About Cretacolor

1863 the industrialist Carl Brevillier founded the Zeus graphite pencil factory, which opened writing and drawing to a large audience. Back in the day, writing supplies were mostly handmade, of poor quality and very expensive. His goal was to produce high quality tools for people who wanted to write or draw. This resulted in a lot of people who couldn't afford to before, now being able to draw and write. This was the first important step towards the evolution of the modern Brevillier pencil.

With the purchase of the "Pencil Factory Hirm‟ in 1996, Hans Wolfgang  Hromatka managed to combine his passion and work and at the same time prevented the shutdown and closure of the company. By the end of the 1990s the earnest collector of old pencils continued this historical brand under the name CRETACOLOR.

After that, CRETACOLOR grew to become a premium brand in high quality art material all around the world. In 2008 through the acquisition of Brevillier-Urban, the company holding the legacy of Carl Brevilliers pencil factory, Hans Wolfgang Hromatka obtained the know-how to make art materials even more efficiently. At his request, the name of Brevillier was added to the CRETACOLOR logo and through that, the company Brevillier Urban & Sachs was born.