Sun-Star Stationery is usually the first booth I go to in every year's ISOT stationery show. I just have to see what Mr. Masayuki Takahata (é«ç\'æ£å¹¸) has recently invented and be amazed. This time, Binder Ball. A simple idea great for notepad users. It works just like a binder clip yet it is a ball point pen. To store it, simple open the clip and the zebra refill retracts, then clip on the side of your favorite notepad. It is one of the winners for the 18th International Stationery Award in Design Category.
Can Binder Ball become a design classic? To achieve this, either majority of people use notepads and this pen became everyday object for years, or with a twist of form and material use it became a high-end designer item and admired by most, for years. It must endure time, evolve and become popular at some point of time. If you know any good article about "What Makes a Design Classic" please send me a link, I'm interested in the economics.
I met Mr. Takahata 5 years ago in Frankfurt. At that time, he already achieved the "King of Stationery" (æå\...·ç) status in Japan. He won a consecutive 3 times (1999, 2001, 2005) the TV Champion competition in the stationery category, wrote a book called The Ultimate Stationery Catalog. He is definitely the treasure of Sun-star Stationery and writes regularly in his æå\...·çã®æ¥è¨ blog, æå\...·ç é«ç\'æ£å¹¸ è¨äºä¸è¦§ column. What it takes to win the TV Champion name? I heard that in the competition, he was given fragments of broken stationery products and he could tell you the name of the manufacturer and when was the items produced!
I hope we will continue to see Mr. Takahata's invention and evolution. Keep up the great work!
