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Industrial Designer Sergio Carpani's Revolution Pen from 1978

When more was more

By Rain Noe - April 12, 2022

in Object Culture

When the Pompidou Center opened in France in 1977, it was called an "inside-out" building as it wears its mechanical systems on its façade:

Image: Reinraum, CC BY-SA 3.0

In 1978, Italian writing utensil brand Parafernalia commissioned industrial designer Sergio Carpani to design a pen that referenced and celebrated the Pompidou. Here's Carpani's resultant Revolution Ballpoint:

The aluminum and ABS pen has no less than 31 freaking pieces, and it goes together like this:

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I understand what the point of the pen was in 1978, but here in 2022 this almost seems like an ID school assignment that you'd give in the beginning of the semester, to illustrate how to make something with too many components, and the rest of the semester you'd be taught the opposite philosophy.

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Dave Cannon

3 years ago

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You make that a fountain pen and I'll buy 1 of every color!

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kent murphy

3 years ago

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Three-piece design for retractable rolling ball writer - with integral plastic spring - from 1991. https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=EP12155006&_cid=P12-KLA73Z-44056-6

Reverse engineered by Pilot and put on the market as the Explorer. https://www.officeworld.com/Worlds-Biggest-Selection/PIL35360/14Q1/

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