By replacing wood with honeycombed paper, the Hollow Pencil presents an absolutely audacious redesign of perhaps one of the most ‘classically perfect’ inventions of all time. Pencils haven’t changed much in hundreds of years. They still come wrapped in wood with a graphite lead running along the center. The preferred cross-section is usually hexagonal, but cylindrical, triangular, and even flat or square-ish pencils exist… but for the most part, the traditional pencil’s ‘construction’ hasn’t changed.
What Kambara’s concept proposes feels ridiculous at first, but it has enough merit along with its madness. Ditch the wood for something similar – stiff paper hexagons, arranged in a honeycomb structure. Sure, the result isn’t as stiff or sturdy as wood, but hey, when did a pencil need to be this stiff? All it needs to be is grippable… and the honeycomb structure fulfills that requirement, while also providing enough ‘flex’ to work as cushioning while you hold the pencil.
Designer: Hideo Kambara
Kambara created this concept a few years ago, but the internet is such a vast treasure trove that I only fully discovered it now. The hexagonal honeycomb pencil comes with 7 segments – 6 hollow elements and one graphite lead in between. Just this unique format cuts the amount of material used by over 80%, and also presents a more sustainable way forward in the fact that you can opt for recycled paper over virgin wood.
Using the pencil is still exactly the same. Hold it the way you would (the paper succumbs ever so slightly to your grip for added comfort) and write away. To sharpen the pencil, just use a regular blade or knife. No sharpeners required here since the paper slices easily. The only real concern is ensuring the lead inside (which tends to be super fragile) doesn’t break. If you opt for the standard HB lead, that should be the perfect balance between hardness and blackness (that’s what the H and B stand for, btw!)
Can such a concept exist? The more rationally leaning folk will laugh this off as ‘yet another concept with zero feasibility’, but I’m a little more optimistic. Sure, a standard-size pencil is better made from wood, but smaller pencils could easily opt for this unique material-saving format, albeit with thorough material exploration first. Ultimately, this isn’t aiming to replace the traditional pencil – it’s just providing a novel approach that should work perfectly for stationery collectors or artists with a truly eccentric side!
