Swiss architect Mario Botta , whose San Francisco Museum of Modern Art building reopens next week with a Snøhetta -designed extension, has put his stamp on the iconic Fixpencil tool for architects. His two designs for the mechanical pencil feature a black-and-white checked motif finished off with his signature. They include Fixpencil's classic hexagonal-shaped aluminium barrel and steel clip, and come with graphite and four coloured watercolour leads.
The Fixpencil has been a staple in the catalogue of stationery manufacturers Caran d'Ache since 1929. It is so recognised in its native Switzerland that it was featured on a commemorative stamp in 2005. Botta uses the Fixpencil in his own practice, and apparently considers it an extension of his hand that fosters a "direct relationship between thought and design" and emphasises architecture's artisanal heritage.
He previously collaborated with the fellow Swiss company on a limited-edition, peacock feather-topped fountain pen in 2005.
Botta's limited-edition design for the Fixpencil is intended to bring out its hexagonal shape through a pattern of alternating rectangles that calls to mind the contrasting brickwork in some of his projects, such as the black-and-white oculus of SFMOMA.
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