Laurentien Pencil Crayons
September 23rd, 2009
Design:
Client: Venus Pencil Company Ltd.
Date: 1951
Although Laurentien (then spelled Laurentian) pencil crayons were made in Canada right from the start, The Venus Pencil Company Ltd. also marketed the same pencils under the brand name ‘Paradise’ in the United States. Both brands were developed for Colour-By-Number kits, and they both kept the same colour names and numbering system. This would explain some of the more exotic colour names like “#2 Sarasota Orange”and “#4 Hollywood Cerise.”
During the 1960’s, a couple of Canadian innovations were made: The packaging was changed to the portable vinyl pouches, and space for labeling on the pencil was introduced to deter theft from classmates.
In 1972, a year before Faber-Castell bought Venus, the French spelling “Laurentien” was trademarked in an attempt to increase sales in Quebec.
Sanford acquired the brand in 1994, and in 2001 they changed the packaging and discontinued the vinyl pouch. The Laurentien website states that the move back to the cardboard box was motivated by the fact that “consumers were more likely to put the coloured pencils in their own pencil case,” however it is possible that the issues of cost and PVC’s recent bad press played a factor as well.
Nevertheless, aside from some minor name changes to several of the colours, the pencils themselves still retain their iconic design.
-Michael Greco
Entry Filed under: Games and Toys,Miscellaneous
31 Comments Add your own
1. Justin | September 24th, 2009 at 21:35
I miss these. I remember them being much less likely to break during sharpening than the Prismacolor pencils that are more widely available (at least in the US). I miss them, but hopefully Venus still markets them.
2. ConcreteCat | September 24th, 2009 at 22:10
classic!
3. Judy | September 27th, 2009 at 12:42
My kids always wanted new pencil crayons every year, so sometimes they ended up with a cheaper lesser quality brand when someone else took them shopping. They always met with disappointment as the leads kept breaking or the colours weren’t vibrant enough. Laurentian was always and still is my preference. I’m sure I still have a couple of stubs laying around from when I was a child. Keep up the high quality.
4. fED | September 29th, 2009 at 19:01
Love them! I still have them and they bring back awesome memories from my time in the Canadian public school system.
5. jim u | September 30th, 2009 at 14:22
I’ve always loved them. they should make them manditory as they were the root for some great creativity in my school years. they’re much cheaper now than how i remembered them. i bought the complete set at walmart just to re-live the excitement of having them. that is how the photo came about.
6. pencil talk&hellip | October 10th, 2009 at 15:23
Double ended colour pencils…
While red and blue pencils are a sublime and beautiful example of the pencil maker’s art, other colour leads can be combined though the same process for an amazing result.
Colleen is a company we’ve mentioned many times. With leadership f…
7. Sharon.hatch | October 15th, 2009 at 09:58
Laurentian pencil crayons have always been the best quality and have been the suggested brand to get for school supplies at the schools I have taught and also have been a student at for a combination total of more than 45 years. The last two years I have been so disappointed in the sharpening quality. They break easily or cannot sharpen evenly. They do not last at all no matter which type of sharpener is used. I really hope this can be rectified.
8. Brian Goguen | November 18th, 2009 at 13:25
I`ve been a long time customer & to my disappointment I complained to the website about a big pack of pencil crayons that I purchased that were defective a month ago and got absolutely no response. So I`m done buying them I guess. No point of offering a Contact Us link if you are not going to respond. They don`t care about their customers. I`m 51 yrs. and have been using them since I was a kid. Very sad really.
9. Debbie | January 20th, 2010 at 16:29
We have always preferred Laurentien to other brands as they give such smooth coverage, but have recently been disappointed with the lack of selection of reds. There are only two to speak of (even in a package of 70), and neither is a deep, rich red. Oh, for a true, deep, blood red…
10. Rowena Swahn | March 12th, 2010 at 19:06
I love these pencil crayons and have since I was a child (10), am now almost 63. I volunteer at the local school every day in the Gr.1 class and notice the wood on the pencils seems hard to sharpen, often sharpening on one side only.The gold and silver colors often fall completely out of the wood-last year 3 children had this problem.What can be done? Parents are paying dearly for these pencil crayons, and some are lasting a very shor ttime.
11. b | August 29th, 2010 at 18:34
you describe the sharpener ptoblem, not the pencil.
12. Peggy | September 19th, 2010 at 11:29
I still have my last package of Venus Canada – Laurentien pencil crayons from when I was in school which seem to be better quality then the ones made in recent years. We still always look for that brand for our kids now. I’ve tried crayola but they always break easily, not so with the Venus brand. Trying to find them this year was difficult as very few stores were carrying then. Are they going out of business? If so are there any other brands of the same quality?
13. Cindy | November 22nd, 2010 at 12:34
I have strong memories of Laurentian pencil crayons, both from my own youth & because of buying new ones every year for my children. Certain colours are best described to people by naming the colour # of a Laurention pencil crayon and everyone knows!!!
I tried to find them this September & again in November with no luck!
What is going on??
14. Georgina | August 4th, 2011 at 20:58
hi i was woundering why i connot find any laurentien products i live in canada and i was able to buy these last year with 2 childern in school i prefer to buy these over other brands .
15. Sophie | August 12th, 2011 at 16:51
I can’t find these pencil crayons anywhere to! I really would like to buy them….anybody no where I can get them?
16. Kristi-Anna | August 16th, 2011 at 10:01
Where can you buy Laurentien pencil crayons these days?! I desperately want them for my school aged children!
17. karen | August 16th, 2011 at 22:33
I too have been unable to find Laurentien pencil crayons. Want to guy them for my grandchildren as they are reasonably priced and are the only ones worth using. They are far superior to all the other brands available in the stores. I’m so disappointed that a great product is now unavailable for us. Does any one know why this is happening?????
18. Sharon R | August 17th, 2011 at 07:31
Are these superior quality pencil crayons available anywhere? I work for Staples and know we have not had them for about 2 years now. Where can I get them for my grandchildren and our classroom?
19. Tina G | August 18th, 2011 at 15:47
The school supply list is asking for laurentian pencil crayons and I haven’t been able to find them anywhere, I’ve tried Walmart, Staples, Zellers and other smaller stores, they are great quality , I used them when I was a child and that’s a very long time ago. Does anyone know where a person could buy them ?????
20. Tanya | August 21st, 2011 at 09:50
HI all… Sad news guys… Laurentian pencils have been discontinued. They are suggesting crayola ones, but the better quality ones are Staedler. They only sell packs of 24 though
21. Arlene | August 21st, 2011 at 14:16
where can I buy Laurentian pencils, I live in Burnang, B.C. Canada
22. lorraine kaizer | August 25th, 2011 at 11:10
i cannot find the laurentien coled pencils anywhere. i live in nova scotia,lunenburg county.b0j3m0.box 80, western shore. can you help me?thank you.
23. Trish | August 25th, 2011 at 11:29
I’ve been looking all over and can’t find Laurentien anywhere. The kids hated the Crayola ones I bought last year – they said they broke too easily, they break even while you’re sharpening them.
I’ve been told Laurentien is no longer being made – whoever made that decision should reconsider, because there are a lot of us that are willing to pay for the quality that Laurentien used to give us.
24. Laura | August 26th, 2011 at 11:11
THey have apparently been bought out by RubberMaid and discontinued. GONE……no more Peacock Blue or Poppy Red. They probably let the quality go by the wayside hoping for sales to drop and Crayola to take over. Thereby giving them a “sales profit loss” reason to discontinue production.
25. Amy | September 5th, 2011 at 10:43
I completely agree these were great pencil crayons and there is absolutely no reason to discontinue these. Crayola has no good colours and break way too easily. I’m very sad to hear of their discontinuation, hopefully they’ll come up with some more great pencil crayons such as these. I searched everywhere and could not find them. Finally I came to see what was up.
26. Brenda | September 6th, 2011 at 21:57
My son’s teacher complained about Staedtler pencil crayons she said they are too waxy and don’t give a deep color. After reading about complaints with the Crayola brand, what are we supposed to buy?
27. Bridget | November 5th, 2011 at 10:48
Searched everywhere for Laurentiens and finally bought the Staedtler. My 10 year old is very disappointed with the feel, colour and finish. He wants his Laurentiens back, just like I had when I was a kid. He doesn’t want Crayola..
Why does all the good quality Canadian stuff disappear?!
28. me | November 24th, 2011 at 17:42
i just bought 3 packs of 26 colors, i payed less than 5 dollars each, now that i know that they are discontinued, i will go get a few more packs, they should last me the rest of my life. i still have a pack of eight left from when i was a child, they are in a vinyl sleeve.
29. NAIL ART TUTORIAL: DOWN B&hellip | November 29th, 2011 at 07:37
[...] so far to find it. This colour has a nice thicker formula and reminds us of the pencil crayon Laurentien French Green – which is just the colour we were going [...]
30. Joanne | December 15th, 2011 at 12:27
I can’t believe they were discontinued! They were the best pencil crayons ever made in Canada. This is a big disappointment!
31. helen nephin | January 13th, 2012 at 16:05
I have always loved laurentian pencil crayons since I was in high school many, many years ago. I am now teaching a grade one class and I want to purchase these pencil crayons for my class. Can you inform me as to where I might be able to purchase these crayons as i am having difficulty finding a store that sells them purchasing these item. helen
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