Manufacturing:[1] Easton, Pennsylvania Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Mexico City, Mexico International sales and marketing offices:[1] Canada, England, Australia, France, Mexico, Italy and Spain
Key people	Mike Perry, President and Chief Executive Officer Dona Fisher, Vice President & Chief Financial Officer Sharon Hartley, Vice President, U.S. Marketing & Sales Peter S. Ruggiero, Vice President, Operations[1]
Industry	Arts and crafts, Toys
Employees	1,250 (2006)[1]
Parent	Hallmark Cards
Divisions	Crayola, Silly Putty, Portfolio Series
Website	http://www.crayola.com/

Crayola is a brand of artistry supplies manufactured by Crayola LLC—founded in 1885 as Binney & Smith—best known for its almost ubiquitous crayons. Originally an industrial pigment supply company, it soon shifted its focus to art products for home and school use, beginning with chalk then crayons, followed later by colored pencils, markers, paints, modeling clay and other related goods. All Crayola-branded products are marketed as non-toxic and safe for use by children, making the brand a perennial favorite among teachers and parents.^[2]

The company also produces Silly Putty and a line of professional art products under the Portfolio Series brand.

The Crayola brand has 99% name recognition in U.S. consumer households, and its products are currently sold in over 80 different countries.^[3]

History

Crayola's founders Edwin Binney (left) and C. Harold Smith (right)

The company was founded by cousins Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith in New York City in 1885 as Binney & Smith. Initial products were colorants for industrial use, including red iron oxide pigments used in barn paint and carbon black chemicals used for making tires black and extending their useful lifespan.^[4] Binney & Smith's new process of creating inexpensive black colorants was entered into the chemistry industries competition at the 1900 Paris Exposition under the title "carbon gas blacks, lamp or oil blacks, 'Peerless' black" and earned the company a gold medal award in chemical and pharmaceutical arts.^[5][6] Also in 1900, the company added production of slate school pencils. Binney's experimentation with industrial materials including slate waste, cement, and talc, led to the invention of the first dustless white chalk, for which the company won a gold medal at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.^[6]

Assortment of early Crayola boxes

This ad from Crayola from Mar 1905 is one of their earliest ads and shows that they indeed did offer a wide variety of boxes and colors early on.

In 1902 Binney & Smith developed and introduced the Staonal marking crayon. Then Edwin Binney, working with his wife, Alice Stead Binney, developed their own famous product line of wax crayons beginning on June 10, 1903.^[7], which it sold under the brand name "Crayola." The Crayola name was coined by Alice Binney, wife of company founder Edwin and a former school teacher. It comes from "craie," the French word for "chalk," and "ola," for "oleaginous," or "oily."^[6][8] Crayola introduced their crayons not with one box but with a full product line. By 1905 the line had expanded to offering 18 different sized crayon boxes^[9] with 5 physically different sized crayons, only two sizes of which survive today - the "standard size" (Standard sized crayola crayon is 3 5/8" x 5/16") and the "large size" (Large sized crayola crayons are 4" x 7/16"). The product line offered crayon boxes contained containing 6,7,8,12,14,16,18,24,28 or 30 different color crayons. Some of these boxes were targeted for artists and contained crayons with no wrappers, while others had a color number printed on the crayon wrapper that tied to a corresponding number on a list of color names printed inside the box lid, but some boxes held crayons with their color names printed on their wrappers.

The Rubens Crayola line started in 1903 as well (not in the 1920s as previously documented by so many sources)^[10] was directly targeted toward artists and designed to compete with the Raphael brand of crayons out of Europe. The crayon boxes sold anywhere from 5 cents for a "No.6 Rubens" box containing 6 different colored crayons to $1.50 for the "No. 500 Rubens SPECIAL ARTISTS & DESIGNERS CRAYON" box containing 24 different colored larger (4 1/4" x 1/2") crayons^[11].

An October 18, 1906 promotional ad showing the Rubens Crayola No 500 box

Inside the Rubens Crayola No. 500 crayon box

The 8 count Crayola crayon box from 1903 to 1905

Rubens Crayola No. 500 crayon box circa 1904 to 1914.

In April of 1904 at the St. Louis World's Fair, Binney & Smith won the Gold Medal for their An-Du-Septic dustless chalk. Over 39,000 awards were given out using the medals designed by Adolph A. Weinman. Receiving a medal at an Exposition was and still is something of importance with many companies featuring their medal on their products. Two companies to use the 1904 medal were Jack Daniel's whiskey (which still use it on their bottles to this day) and Binney & Smith.^[12] The Crayola used the opportunity to develop an entirely new packaging strategy by emphasizing their Gold Medal on the front of many of their products and crayon boxes. This strategy turned out to be so successful and recognizable to their brand that they phased out nearly all of their other Crayola line box designs to adapt to the Gold Medal format. The Gold Medal branding appeared on their crayon boxes packaging for the next 50 plus years.

The first two Gold Medal line 8 count boxes

In 1905, the initial prototype offering of their new No. 8 crayon box (with eight crayons) from their Gold Medal line featured a copy from the side of the medal with an Eagle on it. For whatever reason, this was changed to the other side of the medal with the 1904 date on it in Roman Numerals.

Shows the progression from the Original 6 color Rubens Crayola box to its replacement, the Crayola No 6 box.

An original Munsell crayons box and later Binney & Smith boxes

Shows the progression from the original 12 color Rubens Crayola to its replacement, the Crayola No 12 box.

Crayola also began to either phase out boxes or adapt new ones with the Gold Medal design.

Binney & Smith purchased the Munsell Color Company crayon product line in 1926 and inherited 22 new colors, 11 in the maximum and 11 in the middle hue ranges.^[13][14] They kept the Munsell name on products such as “Munsell-Crayola” and “Munsell-Perma” up until 1934 and then incorporated their colors into their own Crayola Gold Medal line of boxes.^[15]

The Crayola No.52 box 1939-1944

In 1939 Crayola, by combining their existing crayon colors with the Munsell colors, introduced their largest color assortment product to date; a "No. 52 DRAWING CRAYON 52 COLOR ASSORTMENT", which was retired by the 1944 price list.

The first version of the Crayola No.48 box (open)

In 1949 Crayola introduced the "Crayola No. 48" containing 48 different color crayons in an innovative "stadium seating" box.

The first version of the Crayola No.64 box, note: the Gold Medal on the top.

Further expansion took place in 1958 with the introduction of the 64-color pack that included the company's first crayon sharpener built into the box. The 64-color box was called "a watershed" moment in the history of the Crayola crayon by Smithsonian National Museum of American History curator David Shayt.^[16]

In addition to Binney & Smith's highly familiar Crayola line, they also made many other crayon lines including Anti-Roll, Arista, Art-Toy, Besco, Boston, Cerata, Cerola, Chic’ago, Doo Zee, Durel, Easy-Off, Gotham, Liquitex, Munsell Crayola, Perma, Pooh, Protfolio, Rubens, Spectra, Tiny Tots, Washable and Widstrok.^[17]

In 1977, Binney & Smith acquired the rights to Silly Putty.^[18] Crayola markers were introduced in 1978 to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Crayola crayons. Colored pencils and a line of washable markers were added in 1987.^[4]

Crayons

Modern (2009) 64-crayon pack sporting built-in sharpener

Crayola telescoping 150 crayon tower

Crayola crayon packs come in a range of sizes from packages of just a few crayons sold to establishments such as hotels and restaurants to hand out to their young guests^[19] all the way up to 832-crayon "Classpack" bulk boxes marketed to schools.^[20] The colors contained in a package have ranged from two up to 200 (although a 200-color package includes "special effect" crayons such as glitters, neons, etc.). In general, though, the most common retail packages are multiples of eight with 8, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 96 and 120 packs being marketed today.^[21][22][23] A 150-crayon pack featuring a plastic telescope-like case was introduced in 2006 and includes 118 regular color crayons, 16 glitter crayons and 16 "Metallic FX" crayons as well as a built-in sharpener at the apex of the tower.^[24]

Colors

As the size of Crayola crayon packs increased from the original eight pack, the variety of colors available have also increased—reaching 120 unique standard crayon colors by 1998. Since 1998, new colors have been added, but always replacing existing colors. In all, thirteen colors have been retired, bringing the total number of regular colors produced since 1958 to 133.

Officially retired Crayola crayon colors

The thirteen officially retired crayon colors are "Blue Gray", "Lemon Yellow", "Orange Red", "Orange Yellow", "Violet Blue", "Maize", "Green Blue", "Raw Umber", "Thistle", "Blizzard Blue", "Mulberry", "Teal Blue" and "Magic Mint".

Some colors have been simply renamed rather than replaced, often due to cultural sensitivity issues. For example, "Flesh" was changed to "Peach" since not all people have a white complexion, and "Indian Red" was changed to "Chestnut" out of concern that the name was thought to be a reference to the skin color of Native Americans, although the name actually referred to a red pigment from India.^[25] "Prussian Blue" was renamed "Midnight Blue" since the country of Prussia had long since ceased to exist and the name had fallen into disuse.

Here are the colors of crayons that are included in the 8, 16, and 24 packs:

8 pack (1908)		+8 = 16 pack (1924)		+8 = 24 pack (1973)
Red	Orange	Carnation Pink	Red Orange	Violet Red	Scarlet
Yellow	Green	Yellow Orange	Yellow Green	Dandelion	Green Yellow
Blue	Violet (purple)	Blue Green	Blue Violet	Cerulean	Indigo
Brown	Black	Red Violet	White	Apricot	Gray

Specialty colors

Metallic FX

In 2001, Crayola released its Metallic FX specialty crayons featuring metallic colors; the new set of crayons were named by Americans and Canadians via mail-in vote.

Metallic FX crayons

Crayola Metallic FX Crayon Colors
Metallic Seaweed	Blast Off Bronze	B'Dazzled Blue	Sheen Green
Sonic Silver	Cyber Grape	Big Dip O'Ruby	Steel Blue
Gold Fusion	Metallic Sunburst	Alloy Orange	Illuminating Emerald
Bittersweet Shimmer	Razzmic Berry	Shimmering Blush	Deep Space Sparkle

Glitter

Glitter crayons

Specialty crayons

Crayola has also recently added other specialty crayon products to its lineup, including scented crayons, washable crayons, triangular-shaped crayons, sidewalk crayons, twistable crayons, window crayons, and large-sized crayons.^[21]

Cultural impact

A Yale University study found that the smell of Crayola crayons is one of the most recognizable scents for adults,^[6] ranking at number 18 trailing coffee and peanut butter that were number one and two respectively, but beating out cheese and bleach which placed at 19 and 20.^[26]

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History maintains a collection of Crayola crayons founded by an original 64 color box donated by Binney & Smith in 1998. The collection now includes more than 300 boxes of crayons.^[16]

The Crayola crayon was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame as a founding member at its inception.

Crayola has been featured in segments from the popular children's shows Sesame Street^[27] and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, with the official 100 billionth crayon molded by Fred Rogers himself in February 1996 at the plant in Easton.^[28]

Commemorative postage stamp

A 1998 USPS stamp commemorating Crayola crayons. Note the Roman numeral date "MCMIV" at the bottom of the gold medal seal

In 1998, the United States Postal Service issued a 32 cent postage stamp to commemorate the cultural impact the product has had on almost all Americans.^[29] Although the crayons debuted in 1903 and the stamp is titled as such, the box depicted includes the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair Gold Medal insignia (dated MCMIV) won by Binney & Smith for their dustless chalk^[6] so it can not be the original 1903 package design.

The stamp is part of the 1900s decade sheet of the Celebrate the Century souvenir sheet series and was designed by Carl Herrman, illustrated by Richard Waldrep and printed by Ashton-Potter USA using the offset/intaglio process.^[30]

Crayola Color Census 2000

In 2000, Crayola held the "Crayola Color Census 2000" promotion in which Americans were asked to vote for their favorite Crayola crayon color. Celebrity entrants George W. Bush chose "Blue Bell," Tiger Woods chose "Wild Strawberry," and Courtney Cox Arquette chose "Red."^[31] Overall, "Blue" came in first, with "Cerulean" second and "Purple Heart" third.^[32] Full results are available here.

The Crayola Factory

The Crayola Factory is located at 30 Centre Square, Easton, Pennsylvania at Two Rivers Landing,^[33] separate from the main manufacturing plant in the same city. The "Factory" is open to kids of all ages. Despite its name, the "Factory" is not an operational full-scale manufacturing plant, but rather a museum and visitor center geared towards familiarizing guests with Crayola's history and products.^[34]

A girl draws with Crayola-brand crayons in the Crayola Factory

A "discovery center" was built that showcases the manufacturing process of crayons. There is also a "Crayola Hall of Fame" in which the retired crayon colors are displayed.^[35]

The Crayola Factory was recently featured in a Food Network episode of Dinner: Impossible. A dinner was held for 150 employees of the Crayola Factory to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 64 box of crayons. Chef Michael Symon's mission was to create an eight course tasting menu for this event where all eight items of the menu had to match eight randomly chosen Crayola crayon colors.^[36]

In October 2003, the Factory unveiled "The World's Largest Crayon," a 15-foot crayon weighing 1,500 lb as part of its celebration of the 100th year of Crayola crayons. The giant crayon is blue and was made of leftover crayon bits sent in by children across the United States.^[37]

Fine art

Although marketed towards children and amateur artists, there are several professional artists who have specialized in using Crayola crayons as their primary medium. Don Marco, who works with Crayola crayons and construction paper, is one of the better known crayon artists—having sold over one million prints of his original artworks.^[38]

Other products

A selection of Crayola products for sale at a New York art supply store

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Crayola LLC produces a broad range of products other than their famous crayons under the Crayola brand name. These include color pencils, markers, inks and paints, modeling clays, coloring books and artists' tools. As with all Crayola products, these are all marketed as non-toxic and safe for use by children.^[39]

Other brands

Silly Putty

Silly Putty is a silicone polymer children's toy used for various purposes. Silly Putty was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2001.

Portfolio Series

The Portfolio Series, a line of water-soluble oil pastels, watercolors, drawing pencils, colored pencils, and acrylic paints that are marketed to artists and educators.^[40]

Liquitex

Binney & Smith acquired the Liquitex corporation—a producer of fine art supply products—in 1964 but sold it to the ColArt company in 2000.^[41]

Licensing

Numerous products ranging from bath and personal care items to bedding and electronics are produced by other companies using the Crayola brand name under license.^[42]

Christmas Lights

In the 1996–1997 season Crayola produced Christmas lights using their name with colors such as pink, orange, and blue

Corporate information

Initially formed as a partnership in 1885, Binney & Smith incorporated in 1902. The corporation became a publicly-traded company under the symbol BYS on the American Stock Exchange in 1963 and later moved to the New York Stock Exchange under the same symbol in 1978.^[4] In 1984, the company was acquired by the Hallmark Cards company, a privately held corporation.^[1] On January 1, 2007, the "Binney & Smith" moniker was retired in favor of the "Crayola LLC" corporate name to showcase the company's well-known brand, which is in use in more than 80 countries and had 99% name recognition in U.S. consumer households.^[3]

Manufacturing

Crayola has manufacturing plants in Easton, Pennsylvania, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Mexico City, Mexico.The color pencils are made by Faber-Castell brazilian plants.

Financial data

Because Crayola LLC is a privately held company, it is not required to release detailed financial data publicly.

References

External links

• The Crayola Official Website
• Video: How Crayons are Made on YouTube from Sesame Street
• A crayon collectors site with extensive info on Crayola crayons and boxes
• Orange: A Crayola raw materials data sheet from the 1970s Smithsonian Institution Libraries
• Binney & Smith Timeline
• Color Chronology from Crayola.com
• Crayola Crayon Colors: A Timeline from infoplease.com