Fantastic! This morning I received my historic pencilmaker set. The tin is labelled in eight different languages, even though you can only order this set directly from Staedtler in Germany. Stocks are limited, Staedtler does ship overseas, so if you want you please hurry before they are gone. The price is € 5 per set, one set makes one pencil.
What a nice surprise. I was just just driving home from work when I turned the radio on and heard the end of “Quick on the Draw“, a programme from Radio 4’s In Business series of programmes. This programme picked up two topics that The Economist covered over the last few months: Staedtler vs. Faber-Castell and the Mittelstand. Today’s Radio 4 programme featured an interview with Axel Marx, Managing Director of Staedtler, and Count Anton-Wolfgang von Faber-Castell. Axel Marx talked about the Wopex and Count Anton-Wolfgang von Faber-Castell talked about the perfect pencil and the luxurious Graf von Faber-Castell collection. I only heard the second half, but hope to listen to the whole programme on the BBC iPlayer soon [1]According the the information currently displayed on the BBC iPlayer page the programme will be available online until 2099, if I access the programme with my phone the programme is said to be online … Continue reading. I am not sure whether the content can be accessed outside the UK, though. If not: the programme will be repeated on Sunday, 17th May 2011, at 21:30 on BBC Radio 4. Even if you are outside the UK you should be able to listen to Radio 4 live over the Internet.
You can also read comments about this programme from the presenter Peter Day on his In Business page.
Two more comments:
References
| ↑1 | According the the information currently displayed on the BBC iPlayer page the programme will be available online until 2099, if I access the programme with my phone the programme is said to be online for about 300 more days …but usually programmes are only available for a week, so I would not be surprised if this programme will disappear from the iPlayer |
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New from Staedtler for 2011/12 and only available while stocks last: limited edition pencils in six colours. They are triangular shaped and their blingness comes from 3D silver stamps on the barrel that are said to look like crystals [1]I assume the silver stamps do not cause problems for the sharpener..
I assume there is some similarity between the “crystals” on this pencil and the raised dots on Faber-Castell’s Grip 2001 – even though the position of the crystals on the barrel of Staedtler’s pencil does not seem improve grip.
References
| ↑1 | I assume the silver stamps do not cause problems for the sharpener. |
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Good news: Staedtler’s historic pencil construction kit, mentioned previously, is finally available. Numbers are limited, so if you want to get your hands on one you better hurry.
After reading Pencil Talk’s post about the Pelikan Souverän M101N and after receiving a NOS “old style” Pelikan M200 yesterday (took only two days from Germany to the UK) here something else about Pelikan:
Pelikan released an iPhone App called PeliCard. You can use it to write digital postcards (some of the postcards can be seen here). You can even choose between different (virtual) nibs and colours for your postcards.
My wife used to have an iPhone, but she has another phone now and I don’t have an iPhone either, so I could not try this App out. If you have used this App please let me know what you think about it and whether it is available in English.