(from left to right) Alain Avrillon, Ranger CEO, Vincent DiLascia, and Justin Russo, Ranger President. Avrillon and Russo took over Ranger management in 2006.  While their duties overlap in several areas, Russo says he tends to handle legal/contracts, HR, and compliance while Avrillon focuses on operations and sales.

Founded in New Jersey in 1929 as Ranger Industries, the company produced commercial inks for the U.S. banking industry. In 1975, Vincent DiLascia bought Ranger and continued making ink and stamp pads for businesses such as Bank of America and Frito-Lay (which needed special ink to print the ‘use by’ dates on its snack foods). But he and his wife, Anne Generas, who had worked as a colorist for Clairol, were inspired by a growing enthusiasm for art stamping.

“There was a real movement in California, with small rubber stamp manufacturers designing funky stuff and using Ranger stamp pads,” says Justin Russo, Ranger president and DiLascia’s son-in-law.

At the time, Ranger made only black, red, and blue ink pads. But stampers wanted color! Vince knew a hot trend when he saw one and he began making private label inkpads in glorious hues for various stamp companies. (see sidebar after the article)

“That was his foray into the craft world,” says Russo. In the late 1990s, Ranger was easing away from industrial sales and leaning into the craft world “because that’s where the opportunities were.”

Besides expanding its color palette Ranger formulated new inks and related products that offered varied effects — reacting with water or alcohol, creating blended and layered designs, and extending into paints, pastes, sprays, crayons, watercolor pencils, even embossing powders.

The triple whammy of new inks, the rise of mega craft conventions, and the burgeoning scrapbook movement “helped propel our business for a decade, at least,” says Russo. In fact, he notes, “The growth of the (scrapbooking) market was so fast that keeping up with the demand was a challenge.”

Left: Ranger recently developed a line for scrapbooking company 49th and Market that reflects 49th’s vintage aesthetic. Right: The Distress Ink line started with six colors – five browns and a black – and has grown to 72 hues and been translated to coordinating products, including paints, sprays, glitter gels, crayons and colored pencils.

Another pivotal moment came when Tim Holtz, who joined Ranger in 2003 as an educator and was soon elevated to Ranger’s cast of Signature Designers, asked for inks that created a vintage or grunge look. In 2004, Distress Inks — a translucent, water-reactive, blendable ink that did magical things to paper and other surfaces – debuted at a hobby industry convention.

They started with six Distress Ink colors – five browns and a black. Well, obviously, those were not enough and today 72 hues enhance the line.

“Ranger has always been a leader in the marketplace because of their innovative products,” says Holtz, who has also designed stamps, stencils, dies and more. “This is because the in-house chemists, lab and production facility have a unique ability to formulate, test, manufacture and ship products worldwide.”

“The Ranger lab is our secret sauce, the cornerstone of this business, and what differentiates us from most others,” agrees CEO Alain Avrillon, DiLascia’s other son-in-law.

“They work closely with the designers. The designers come to us with ideas, and then the lab creates samples. We send the designers a few things to play with, and then we narrow it down from a product point of view,” working towards a marketable price point.

An in-house lab, he adds, offers better product control. “When you’re buying a stamp pad, a pen, or anything from overseas and you don’t control the chemistry, you don’t know what’s in it. So when something goes wrong, you’re at their mercy. This allows us to sort of control our destiny.”

Their signature designers, who also include Dyan Reaveley, Dina Wakley, Simon Hurley,Wendy Vecchi, and newcomer 49^th and Market, are also key to the company’s success.

“We surrounded ourselves with really talented people,” Avrillon says. “We listen to them, and we try to create products around their ideas.”

“We give them free rein to come up with ideas,” agrees Russo, “and we collaborate.”

But designing is only half the job.

“Everyone calls them designers, but they’re more than that,” Russo explains. “First and foremost, they’re educators,” who, while playing with products, discover techniques that they then teach to end users.

Collaborating closely with designers, says Holtz, “not only gives Ranger unique products to develop with distinct creativity but also provides the educational support from the designer behind each product. I’ve always recognized the importance of providing education plus inspiration with any product I design. Knowing the how and why of something gives a better understanding to the maker of how to utilize it in their own creative way.”

Left: Card and tag samples made using Ranger Distress products. Right: Ranger Ink, which started in 1929 as a maker of ink pads for commercial and industrial clients, is still housed in Tinton Falls, N.J. and houses offices, warehouse and a laboratory.

Janene Meyerowitz, founder of vintage-inspired scrapbooking company 49th and Market, has been a Ranger fan since 2006 when she became “Ranger certified,” so collaborating with Ranger to create stamp pads that work well with 49th’s aesthetic “felt like a natural step.”

“Ranger brings the magic potion to our paper party,” she says. “While we provide the canvas—the papers, laser-cuts, and transfers—Ranger brings the chemistry that makes those elements truly come alive. They have an incredible understanding of color theory and trendsetting, which allows us to curate custom palettes that perfectly complement the muted, nostalgic, and rich tones of our collections. They don’t just bring tools to the table; they bring the spark that turns a beautiful piece of paper into a timeless piece of art.”

The designers are each “strong in a particular lane,” Avrillon notes. “Tim is our mixed media person; Dina is more of a fine artist. Dyan’s always been about journaling and is a huge proponent of journaling for mental health. Simon and Wendy are our card makers and 49^th and Market brings the scrapbooking expertise.”

While their lanes sometimes overlap, having one expert in each sector was a strategic move that “allows us to see trends as they’re happening and then beef up that part of our product line if needed,” says Avrillon.

Stayin’ in the USA

When Russo and Avrillon took over the business in 2006 they committed to remain a U.S. based manufacturer. Although this can be “a little more expensive, a little more challenging,” says Avrillon, problems are more quickly found and faster to fix

“Because our products are made just 25 feet from Justin’s office and mine, we can see a problem as soon as it comes up and address it right away,” Avrillon explains.

“We can also make 300 pieces and test something in the market without waiting six months for a shipment from China or having to commit to 5,000 units. That’s the upside.”

Always adapting, today Ranger is leaning in to renewed interest in planners, journaling, and stationery, with some related products planned for an upcoming release. Avillron says junk journaling is also trending, so Ranger is working on products for that category as well.

They remain mindful of supporting small independents and have been finding new “craft-adjacent” markets in shops that are adding a mini craft section to their existing wares.  

These shops may be in small towns without large craft outlets, he says, maybe selling candles, home décor or gift items, then setting up “a little paper crafting area, not crafting, per se, but maybe a letter writing area with envelopes and special pens, maybe some stamp sets. For us, it’s a very curated product line. It’s an interesting little trend.”

At Ranger, there’s always something interesting cooking. “We have a few things in the works,” he hinted, “particularly for Tim, so we hope 2027 will be a fun year with some new, exciting products.”

In the meantime, “We’re just gonna keep doing what we’re doing.”

Art Stamping Brings Color to Ink Pads

Vincent DiLascia, who turned a basic industrial ink company into the Ranger Ink we know today, credits the burgeoning art stamp movement of the 1970s for bringing color to the ink making business.

In a 2000 interview for a special All About Color issue of The Rubber Stamper Magazine, DiLascia talked with me about a fortuitous chance encounter with Hero Arts founder Jackie Leventhal at a California gift show.

“I didn’t know anything about the art stamp market,” said DiLascia, who has retired from Ranger and turned over management of the company to his two sons-in-law. “Jackie was showing some stamps she designed. She had five colored ink pads – black, purple, red, green and blue. She said if someone came up with more colors, they could clean up.”

DiLascia went back to Ranger’s New Jersey headquarters and asked his chemist if he could make colored inks.

“Three weeks later he put 15 colors on my desk. Every stamp company out there at the time started buying the colored pads. When we came up with a rainbow pad with plastic dividers between the colors, we sold thousands and thousands. Colored ink pads opened up (art) stamping because it wasn’t boring anymore.”

Ranger’s early ink pads, he said, consisted of a perforated plastic sandwiched between two pieces of ink-soaked felt. The pads were put on top of tar paper, then wrapped with cotton. A heat tool was used to melt the tar paper to the cloth. Cases were usually made of wood or tin.

Around 1980, he said, Ranger “revolutionized the making of the ink pad” by using a synthetic felt laminated to a cotton cloth.

Inkpads, he noted, were once a basic commercial item. “Today they are much more sophisticated.”

Roberta G. Wax

contributor