History of Faber-Castell

Faber-Castell origins may be traced back to 1761 when Kaspar Faber began producing pencils in Stein, a village located close to Nuremberg. The activity was further developed by his son Anton Wilhelm, who created the A. W. Faber company, and then passed on to his son. The real architect of the company's success, however, was the grandson, Lothar von Faber, who took the helm of the declining company and with the invention of the modern wooden pencil built the success of the A. W. Faber brand.

In the mid-1800s, Faber-Castell was already a large international company, directed by Lothar with the help of its brothers, Johan and Eberhard Faber. Both Eberhard and Johan created their own companies, the first in New York, where he went to manage the U.S. subsidiary, and the second in Nuremberg, where he founded his own company, which in 1885 became a family limited partnership, the Johan A. Faber A.G.

Johan Faber started also the production of fountain pens around the 1920s; they were mainly safety hard rubber pens but a button filler was also produced as well as some metal models. The company logo consisted of two crossed hammers, and on the caps of the hard rubber models the name "Johan Faber" was imprinted. In the late 1920s, a range of piston fillers was produced with rounded ends and four bands in the cap.

The main branch of the company remained under Lothar von Faber's management until his death, followed by his wife, and in 1898, by Count Alexander zu Castell, who had married Lothar's niece. He eventually renamed the company using the name under which it is still known today, A. W. Faber-Castell. The production, however, remained focused on pencils, and the first fountain pen, a hard rubber safety pen, can be traced back to 1908. The pen had imprinted the words A.W. Faber-Castell and given the similarity of its filling mechanism, it is quite probable that it had been produced by Kaweco on commission.

After the death of Alexander Castell in 1929, the company became a family limited partnership. His son Roland merged A.W. Faber-Castell and the Johan Faber A. G., giving life to the current Faber-Castell. In 1935, Faber-Castell began to buy shares of the Osmia A. G. - one of the major German fountain pen producers, eventually taking control over the company.

Despite the acquisition of Osmia, Faber-Castell also produced some models with its brand and in 1936 produced a model with the Faber-Castell name engraved on all parts of the pen, available in four colours. The pen was a piston filler with finishes (band and clip) in 14-carat gold and bore the logo of the company.

A 1936 brochure for A.W. Faber-Castell fountain pens

After Osmia's acquisition, pens were marked with an A.W. Faber-Castell Dossenheim inscription, keeping the original trademark. In the late 1930s, due to the advent of World War II, the company suffered major difficulties, but despite the reduction in production as most employees were called to arms, the company remained active. After the war, not having the facilities suffered significant damages, production was resumed at full speed from 1946, offering a piston filler with the explicit endorsement (in addition to the Osmia brand and logo) of A. W. Faber-Castell.

An OSMIA fountain pen from the late 1950s

From 1949, Faber-Castell also began producing ballpoint pens, and in 1950 introduced a torpedo-shaped model called "Gentleman" in black or grey pearl and silver. The pen had revolutionary features like a butterfly-shaped clip and a particular piston filler which contained part of the mechanism in the knob, allowing a greater size to the ink reservoir. It was made in a transparent body covered by an opaque plastic cylinder with a regular series of etchings that at the same time had the role of facilitating the grip of the pen and allow for viewing of the ink level.

In the early 1960s, the Osmia trademark was no longer used; a number of hooded nibs plastic models were introduced, thinner than previous ones and branded A.W. Faber-Castell, with a transparent section for viewing the ink level view. The luxury line was called 66, with the body in black, red, blue or green plastic, rolled gold cap and a gold nib. The mid-range models were called Faber-Castell Progress and were produced in three versions: the 77S in plastic with a steel nib, the 55S with silver cap, plastic body and steel nib, and the 55G with a gold nib. A student model called 54VT was also produced.

In the late 1960s, as for most of the other fountain pen producers and having given up on a prestigious brand that had enjoyed wide popularity, sales declined, holding only partially for the student pens. In 1975, during a corporation restructuration, Faber-Castell completely eliminated the entire field of fountain pen production.

After the late 1990s, Faber-Castell resumed production of fountain pens and added a sub-brand (Graf von Faber-Castell) for its prestigious line and limited edition productions.

Faber-Castell's Head-office and Factory in Stein / Nuremberg