DESIGN NAME: Sostanza
PRIMARY FUNCTION: Lead holder
INSPIRATION: The pencil is a nice object, it’s warm and reminds us of childhood, but has a short life span. You can sharpen it until it becomes no longer usable. The mechanical pencil, on the other hand, is reloadable, but consists of many pieces that get easily lost or broken. As designers we used to draw with mechanical pencils and noticed that they often get broken and the plastic body is cold at touch and slips away. So we came up with this solution simplifying the shape and using warm natural materials.
UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Sostanza is a wooden lead holder. Its functioning is very simple, it works with only two pieces. The light wooden body houses the graphite and the external ring slides towards the top to lock it. The 2mm lead is an easily found product: you pick the firmness you prefer and sharpen it by using the sharpener or rubbing it on sandpaper.
Sostanza is useful and ergonomic too. Sometimes a simple object can be beautiful and work well with very little.
OPERATION / FLOW / INTERACTION: Sostanza is a simple design that responds to a simple need. Sometimes things can be easier than expectations! It changes the final user experience because it's beautiful to touch, durable and smart. Sostanza is in opposition with disposable products, it aims to make the user affectionate to writing gestures. People often choose Sostanza as present for a dear person, because it's evocative, long lasting and useful.
PROJECT DURATION AND LOCATION: The project started in September 2015, it was exibited in April 2016 at Milano Design week. Then it took part to Open Design Italia Award in June 2016, won the Living Corriere price. In the end of June 2016 Sostanza started a campaign on Kickstarter, the American crowd funding portal, where it found a remarkable success reaching and surpassing the set goals already by the first week. In september 2016 and January 2017 it took part to the exhibition "New Shapes of Made in Italy" in Budapest and Berlin.
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PRODUCTION / REALIZATION TECHNOLOGY: Sostanza is entirely made in Italy. The main body is made in a specific centre for woodturning and the silver ring is produced in a goldsmith laboratory specialized in jewels high quality casting.
Sostanza is available in five essences in their natural colors (Mahogany, Eastern black walnut, Pear tree, Ebony and Amaranth) and each wood is paired with a different finishing of the ring, giving it a precise aesthetic character.
SPECIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES: Length: mm 145
Max Diameter: mm 11
Min Diameter: 7 mm
TAGS: Pencil, Lead holder, Wood, Ergonomic, Natural, Sustainability
RESEARCH ABSTRACT: -
CHALLENGE: The challenge is to redesign the functioning of a lead holder reducing the number of pieces to a minimum. The idea of a simple ring to lock the lead in place sounded so simple and logic, but it wasn't easy to make it work properly. The hardest part was making the 15cm hole for the lead. It's almost impossible to carve it from a unique piece of wood and it has to be extremely precise to allow the functioning. It must be large enough to let the graphite slide through it, but thin enough to let the ring pressure lock the lead in place. It's a matter of tenths of a millimeter!
ADDED DATE: 2017-02-13 16:40:40
TEAM MEMBERS (4) : Alessia Pagotto, Valeria Francescato, Walter D'Esposito and Giuseppe Monopoli
IMAGE CREDITS: Elastico Studio, 2016.
PATENTS/COPYRIGHTS: Patent application:102016000068143
EUIPO design model 003255264
EUIPO trade mark registration 015601941
WIPO trade mark pending registration
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