Bremen’s libraries are offering a holiday programme for children. It’s called Sommer Blub.
Using a Noris as part of the logo is of course an excellent choice: What symbol to use if you want to show creativity: a pencil! What pencil to use if you want to show a typical pencil: a Noris!
After being able to observe the shift from the traditional, wood-cased Noris to the new upcycled wood Noris in the UK last year (see The new, upcycled Noris) I was able to experience the same transition in Germany now.
What I saw is, of course, only a small snapshot of the two countries as I observed the transition in a city in North West England last year and now in a city in North West Germany. Other parts of the two countries might have experienced the change at different times.
In March 2024, about a year after the switch in the UK, supermarkets here still had the wood-cased version. Here is an example from Kaufland in Ritterhude.
By now, only the upcycled Noris is available. I assume the old ones sold out and stock just got replaced with the new version. I am not able to find the wood-cased Noris in any other supermarket in and around Bremen anymore, but some pockets with old stock might still be available, especially in shops with low turnover.
The upcycled Noris in Germany Read More »
Seen in the current issue of Der Spiegel, a weekly news magazine from Germany: a whole page about a German journalism prize, featuring a stock photo of what seems to be a photoshopped Staedtler Noris.
A prizeworthy Noris Read More »
Bleistift reader Robert from Grantham sent me this screenshot from a BBC Radio 5 Live Programme about SATs. Thank you, Robert.
SATs are tests used UK primary schools. With the Noris being the most commonly used pencil in primary schools here, it’s no wonder that the Noris is featured in the photo used for this show.
The Noris is certainly a common occurrence in photos and videos whenever the media report about schools. I wonder if the introduction of the upcycled Noris will change this.
If you want to see more Noris in the wild check out the Noris in the wild page.
The Noris and the SATs Read More »
In a recent blog post I talked about the new upcycled Noris in the UK. The upcycled version is extruded using a composite wood/plastic material instead of wood. The lead is also extruded and quite different to traditional pencil leads. Glenn, who is a Bleistift blog reader, told me that down South, in London where he lives, the change to the upcycled version of the Noris started last Summer. I guess there’s a higher Noris turnover over there. Around here there are still supermarkets that have not even started stocking the upcycled Noris and only sell the older wood-cased version.
We then also talked about how to recognise if the pencil is upcycled or not. There can be some confusion as I have seen upcycled Noris in the old packaging and Glenn told me that he has seen upcycled Noris pencils that don’t have “Upcycled Wood” written on the barrel.
Here’s a little video that spells out how to recognise which version you are seeing (based on wood grain and lacquer near the cap).
How to distinguish the upcycled from the wood-cased Noris Read More »
A few weeks ago Gunther told a few pencil friends, including me, that Staedtler’s Noris is now made from upcycled wood. Upcycled Wood is the material formerly known as Wopex. These pencils are extruded and use a wood-plastic composite instead of wood.
Wood-plastic composites were invented in the 1960s in Italy, but they are not commonly used for pencils. I assume that no other manufacturer spent as much effort as Staedtler to make wood-plastic composites suitable for pencils.
Well, today I saw the new upcycled Noris for the first time in the UK. Packaging was not consistent, at least not in the supermarket where I saw them:
Packaging variations included:
I wonder if the new upcycled Noris pencils will change the way schools here in the UK buy pencils. They provide pencils to primary school pupils for free, to be used in the classroom, and most of them buy Noris pencils. Will they be fine with the changes? ..or will they not like the differences? ..or maybe the schools won’t notice the difference? I really wonder…
My first impressions are that, like previous Wopex pencils, the difference between different grades, e.g. 2B vs 2H, is not quite as pronounced in the upcycled Noris as it is in a traditional wood-cased Noris. In the video I link to here I used Leuchtturm paper where the difference between grades is very small. On other paper, like Tomoe River for example here is a huge difference between the different grades.
If you sharpen an upcycled Noris to a very fine point then that point is not as break resistant as the point of a traditional Noris. It is however more break resistant than the point found on earlier Wopex pencils.
On the plus side the upcycled Noris, when sharpened right, has a very nice, waxy-smooth feel to it when writing – the opposite of scratchy.
Find out more about the upcycles Noris in this video:
The new, upcycled Noris Read More »
The Lego dots set number 41957 features what looks to me like a Staedtler Noris.
Perceptions may vary, so you might not see a Noris there, but with Lego being from Denmark, where the Noris is common, I think there is a good chance that a Noris was the inspiration for Lego’s Dots pencil.
Despite being set in the USA, Skydance’s [1]The company behind Top Gun: Maverick, Jack Reacher and Star Trek Beyond (i.e. Star Trek 13) new animation “Luck” features what seems to be a Staedtler Noris.
In case you wonder why a Noris, or should that be ‘a 3D model of a Noris’, made it into this scene: The movie was produced by an animation studio in Madrid which explains the appearance of a very common European pencil in a story set in the USA.
This sighting has been added to the Noris in the Wild page.
I believe that the use of the the screen shot of this pencil, taken from the movie “Luck” falls under “fair dealing” as described by the UK Copyright service.
References
| ↑1 | The company behind Top Gun: Maverick, Jack Reacher and Star Trek Beyond (i.e. Star Trek 13) |
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Another Noris in the Wild. This time from the cover of a single by indie-pop band Von Wegen Lisbeth. I got to know the band because of their song on the Crucchi Gang album and noticed that their latest single features what is unmistakably a Staedtler Noris.
I believe that the use of the cover of this single falls under “fair dealing” as described by the UK Copyright service.
The Staedtler Noris can regularly be seen in news reports here in the UK (stock footage of school kids often include scenes of children writing with a Noris because of its popularity in schools) …so normally a Noris in the news (BBC or otherwise) wouldn’t be worth mentioning. Today is different though: because of a football (soccer) game between England and Denmark this evening the BBC News at Six viewers got a rare glimpse of what is going on on the streets in Copenhagen.
Unlike here in the UK, where the ‘normal’ hexagonal Staedtler Noris is most popular, this unrepresentative sample of one from Denmark seems to suggest that the Noris Triplus Jumbo, which is not a common sight in the UK, is more common in the land of Hygge.
The screenshot has been taken from BBC News at Six on 7 July 2021. I believe that the use of this image falls under “fair dealing” as described by the UK Copyright service.