Pentel Co., Ltd. (ぺんてる株式会社, Penteru Kabushiki Gaisha) is a privately-held Japanese manufacturing company of stationery products.

[7] Nowadays, Pentel produces a wide range of products that include writing implements, art materials and office goods.

The company was founded in 1946 as "Japan Stationery Limited" (Nihonbungu Kabushiki Gaisha) in Tokyo by Yokio Horie, with the purpose of manufacturing crayons and pastels.

[2] In 1963 Pentel launched the "Sign Pen", a fibre-type pen that was used by then President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson, who bought a dozen of them to sign photographs, apart from being adopted as the official writing instrument of NASA and going into space with a Gemini mission in 1966.

[2] In 1971 the company changed its name to "Pentel Co. Ltd." and one year later, the green rollerball pen with water-based ink, was launched.