The pen might be mightier than the sword, but they were both first designed by the pencil. Having translated ideas into plans for decades, it is understandable that the pencil has become such an iconic symbol to designers.
In fact, one of the most prestigious design awards, the D&AD Pencils are recognised the world over as a symbol of true creative achievement. Though prized by professionals at the top of their game, pencils can equally enchant a child.
The power of the humble pencil was celebrated at our World Design Capital 2014 stand at the 2012 Design Indaba Expo – not least of all for the part it plays in helping us realise the bid promise: “Live design. Transform life”.
Serendipitously the importance of the pencil was re-emphasised by numerous Design Indaba Conference speakers. Porky Hefer, Heinrich Wolff and Tsai Design, all from Cape Town, all mentioned the importance of starting a design with a pencil and paper. Here are ten of our favourite serendipitous pencil-inspired designs.
1. The Pencil Bench by the Boex Brothers in the United Kingdom is made up of 1 600 pencils. Each pencil is individually sprung, and can be removed and used. The brothers were inspired by a conversation about making a piece of furniture out of a simple office supply.
2. Johannesburg-born, USA-based artist Jennifer Maestre makes pencil sculptures inspired by sea urchins. She cuts the pencils into 3 cm sections, drills a hole in each to turn them into beads, sharpens them all and sews them together.
3. Italian jewellery designer Maria Cristina Bellucci repurposes leftover pencil stubs in some optically boggling rings, bangles and neckpieces. Bellucci says that she has trained herself to see beauty everywhere and finds it fun to contest, deconstruct and transform everyday objects.
4. Brazilian miniaturist Dalton Ghetti started sculpting pencil tips when he was six years old. Now in his 30s, Ghetti’s range is jaw-dropping: a post box, a farm house, a church, interlinked hearts, Elvis Presley, carpentry tools, and the entire alphabet are just the beginning.
5. German artist Kerstin Schulz made an entire range of furniture from thousands of sharpened Castell 9 000 pencils for the Faber Castell centenary. The famous Castell 9000 was the world’s first hexagonally shaped pencil, invented by Count Alexander von Faber Castell in 1905.
6. Acclaimed contemporary American artist Tara Donovan’s work Colony sees her transforming pencil stubs into a mesmerising sculpture evoking the qualities of a coral reef. Donovan is known for bringing out the organic qualities of geometric objects and has also used plastic straws, pins and toothpicks.
7. New York sculptor George Hart specialises in mathematically informed geometric sculptures. His series 72 Pencils entails 25 sculptures with 72 pencils arranged in a different formation in each. Different types of pencils are also used to differentiate the sculptures from each other.
8. Columbian artist Federico Uribe using different coloured pencils and cable ties to make 2D and 3D sculptures. The 2D sculptures look like authentic paintings from afar and even the realism achieved in his sculptures conjures marvel.
9. Singapore-based designer and artist, Anon Pairot constructed a lamp and a chair out of pencils. Pairot was inspired to literally create furniture from the medium with which she first designs it – the pencil. The pencils fit together in a haphazard nest-like manner.
10. And finally, our favourite is the book display wall designed by interior architect Johannes Albert and book designer Helmut Stabe for Mitteldeutscher Verlag Publishers. Over 15 000 pencils also function as business cards and visitors are encouraged to take one home with them
Cape Town exhibition designers Xzibit drew inspiration from this wall, reinterpreting it as the bid book display for our stand at Design Indaba Expo. Of course, the other side of the exhibition stand, which invited people to post ideas for improving Cape Town, offered a different kind of drawcard (get it?).
