Kuretake Co., Ltd. was established in 1902 at Nara in Japan. Since then, by combining our Sumi Ink(Japanese Calligraphy Ink) with our own technological developments, we have achieved recognition as a manufacturer of high quality stationery products. With confidence that we could utilize our unique knowledge of multi-colored pigment inks, we decided to expand into Art & Crafts industry. That is our new action to contribute to people's life and culture by satisfying their new needs for 'Want to create by own hands.'

We strongly believe that our 'hands on' products will continue to satisfy future customer requirements for both Stationery as well as Arts & Crafts industries.

Kuretake: The Kuretake brand represents the arts and crafts lifestyle with the use of color and shapes.

The colors 'Black' represents Tradition and 'Yellow and Purple' representing Innovation of brushes, pens and paints to support our customer artistic lifestyle. The shapes of circle, square and triangle represent the creation of arts and crafts.

ZIG: 'ZIG' is the brand name for Kuretake’s pen and marker which has been used and loved by many people.

In the 1970’s, Japan experienced nationwide depression during the post-war recession. People everywhere sought out low priced yet high quality stationery productions, and in this era came the birth of the new 'Kuretake ZIG' Fine liner pen. ZIG comes from the word 'zigzag', a concept based on the fluid, back and forth motion which comes with writing. 'Kuretake ZIG' had an extra-fine 0.3mm tip, as well as a slim body design with high-grade cap and stainless clip which was very original for that time. On top of that, 'Kuretake ZIG' became the first hit product of Kuretake stationery to spread worldwide.

From the original product name of 'Kuretake ZIG', we decided to establish 'ZIG' as the general brand of Kuretake Pens and Markers. Now, ZIG products are sold in over 80 countries around the world, growing into a global brand.