The Fixpencil was the world’s first mechanical pencil and dates back to 1929. In this special edition, acclaimed Swiss architect - and Fixpencil enthusiast - Mario Botta has re-imagined the iconic Fixpencil to - above all - highlight its hexagonal structure through a checked motif designed as a contrasting superimposition of bricks. This unique design is more than aesthetic; 5 checks = 1cm.

Swiss made and included in a magnetic gift box - also design by Mario Botta - the pencil also includes 3 additional watercolour leads in blue, green, yellow and red as well as Caran d’Ache’s classic integrated sharpener.

Mario Botta has reinvented the simplest and most evident forms – the square, circle and rectangle. For him, simple forms are forms that reassure because they are pure and easy to grasp and understand.

He has a very specific concept of architecture, which he views from an anthropological perspective: for him, architecture has to act on memories.

Caran d'Ache
Geneva, Switzerland
Located in Geneva since its inception in 1915, the Maison is committed to creating and developing writing and drawing instruments combining the finest materials with the most advanced, innovative skills.

Caran d’Ache comes from the word  “karandash” that is the Russian term for “pencil” and in turn comes from the Turkish root “kara tash” which refers to black stone – the origins of graphite.

This natural material found in the mountains of Switzerland gave rise to the first Swiss pencil factory set up in Geneva in 1915. Nine years later, in the hands of its founder, the visionary Arnold Schweitzer, it took the name of the famous illustrator became known as Caran d’Ache.
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