PARAFERNALIA Revolution mechanical pencil

The second item Parafernalia sent me, is the REVOLUTION mechanical pencil! But as you can see, this is not an ordinary pencil, it is a beautiful piece of modern design. Luckily it's not only pretty, it's also a joy to use!

Those silver screws really give it an industrial look!

There is no doubt about it: this is a cool pencil! It's really like nothing I've seen before! The design is based on the 'Centre Pompidou' in France, which is known for it's unique architectural design. It's made out of three aluminum pipes connected to plastic triangular pieces, with a pen or pencil mechanism in the middle. Quite simple really, but it looks very cool!

I really like the industrial theme, and I'm not the only one: the Revolution has already been featured in the New York museum of Modern art! Like I've said in the intro, this pencil is a great collectors item! 

At first, it doesn't really look very comfortable to use, but I found the triangular shape to be rather pleasant to hold. Which, if you think about it, is quite logical, as most ergonomic pens feature a triangular grip! It's also much sturdier than I first expected, it's almost entirely made out of metal, except for the triangular connection pieces and the inner lead tube (which is covered by another metal tube, so you can't really see the plastic part).

The clip looks a bit special (just like the rest of the pencil!) but it actually works quite well. The rubber ball on the end of the clip grabs on to whatever you clip it to. And even though it looks quite flimsy, it really isn't, it is very flexible, so it won't break very easilly!

Now for how it writes: really good actually! I love the smooth 0.5mm leads that are included, they produce a nice dark line. The lead pipe is very stable, it doesn't wobble, so I guess you could use it as a drafting pencil. As said before, the triangular design is very comfortable to hold, I had no problem writing with it for an extended period of time!

Leads can be refilled through the back after removing the pushbutton.

This piece of modern design is totally assembled by hand, which is something you don't often see with pens of this price. But is it perfect? No, the construction isn't flawless, I found one little imperfection: the metal tube around the lead tube (the black tube in the middle!) is a bit too short, so it does rattle a little bit when you shake it. But hey! You can't expect it to be flawless for this price...

...It is really surprisingly cheap, you can get one for as little as 35 Euros/ 45 USDollars (also available as a pen, and you can choose between a lot of colours)!
So for it's price, you get a pencil that will grab everybody's attention, and it will look great in your pen collection!