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Photography by Lebond.
Architect-designed pens are writing instruments conceived by architects rather than by pen makers, objects in which the discipline of building is brought to the scale of the hand. Lebond, already known for architect-designed watches, now extends the idea to the desk with a collection whose first two pens are drawn by the Pritzker laureates Rafael Moneo and Eduardo Souto de Moura.
An architect-designed pen is a pen whose form and concept are authored by a practising architect, given complete design freedom. Instead of starting from the conventions of stationery, it begins with an architect’s vocabulary, proportion, material and the honest expression of both, and applies it to an instrument you hold for hours. The result reads less like a gadget and more like a small piece of built work, a tool made to be used rather than admired from a distance.
Lebond invites the most prestigious architects to design its writing instruments, giving each of them free rein. The first two editions come from two winners of the Pritzker Prize, architecture’s highest honour: Rafael Moneo, the 1996 laureate, and Eduardo Souto de Moura, the 2011 laureate. Both are known for a restrained, material-led modernism, and both approached the pen as they would a building, resolving it through proportion and a single honest material.
Each pen takes its form from an unexpected source, a railway station and a cigar, and each is made to be written with, not locked away. The essentials are below.
| Pen | Architect | Inspiration | Material |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lebond Moneo Pen | Rafael Moneo (Pritzker 1996) | Columns of Madrid’s Atocha Station | Sandblasted anodised aluminium |
| Lebond Souto Moura Pen | Eduardo Souto de Moura (Pritzker 2011) | The pure lines of a Habano cigar | Aluminium or varnished ebony |
Both pens are built the way the architects build. The Lebond Moneo Pen is turned from sandblasted aluminium with an anodised finish, offered in natural or black, its fluted body echoing the ornamental columns of Atocha. The Lebond Souto Moura Pen pairs the same matte aluminium with varnished ebony, a nod to his lifelong use of honest, tactile materials. Each arrives with a handmade leather sleeve, a presentation case and a ten-year warranty, priced from 130 to 150 euros before taxes.
There is a quiet wit to the collection: both pens are compatible with the ordinary Bic Cristal refill, the most widely used ink cartridge in the world. It is a very architectural idea, to take the most democratic, functional component available and give it a considered, lasting body, exactly as a good building elevates humble materials through proportion and care.
The pens complete a world that began on the wrist. Where the Lebond watches apply architectural thinking to how we read time, the pens apply it to how we write and draw, the two gestures at the heart of an architect’s day. Meet the designers behind both on the architects page, or explore the full Lebond pens collection.
An architect-designed pen is a writing instrument whose form and concept are authored by a practising architect rather than a conventional pen maker. It applies architectural thinking, proportion, material honesty and restraint, to an object held in the hand.
The first two Lebond pens are designed by Pritzker laureates Rafael Moneo (Pritzker 1996) and Eduardo Souto de Moura (Pritzker 2011), each given complete design freedom. More editions will follow.
The Lebond Moneo Pen is made of sandblasted anodised aluminium in natural or black. The Lebond Souto Moura Pen is offered in aluminium or varnished ebony. Both include a handmade leather sleeve and a presentation case.
Both pens are compatible with all Bic Cristal ink refills, the most widely used ballpoint refill in the world, so replacements are inexpensive and easy to find anywhere.
The Lebond pens are priced from 130 to 150 euros before taxes, and each comes with a ten-year warranty card.