Deconstructing Product Design

Cristal Ballpoint Pen

Décolletage Plastique Design Team for BIC, 1950

1. Invented by Hungarian László Bíró in 1938, the ballpoint pen began life as an expensive and unreliable alternative to the fountain pen — more of a novelty item than a practical writing implement. It was not until a chance encounter with a wheelbarrow that Marcel Bich would find the inspiration to transform this prototypical pen into the ubiquitous writing implement that we know today. Bruno Bich, son of Marcel Bich and chairman and CEO of Société Bic, comments: “My father told me that one day he was pushing a wheelbarrow when it dawned on him that the ball was a multifaceted wheel and this was the best way to convey ink. So he put all his investment into the ballpoint.” ...