Count Roland von Faber-Castell (1905-1978)
On the death of Count Alexander in 1928 his young son Roland became head of the company. In 1932 Faber-Castell took over the Johann Faber pencil factory (founded by Lothar von Faber’s brother in 1879) and with it the Brazilian subsidiary Lapis Johann Faber. In 1950 Faber-Castell acquired the Osmia company and started manufacturing fountain pens under its own name; production ceased in 1975.
New foreign subsidiaries were set up between 1960 and 1977, including a sales company in France (1960), factories in Australia and Austria (both in 1962) and Argentina and Peru (both in 1965). In 1967 Count Roland was able to buy back a majority share in Lapis Johann Faber S.A. in São Carlos, which had been confiscated during the Second World War. It is now the largest pencil factory in the world.