Pelikan No 1 Mechanical Pencil

The Magnificent Seven - Part 2

Pelikan No 1 Mechanical Pencil

By Pencil Paul

The Pelikan No.1 pencil designed by Luigi Colani, a brave move by Pelikan at the time of its introduction in the 1980s. Produced in collaboration with the Swiss born designer Professor Luigi Colani, the pencil and pen share the same molded one piece body with integrated clip, a very clever and practical item in use. The side button in black advances the 0.5 lead, is very comfortable in the hand, and easy to pocket clip. Unusually the leads are fed into the open nozzle end as the rest of the pencil is a sealed unit The pencil is shown with its usual black plastic packaging, from which it is 'hatching'. Packaging also by Colani. The 'bone' white colour is the most common, however there are several others and if you have a spare arm and a leg they can still be purchased from some online sites. I would strongly encourage all interested in this design to visit the online Colani Design Museum. In his career spanning over 50 years, and still going strong, he has designed over 5,000 industrial and consumer products. I also show the pen variant to illustrate the 'Shark in a tank' packaging. I wonder if this influenced Damien Hurst?

Pelikan No. 1 Mechanical Pencil

Parafernalia Revolution Mechanical Pencil

The Magnificent Seven - Part 1

Parafernalia Revolution Mechanical Pencil

By Pencil Paul

We will start this Mini-review series of some of my favorite pencils with an Italian product.

Parafernalia has been making cutting edge writing machines for many years, I have a Black Fountain pen styled by design guru Pininfarina for this company in the 1980's. Back to the item in hand, the pencil is supplied in a simple cardboard box, however inside you find the pencil defying gravity on its very own wooden 'wall of death' display as if in its own little art gallery perhaps. On to the actual pencil, this is a design recalling the age of exposure, think the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Lloyd's building by Richard Rodgers in London, and of course the Dyson Cyclone, never has dust been so exciting! It was a time when designers and architects 'let it all hang out' showing the guts of an object was the was the way to go. In this case the pencil works superbly well. In theory one can unscrew the 3 chrome 'boosters' and completely disassemble the pencil, however I have never felt that brave. Construction and finish are immaculate on this 0.5 push button lead advance pencil, also it is remarkably comfortable in use as I find my 'steering' finger sits right at the base of the tri-section and has a firm grip against the black central lead chamber. No room for an eraser on board this rocket!  The pocket clip with ubiquitous rubber ball end, works after a fashion, though I feel this is a desk item ready for all who glimpse this pencil to be intrigued.

Parafernalia Revolution Mechanical Pencil

Daves review of Parafernalia Revolution Mechanical Pencil

Kickstart A New Blog

I've recently received two communications that I'll pass on.

First a new blog that might interest you.
Drafting and Mechanical Pencils by Vittorio from Italy.

Second, a new project on Kickstarter. Let me be clear - I am in no way whatsoever associated with this project, but it looks interesting. Here's the main part of the email I received from the project "I see on your blog that you are a fan of Pentel P200 series pencils.  I just started a Kickstarter project called Spoke Pencil...a CNC machined aluminum housing utilizing the P200 series mechanism. You can check it out at:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/690647277/spoke-mechanical-pencil"

The Magnificent Seven

Starting soon, for each of the next seven weeks I will be featuring a mechanical pencil from the collection of fellow New Zealander "Pencil Paul”. Pencil Paul originally hails from England but he emigrated to New Zealand. His home was very badly damaged in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, but fortunately he, his family and his pencils all survived uninjured, and he now shares with us seven of his favourites, one per week. If any of you are overwhelmed and feel the need to make a donation, then Paul is desperate for an Eversharp Coronet pen+pencil set in GF.