When we came to visit Koh-I-Noor, we first stopped in the Czech capital of Prague.

The Czech Republic is located in eastern Europe. It is surrounded by Germany, Poland, Slovakia, and Austria.

The Vltava River is the longest river in the Czech Republic and runs through the city of Prague. The Charles Bridge is a large bridge that stretches 520 meters across the river. It was built in the latter half of the 14th century, making it Prague’s oldest bridge.

This is Old Town Square, the heart of tourism in Prague. The large building with two towers is the Church of Our Lady before Týn. On the other side of the plaza is a functional astronomical clock.

We took a short walk before heading over to the shop. This is the informational center. The historical buildings in Old Town are all quite colorful and decorated. It’s fascinating walking through Prague and just looking at all the beautiful buildings.

This 16th century building has a black wall featuring trompe-l'œil artwork.

Tourists can use the tram or subway to navigate the streets of Prague. It’s a charming scene to watch the tram crossing the tracks across the cobblestone streets.

Look up as you walk, and what do you see?

All kinds of interesting decorations and signs covering the walls of the buildings.

The entire city looks like a collective art museum.

Old Town has an abundance of fascinating buildings in the area, such as the Estates Theatre. In the 18th century, Mozart conducted the world premiere of his opera Don Giovanni here.

There’s also the House of the Black Madonna, a cubist building with a rare look.

Time to head to Koh-I-Noor! There are several locations throughout Prague, but we stopped at the one near Wenceslas Square.

The shop is located in the first floor of this gorgeous building. There was a long stretch of boxes of colored pencils, pastels, and paints throughout the store.

This is the Artist’s Corner, filled with materials for people who enjoy creating art. The shelves contain individual pencils and colored pencils for people to pick and choose what they like.

This are the standard pencils offered by Koh-I-Noor. There are 20 levels of lead hardness, ranging from 10H to 8B.

This is the writing corner for testing out products.

Oh, it’s the popular Czech cartoon character, Krtek the mole! This is the School Supplies Corner.

There is an array of school supplies, such as colored pencils, magic markers, paints, and more.

This is the Office Corner. Is that a businessman here to buy supplies?

Here’s our interpreter, Jan Havlíček. As a child, his father’s job brought his family to Mie Prefecture in Japan. His favorite food in Japan is ramen.

Next time we’ll be taking you through the Koh-I-Noor headquarters in the southern city of České Budějovice. Look forward to it!

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This Kafka statue is from the Jewish Quarter of Prague. Prague is the hometown of Franz Kafka, who penned the famous short story Metamorphosis.

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One major part of Czech culture and art is the puppet. Prague contains many puppet theaters and marionette shops that are popular with both adults and children.

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There’s an open market along the Vltava River on the weekends, where locals sell food, used clothing, and handcrafted items.

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The Czech Republic is popular for its flea markets. We went to Bleší Trhy Praha first thing in the morning and spotted all kinds of charming goods, like glassware and children’s books.

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Look at all these cute children's books!

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The post office was selling these charming stamps. We could see the same rustic charm of Koh-I-Noor in all the various accessories, children’s books, cartoons, and puppets as we walked through the streets of Prague.

Part 2 coming soon!