Jakar are a family run company who have been supplying Artist Materials, Stationery and Craft Products in the UK and Ireland for over 75 years. We’re the sole distributor for renowned Caran d’Ache Colour ranges in the UK and Ireland. We also stock the Ukrainian brand Rosa, who specialise in watercolour, oil and acrylic as well as the German-made M+R Stationery products.

The company was founded in 1949 by Lydia Sacki, who fled Nazi Germany and rebuilt her life in England. Starting from her kitchen table, Lydia began trading drawing instruments, toys, and cuckoo clocks while caring for her husband, and raising their two sons. A key figure in Jakar’s early days was lodger Julius Kaufmann, who helped establish important connections in the toy industry. To honour his contributions, the company name “Jakar” was formed from his initials.

In the mid-1950s, Lydia’s son Kenneth joined the business, just in time for a pivotal moment for the company. In 1959, Jacques Hubscher, the head of the Swiss artists materials company Caran d’Ache, came to Britain in search of distributors. He approached the Sacki family in 1960, initiating a partnership and so Jakar became the official UK distributor for Caran d’Ache, a collaboration that remains strong to this day. The company is now owned by Paul Sacki, the grandson of Founder Lydia Sacki.