Small notes, great art
Since it was first developed, in the 16th century, the “lead” pencil – called thus in English because the shiny graphite it contained was mistaken for lead ore – has inspired countless artists time and again, turning them into fans of this seemingly mundane utensil. Vincent van Gogh, for example, the man who paved the way for modern painting, insisted on using solely Faber pencils (now Faber-Castell). And legend has it that the first word of the precocious artist Pablo Picasso was “piz”: a child-speak abbreviation of “lápiz” (Spanish for “pencil”).
Pioneering pencil producer: Lothar von Faber
The pencil was able to conquer the world in the last century thanks mainly to the technically and commercially pioneering spirit of a German entrepreneur, Lothar von Faber (1817-1896), who turned his family-run business in Spitzgarten in Bavaria into a global brand, thus making the writing implement accessible to people from all nations and all parts of society.
“Writing history” not only in ink
And just as it always has, it continues to enthral creative, artistic and unconventional minds. Thus the classic green Castell 9000 inspired special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi to sketch the quirky alien that moved millions of cinema-goers to tears watching the film E.T. It also prompted German Literature Nobel laureate Günter Grass to create a watercolour of a pencil holder. The current “fan club” includes the likes of British architect Sir Norman Foster, German painter Neo Rauch und fashion tsar Karl Lagerfeld, who designed the splendid “Karlbox” for Faber-Castell, effectively an haute couture version of a writing set.
