Herbin

The history of the French company is a true adventure. Founded in 1670 under the reign of Louis XIV, then 32 years old, Herbin manufactures sealing wax and fine stationery. Its founders travelled throughout the Mediterranean region and Asia to export their products. At the time, it took six months to reach the Levant. With all the risks that such a journey entailed. Storms, fevers, pirates and the dangerous passage around the Cape of Good Hope. From these expeditions, the travellers brought back techniques and new formulas. They enabled them to improve the wax and they still make it one of the best sealing waxes today.

In 1798, Jacques Herbin, a member of the fourth generation and full of ambition, decided to create his own ink. The manufacturing process and know-how improved from generation to generation. The company produces inks with luminous hues and incomparable shades. They are imbued with the colours of the landscapes and spices brought back from the expeditions.

The awards

Over the years, the brand’s inks became well known and won numerous awards at the major industry exhibitions in London and Paris. The company also registered trademarks: Perle des Encres (created in 1700), Violet ink used in schools under the Third Republic and Travellers’ ink. Note that a special black ink was created by Herbin for the writer Victor Hugo.

In 2003, the company became part of the Exacompta Clairefontaine group and created the JACQUES HERBIN collection. It offers a complete range of writing instruments, inks, stationery and small leather goods to writing, art and calligraphy enthusiasts. Among the inks, several ranges have been created, notably 1670 inks, which celebrate the birth of the brand, and 1798 inks, in homage to the year the inks were launched. These two ranges of glittering colours with their gold or silver glitter are housed in beautiful wax-sealed bottles.

The ink is still made in France by hand and the brand’s ambition has not changed: “To give body and colour to our thoughts“.