Bruynzeel

Bruynzeel offers a complete range of colouring materials, from products for kids aged 2 and up to a wide collection of hobby and professional materials for everyone who likes being creative. Bruynzeel - proud supporter of your imagination since 1948.

Collections by Bruynzeel

Bruynzeel Kids 24 Products

Bruynzeel College 36 Products

Bruynzeel Creatives 22 Products

Bruynzeel School & Office 26 Products

Bruynzeel Design 16 Products

Categories by Bruynzeel

Bruynzeel pencils 48 Products

Bruynzeel pens 19 Products

Bruynzeel markers 30 Products

Bruynzeel watercolour 3 Products

Bruynzeel wax crayons 1 Products

Bruynzeel accessories 6 Products

Bruynzeel sketchbooks 4 Products

About Bruynzeel the Brand

Bruynzeel. Pencil-wise the pride of the Dutch. Many generations grew up with a Bruynzeel graphite pencil at school. They learned how to draw their first human-like figures with hands resembling rakes with this pencil. Following with Bruynzeel colour pencils and felt tips at home to make the most beautiful drawings. Learn everything you need to know about Bruynzeel in the following chapter.

Bruynzeel's Story

At 21 years of age, Cornelis completed a course at the Academy for Visual Arts and Technical Sciences in Rotterdam. He had always dreamt of joining his father’s company, but decided he wanted to do things differently from his father. Cornelis wanted to mechanize, simply to be able to make high-quality, affordable products for as many people as possible.

With his enthusiasm and determination, Cornelis finally managed to convince his father: De Arend (The Eagle) steam factory first saw the light of day in 1897. This new factory produced wooden doors, floorboards, staircases, frames and even school desks. After a major fire in 1919, the company moved to Zaandam. During the 1920s, the demand for kitchens was slowly increasing. In 1937, they asked famous designer Piet Zwart to design a functional kitchen so it could be mass-produced in the Bruynzeel factory. The first of many famous Bruynzeel kitchens was born.

Cornelis Bruynzeel

Before WOII, the Netherlands used to import pencils from Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. After the war, pencils, as well as many other products for that matter, were only scarcely available. Cornelis Bruynzeel, already an expert on working with wood, was asked by the Dutch government to start producing pencils to help re-establish the educational system and improve employment rates.

The Dutch government assisted him by providing foreign exchange to buy the necessary machines from America. But… Bruynzeel had to guarantee that he could deliver the pencils 6 months later. Though Bruynzeel was an expert in wood, the pencil business was completely new to him. This caused some issues in the beginning. After the war, commodities were scarce, so since the right materials were not available, the quality was lacking.

Yet, he still managed to deliver the first batch of pencils after 6 months. After this first batch, the pencils kept increasing in quality due to various technological developments and innovations.

During the 1980s

During the 1980s, the Bruynzeel factory decided to separate their factories, which meant both Bruynzeel kitchens and Bruynzeel pencils went on to create and further develop their own brand. Over the years, Bruynzeel has continuously optimized and improved her pencils. Today, Bruynzeel pencils are known as high-quality products. The current Bruynzeel assortment consists of a complete range of colouring materials, including anything from entry colouring products for children as young as 2 years old to a wide collection of hobby and professional tools for anyone who enjoys being creative.

Bruynzeel's Timeline

1898

After ww2, the government wanted to re-establish the educational system and Bruynzeel was asked to produce pencils.

1948

The first pencils from the Bruynzeel factory in Zaandam were produced.

1968

The factory was moved to Bergen op Zoom.

1970

Introduction of the Bruynzeel ballpoint with refills.

1975

The first felt tips were introduced,
based on the already existing ballpoint.

1980

Bruynzeel’s primary school collection expands with paint, rulers, markers, colour pencils and many more items.

1985

Bruynzeel introduced new fun / DIY products like clay, colourpacks, gold and siver markers.

1997

The factory was taken over by Sakura Color Products Corporation, the Japanese company that invented Cray-Pas (oil pastel) as a new colouring material in 1925 and has since then been offering many other colour products as well.

2016

Bruynzeel is part of the brand portfolio of Royal Talens. Royal Talens has been stimulating creative expression worldwide for more than 100 years by developing high-quality brands and products that stimulate people to paint and draw.

2018

Distribution centre and social work provision has been relocated from Bergen op Zoom to Apeldoorn.

Empower your creativity

with Bruynzeel

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