STAEDTLER

www.staedtler.co.uk

A while ago, bored at work, I decided to amuse myself by writing reviews of items of stationery on Amazon.

Of the Staedtler Mars Plastic Eraser, I wrote:

Whilst Staedtler might be going a bit far claiming that the Mars Plastic is "self cleaning", it does do a remarkably good job of removing pencil marks without smudging, leaving the page as good as new. This is the eraser I always come back to. The size is perfect too, and the plastic rubber material is strong and resists crumbling or cracking.

Of the Staedtler 110 Tradition HB Pencil, I wrote:

This is a classic of pencil design. The red and black stripes of the Staedtler 110 Tradition range are bold and eye-catching, whilst still remaining smarter and more elegant than the rather garish yellow and black of the Noris range. The Tradition also has a full 12 degrees, from 6B through to 4H, compared with the narrower range offered by the Noris (only 2B to 2H). I love this pencil.

And I wrote this about the Staedtler Stick 430M:

The Staedtler 430 Stick Ball Pen is perhaps the only ballpoint capable of rivalling the world famous Bic Cristal. The Staedtler produces a good, clean line, and the design is pleasing - the strong outline of the cap is a fine example of German design. Unfortunately, it will forever remain in Bic's shadow, nonetheless, this is a fine pen.

Whilst I still agree that the Stick 430M will forever remain in the shadow of the Bic Cristal (a true icon), I personally prefer the Staedtler. Just look at that beautiful, stark design; those clean lines; that simple silhouette:



Staedtler was founded in Germany in 1835. They have a long and proud history of making pens and pencils. There's a timeline of key events on their website. In 1834, for instance, "J. S. Staedtler invents coloured oil pastel pencils which 'can be sharpened to a point just like a pencil'". In 1900, the Mars brand is registered at the imperial patent office in Berlin, with the Norris brand following a year later. In 1937, the Staedtler range is extended to include mechanical writing instruments. Oddly enough, nothing much seems to happen for the next few years, until they begin to produce ballpoint pens in the late 1940s.

This video is good:



Is that how you pronounce "graphite"? I always thought it was "graf-ite" rather than "graf-it". Do you pronounce "chip-ite" in the same way? Chipit. I'd quite like a job testing pencils (from about 2:20 in the video). Sitting with a big pile of plain A4 and a box of pencils, scribbling. I could do that. Given sufficient training.

There are more videos on the Pencil Facts website, but the guy on these videos has an Australian accent rather than that weird German robot voice. You can also send off for a free poster, if you want.