DID YOU KNOW ?

For those who are looking for an authentic necktie, all roads lead to Zagreb.

"... Around the year 1635, some six thousand soldiers and knights came to Paris to give their support to King Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu. Among them were a great number of Croatian mercenaries led by a ban, or Croatian viceroy.
The traditional outfit of these Croats aroused interest on account of the unusual and picturesque scarves distinctively tied about their necks. The scarves were made of various cloths, ranging from coarse material for common soldiers, to fine cotton and silk for officers. This elegant "Croatian style" immediately enamoured the French, who were delighted by the new article of clothing, which had been previously unknown in Europe."
Around the year 1650, during the reign of Louis XIV, the Croatian scarf was accepted in France, above all in court, where military ornaments were much admired. The fashionable expression, ’a la croate’, soon evolved into a new French word, which still exists today: la cravate. This innovation symbolized the height of culture and elegance.
Since that time in the 17th century, derivatives of the word croata have been present in many languages, (i.e., English, German, French, Portuguese, Italian), meaning cravat or tie. It follows then that Croatia is the mother country of the necktie.

We suggest as the original souvenir and nice farewell present for participants: the silk necktie with discrete Croatian decorations like "Croatian pleter", "glagoljica" letters or some samples of decorations from Croatian cultural heritage. 

PENKALA
Engineer Penkala took out in 1906 a patent name "Mechanical Pencil". The first propelling pencil in the world.

If any one Zagreb and Croatian souvenir exists which best confirms Croatia culture and history by its originality, patina and continuity, then that is certainly the penkala.

Slavoljub Penkala of Zagreb patented the first mechanical pencil in the world in 1906. Very few people in the world are even aware of this fact. Although the story of Slavoljub Eduard Penkala and his patent, which made Zagreb the European centre for the production of writing equipment between 1914 and 1926, should not be forgotten.

Penkala was born in 1871 and he died in Zagreb in 1922. In his life he had some seventy-odd registered patents. Among these, we should mention:

- Mechanical Pencil (1906)
- Rotating toothbrush (1908)
- Hovercraft (1908)
- First Croatian aeroplane

The most significant and most valuable of his patents was his "mechanical pencil", which he patented in Budapest. That was the first ballpoint pen in the world, which got its name - Penkala - from its inventor. And the name is still in use to these days.