Sakura Color Products

Japanese maker of art materials and writing instruments, headquartered in Osaka (Morinomiya Chuo, Chuo-ku). The company chronicle dates the founding to 1921 as Nihon Crayon Shokai, renamed the same year to Sakura Crayon Shokai; the present name Sakura Color Products Corporation dates from 1970. The portfolio spans art materials (Cray-Pas oil pastels, 1925) and writing instruments: Pigma pigment markers (1982) and Ball Sign gel pens (1984), sold outside Japan under the Gelly Roll brand.