The Polymer clay brand Cernit was born in the sixties, in Prague, in Czech Republic. A couple of scientists created the clay that was named according to the name of  a lady called Cerna.

Forced to emigrate in Germany in 1963, they both decided to publish a newspaper ad to find an investor who would help them develop the product.

Soon, a Mr Manfred Guder noticed the ad and decided to collaborate with the inventors. When they decided to retire, Mr Guder hired a chemist and put him in charge of the development of the clay color range. At that time, production took place in the Frankfurt factory in Germany.

Over the years, Cernit was only sold to 2 clients who represented  50% of the turnover.

From 2000, Mr Guder collaborated with Bodson-Nélis, the manufacturer of the Darwi Air-drying clay. He decided to distribute the clays, namely Darwi Classic, Darwi ROC, Darwi Extra-light under the Cernit brand.

Only 7 years later, Cernit was offered for sale to the Belgian company, who had turned into “Darwi”. The next year, Cernit officially became Belgian when it was taken over by Darwi.

In 2023 , The Clay&Paint Factory Belgium has been taken over by the CLAIREFONTAINE RHODIA Group, France

Since its inception , the Cernit range has been extended with various accessories for modeling, creating jewellery, dolls, flowers, etc.

New colors and new developments are still happening even as we speak … do not miss them!!