When you think of ballpoint pens, your mind probably goes to office supplies, not great works of art. But even the lowliest and most ubiquitous of writing utensils can make breathtaking masterpieces ...

In the autumn of 1948, Marcel Bich, owner of a company located north of Paris that produced ink cartridges for fountain pens, pushed a wheelbarrow in his garden in the village of Rhuis. He considered ...

Patents for ballpoint pens go back to the late 1800s, but it took half a century to develop good, fast-drying inks. Bic, Pilot, and other makers jealously guard their formulas, but to get that classic ...

Recently, Bic launched a campaign to “save handwriting.” Named “Fight for Your Write,” it includes a pledge to “encourage the act of handwriting” in the pledge-taker’s home and community, and ...

With a ballpoint, one can write without thinking, on almost any surface, and even underwater, if you feel the urge to do so. There are even pens that can work in the weightlessness of space. It's a ...

The first whispers came in the summer of 1944: a Hungarian inventor living in Argentina had created something sensational. Practical fountain pens with internal ink cartridges had been in use for ...

The evolution of writing implement technology is a continuous and subtle one. Lewis Waterman opened up the possibility of portable pens with his invention of a practical fountain pen in 1884. But ...

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Chinese President Xi Jinping made headlines this week with a speech at the World Economic Forum at Davos that passionately defended free ...

Fountain pens were a stylish statement but messy and impractical. Their replacement was a stroke of design genius perfectly in time for the era of mass production. On 29 October 1945, the New York ...

In an era of tablets, touchscreens, and keyboards, there’s something timeless – and quietly powerful – about the humble ballpoint pen. So is it any wonder, then, that June 10 marks National Ballpoint ...