Faber-Castell, the 257-year old Germany-based company best known for its fine writing and art products and slide rules, began manufacturing cosmetic pencils in 1978. Now led by its ninth generation, Countess Mary von Faber-Castell serves as president, Faber-Castell Cosmetics. Daniel Rogger is chairman of the Faber-Castell Group.

To mark the firm’s 40th anniversary in the cosmetics industry, Countess Mary—who met her husband, Count von Faber-Castell (eighth generation), when she was a customer, working in New York at Chanel in the ’70s—recently held a press conference in Paris, in which she described key beauty products and new launches.