A Derwent Christmas

I received this Christmas Greeting image in an e-mail from Cumberland Pencil Company today and thought it was a creative use of a pencil and pencil shavings to design an artistic Christmas tree. Cumberland has been a long time customer of our company using cedar slats historically in their Derwent brand pencils. Derwent is considered to be one of the premier professional artist ranges worldwide, particularly with respect to their innovative line of color pencils exhibiting excellent color fastness and other features including the Inktense line.

Of course Cumberland has a storied history in the pencil industry having been founded nearby the original Borrowdale graphite mines discovered in the 1500s. Cumberland established it's Pencil Museum near it's old factory site in Keswick and has become a regular tourist attraction when visiting the lovely Lake District of Northwest England. The Museum website also has interesting history if you'd like to learn more about pencils. A couple years ago Cumberland moved their manufacturing operations to a brand new site within the area, a rare commitment for a European or US manufacturer to invest in new facilities domestically.

For more on cedar and a Christmas association visit my old Timberlines post A Very Cedar Christmas.