Princely court architect Joseph Hardtmuth laid the foundations of the company in 1790, from which his descendants, especially his son Carl and grandson Franz, have built one of the world's largest companies in its field.
Several significant innovations in the field of writing instruments originated from the KOH-I-NOOR HARDTMUTH factory. These included the production of graphite and clay pencil leads, patented as early as 1802; the principle of machine-made pencils; and the division of graphite pencils into individual grades 8B-10H, based on lead hardness, which were soon adopted by other manufacturers as a global standard.
KOH-I-NOOR HARDTMUTH also has several achievements. In 1900, the iconic yellow 1500 pencil won the prestigious Grand Prix de Paris and became the most famous pencil in the world.
