Caran d’Ache today :

Maison Caran d'Ache and its Know-How.

The Maison Caran d'Ache is an internationally renowned Swiss family-owned company. A true symbol of "Swiss Made" excellence, it is led by Carole Hubscher, representing the fourth generation of the family engaged in managing the business. Located in Thônex, in the canton of Geneva, Switzerland, the Maison has shared a profound passion for Fine Arts and Hate Ecriture for over 100 years, serving creativity with elegance and excellence.

Founded in 1915 in Geneva under the name "Fabrique Genevoise de Crayons," the Maison Caran d'Ache was renamed in 1924 to its current name when Arnold Schweitzer took over the company with international ambitions. It was then acquired by the Hubscher family in 1930.

The Maison Caran d'Ache continues to uphold the art of Writing and Drawing with great know-how. As a flagship of Swiss manufacturing tradition, the Maison designs and produces all its products in its workshops in Geneva, Switzerland.

Today, Caran d'Ache employs over 300 talented people representing 90 professions, all united by the same passion under one roof.The Maison boasts a dozen stores in Switzerland and internationally, with more than 120 shop-in-shops worldwide, exporting its products to 90 countries.

The three worlds of Caran d'Ache

COLOUR

Caran d'Ache masters pigments to create powerful and pure colours that bring the most beautiful inspiration to the blank page. Its exceptional spectrum of 300 shades is a remarkable fusion of exceptional materials and artisanal know-how.

Whether it's pencil leads, markers, pastels, gouaches, coloured inks, watercolours, or acrylics, they all express themselves with dazzling brightness and exceptional lightfastness. Since 1915, Caran d'Ache colours have been a source of inspiration and a companion to many generations of artists, whether they are novices or internationally recognized. In this regard, in 2015, an exhibition titled "The Caran d'Ache of Picasso" was organized at Kunsthaus Interlaken, featuring works by Pablo Picasso created using Caran d'Ache coloured pencils and pastels.

The production of a pencil involves approximately 35 distinct steps, which amounts to over 50 hours of work in total. To ensure their exceptional quality, many steps are meticulously performed by hand by artisans, including the placement of leads in drying racks, the final quality control, and the packaging of colours.

WRITING & HAUTE ECRITURE

Caran d'Ache writing instruments embody a century of continually renewed craftsmanship. Since the 1930s, the Maison has cultivated unique skills to create writing instruments that combine aesthetics, comfort, and high-quality materials.

Often pioneering, they stand out with their original designs while providing genuine comfort. Among the essentials are icons such as the Fixpencil®, the 849 ballpoint pen, or the 825, and for Haute Ecriture, the Varius, Léman, and Ecridor collections.

These fine instruments are exceptional pieces of craftsmanship that showcase the breadth of the artisans' talents, including engravers, lacquerers, and polishers at the Maison. They dare to explore the uniqueness of shapes and materials, whether through chainmail, wood, gemstones, ceramics, or Chinese lacquer, to create instruments of rare excellence.

Caran d'Ache is one of the few manufacturers in Europe to master the ancient art of Chinese lacquer. Years of research and development were required to apply this expertise to the most precious writing instruments. Whether in its natural form or tinted in blue, black, or red, Chinese lacquer undergoes many lengthy stages of transformation and application. Writing instruments enhanced by Chinese lacquer are appreciated worldwide for their durability, brilliance, and delicate touch

Caran d'Ache ballpointpen cartridges are produced in the workshops in Geneva, including the famous Goliath cartridge that allows you to write up to 600 A4 pages, equivalent to 8,000 meters of text.

Caran d'Ache’s Values

"Since its inception, Caran d'Ache has placed respect for every human being and the protection of the environment at the core of its commitments." - Carole Hubsch

1.    Cultivate Excellence
2.    Share the Passion
3.    Dare to Be Original
4.    Embody Responsibility

Caran d'Ache's values, which are both the heart of the company and its guiding principles, influence its daily activities and manifest in each of its actions. They enable the Maison to maintain its creativity, demonstrate its commitment to environmental responsibility, actively contribute to knowledge transmission and education, all while steadfastly pursuing its goal of excellence and remaining loyal to the prestigious "Swiss Made" label that symbolizes the quality of its products.

Commitment and Social Responsibility

As a family Maison, our local commitment is of great importance. All our products are developed and designed in our manufacturing facility in Geneva, and the quality of our products is at the heart of Caran d'Ache's standards. The design and manufacturing of these products take place in a unique facility in the canton of Geneva, Switzerland. This allows for monitoring that meets the very high standards and regulations inherent to the "Swiss Made" label.

As a responsible Maison, eco-design is also a part of our ongoing commitments. Our Research and Development department works daily on developing new formulas that incorporate bio-sourced materials and recycled products.
Caran d'Ache also aims for manufacturing excellence while acting as a responsible company every day, placing local production at the center of its strategy.

For decades, Caran d'Ache has been committed to reducing the carbon footprint of its production processes and making its manufacturing facility as sustainable as possible, including its 800 square meters of Nature Made Star-certified solar panels

Each year, heating using wood chip briquettes from the cutting of Caran d'Ache pencils allows for the reduction of 38,800 liters of fuel oil and 102 tons of CO2. This savings is equivalent to driving around the world 25 times in terms of global CO2 (in kilograms).