HISTORY
In 2021 Roger and Amanda Gilbertson bought NZ Crayons from Kevin Atkinson and relocated to a rural property in Tauranga. Kevin had bought two New Zealand crayon businesses called Spectrum and Retsol together under the NZ Crayon brand. This means NZ Crayons is the only manufacturer of industrial and educational crayons in the country. We can therefore guarantee the quality and safety of ingredients and can contract manufacture and problem solve for local industries.
The Retsol Brand - made by Returned Soldiers after WW2
Established in 1930 as a semi-autonomous body, the Disabled Soldiers' Civil Re-establishment League was concerned with the employment of those former members of the armed forces with physical disabilities. District Branch committees were established to assist disabled ex-soldiers with finding employment, providing vocational training and providing payments to supplement their pensions or earnings. Factories and shops were established in the four main centres.
In 1939 the constitution was altered to provide assistance to all disabled ex-members of the armed forces. The name also changed to Disabled Servicemen's Re-establishment League (Inc).
In 1941 the League was appointed an agent of the Rehabilitation Board; this entailed acting on the Board's behalf in assessing the needs of individual cases. The government undertook to provide suitable premises for the organisation.
In 1969 the League was appointed by Government to administer its policy concerning the rehabilitation of all people with disabilities.
In 1974 the organisation name was changed again to Rehabilitation League NZ (Inc).
In 1990 the organisation was restructured and the name changed to Workbridge. The above organisation established the crayon making plant with other units (sheet metal, engineering, cabinet making, etc) to assist with the rehabilitation and work training of Returned Soldiers.
Their products were branded RETSOL from RETurned SOLdiers.
Later as the numbers of soldiers thinned out others were included in the mix to take advantage of the infrastructure, long time unemployed being in the mix.
Finally, in 1990 the Rehabilitation League was restructured into Workbridge and the individual manufacturing units were sold off to private individuals.
The Spectrum Master Brand – New Zealand’s Industrial Crayons.
Spectrum Crayons & Markers has been offering different types of industrial marking products, in a variety of hues since 1969.
We have hard and soft markers as well as wax and florescent crayons in vibrant, true colours that offer smoothness and durability. Our crayons are designed to perform for a range of industrial applications and over the years, wax crayons have become the ideal marking tool on a wider range of surfaces. Due to their waterproof nature, our marking crayons have found different applications in timber & forestry, plastic, glass, tyres, concrete, leather, steel and more. Fluorescent colours offer high visibility and easy readability, making them suitable for sensor recognition in most saws, grade readers and dockers.
We also have specialty crayons such as metal-detectable crayons and graphite crayons.
NZ Crayons since 2022
As you can imagine the first year of owning the business was a steep learning curve with Amanda on the tools and Roger keeping the supplies coming in and the crayons going out. Post pandemic issues were still around like the high cost of importing some ingredients. Time was spent refining packaging and costs and working with existing customers. In 2023 we started to grow with the addition of the new hexagonal crayon mould, the new Nga Tae retail pack, and new colours in the Giant range. This growth continued in 2024 with new bulk crayons boxes, new opportunities to make promotional products and a commission to make a trophy completely out of crayon.
