Caran d'Ache SA

Caran d’Ache SA Geneva, Switzerland

Caran d’Ache SA

Entry-level Luxury Pen Concepts, 1998

Caran d'Ache is a world-renowned company in Geneva, Switzerland that manufactures pencils and high-end writing instruments. Caran d'Ache was going through considerable management turmoil at the time - Its CEO was in the process of being ousted by the board of directors - (which he didn't know at the time).

These are the final designs submitted to the company. They were never produced, however,
as a result of the CEO’s departure.

Final Equinoxe luxury pen design. This one made it all the way to initial prototyping before the project was eventually abandoned due to internal struggles at the company.

Initial Concept Sketches

The Pelikan L5 fountain pen with ink refilling station. Ink is recharged by manually pumping ink from the base into the central chamber of the pen. However stylish, it was a clunky system that didn't work very well.

Caran d'Ache management briefly toyed with the idea of making the new Equinoxe pen refillable, which would require a separate 'filling station', similar to the Pelikan LS system shown to the far left. This concept was abandoned in the later stages of the project.

Semifinal Concept Variations