'kara dash' the black stone in turkey; 'karandash' the pencil in russian; 'caran d'ache' the political satirist in france; CARAN D'ACHE THE SWISS PEN.

a habit i picked up from my grandfather, an affinity that i share with my brother, something that we three talk about without fail when we are together - pens. my grandfather always has a collection of them for us to sift through, to test and choose from, giving us his thoughts and testing them together. caran d'ache is his favourite, moreso than his mont blancs and cartiers. the pens glide smoothly over the page, the wrist moves effortlessly, the fingers grip loosely. while they are annoying to me in artistic moments, as i require more drag more pull, for mundane work they are spectacular and fun and beautiful - the unpretentious slim sexagonal sliver with the tapered tip. while i have the gold ones the silver ones i've come to very much enjoy the more whimsical pieces, the amusing images and colours, the reds blues yellows. and they all remind me of bangkok cuz that's where i get them, that's where when i was young i used to go to the stationery department of central chidlom with my grandfather every time, to look at all the hundreds of different pens and test them and hold them, though we never really needed them we loved them nonetheless.