EGO.M CENTO3.E Mechanical Pencil 5.6 mm

CENTO3 is the latest project by the architect and designer Achille Castiglioni. An idea born to study the significance of the "handgrip" with his friend, the architect Gianfranco Cavaglià. Their purpose was to enhance and recall the attention to the importance of a writing instrument as an ordinary daily instrument and as a means of expressing ideas and thoughts.

For these writing instruments they though to a trilobate shape. The unique shape is neat in its design, although complex to be made on the artifact, ergonomic and suitable to be contested by the three fingers. It allows the writing object not to slip on the table like other circular section pens. Tools that propose a new and particular behavior: touch and use become a very particular way of expression and at the same time create an ideal combination between design and user.

The production of these writing instruments was complex and expensive due to the particular shape but EGO.M made it affordable thanks to the 3D printing.

EGO.M CENTO3.E is made of graphene with a production based on 3D printing with FDM technology (Fused Deposition Modeling) that, through additive manufacturing, starts from an empty space to deposit the material only where necessary until the realization of the complete product without producing any material waste. This layering process gives to the product a special texture that makes the surface pleasant to the touch.

With only one atom thick, graphene is today the thinnest and most seductive substance in the world. In normal conditions it also has excellent mechanical properties and resistance to chemical agents. Besides, the PLA filament (Polylactic Acid), under certain conditions, becomes biodegradable. Depending on the environments in which it is abandoned it has an average life range from 1 to 4 years, against the +100 of plastics of common use.