Société BIC

French manufacturer of writing instruments, lighters and shavers, headquartered in Clichy near Paris. The founding date depends on what one counts: Marcel Bich and Édouard Buffard set up a writing-instrument parts workshop in Clichy in 1945, while the company named Société BIC was created only in 1953. The first product sold under the BIC brand was the Cristal ballpoint, launched in France in 1950 after Bich bought László Biró's patent. BIC still makes the Cristal in its own plants in France, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa, producing its inks and its production machinery in-house.