She went to school for fine arts and traveled the world afterwards. It's reasonable to assume that her family has a lot of money and this started as a vanity business.
Why do you describe it as a vanity business? She collected pencils and then decided to create a business selling them. How is this any different than someone deciding to open a shop that sells Teddy bears? Or someone who decides to make an app that does some niche thing? Isn't the entire point of the HN community to take your passion or interest and turn it into a business? Describing her business, where she has 3 employees and is making a profit, as a vanity business is awfully dismissive.
It was a harsh way to put it. I just think it's dangerous to talk about businesses like this without mentioning that it's likely she's never planning to recoup her investment.
I don't want to disparage her shop but people read these articles and think they can move to NYC and make artisan hot sauce. People doing that aren't making enough to pay for their rent or lifestyle. They just have money from another source.
It's really a neat little store, and some of the pencils are super cool. It has the feeling of a record store or maybe comic book store, full of treasures that may or may not speak to you on a given day. I'd encourage dropping in if you're in the area, plenty of good nerdy fun to be had.
I got a box of pencils that you sharpen on both ends, one end is red pencil and the other is the "normal" black/graphite color. Great for drawing little UI mockups and such.
I think it is absolutely ridiculous that a 25-year-old with no experience in the pencil industry thinks she can disrupt the space with her dumb millennial Instagram project.
whoa whoa whoa hang on a moment... did you even read the article? this is not someone that reads all your "startup today" websites and goes on how she will disrupt the industry and how she woke up one random day and found a niche in selling pencils. This is someone that wants to sell pencils. End of the story.
From reading the title I thought something very similar to you, but then I realized, none of us could probably pull anything similar. This is a person that has passion about what she does, and that's all she needs. She's probably not trying to get in the industry so she can then sell out and move to the next thing, this is simply what she wants to do.
She had a passion for pencils and she made it into her job and is succeeding, well done! That's something that a lot of people will never manage to do! She likes to share her love for pencils on instagram? well, we all have our passions and want to share them with like minded people!
Personally, I do not share her passion, but attacking her like that seems an act of pure jealousy. Maybe you should just learn from it and think how you can transform your passion in something more?
Pencils are not a passion--pencils are a way of life. My grandfather made pencils in the war, and afterwards, he and my grandmother moved to Ames, Iowa, where they opened up a local mom and pop pencil shop. That was where my father learned to read and write. It was a wholesome family business. These were handcrafted, locally grown, American pencils made by artisans of the trade.
My father took over the business until 1997 when rising Ames rents and increasing mass-produced competition drove us out. We had to move to San Francisco where my father, who was not college educated mind you, got a job at Staples in the pencil department. He hated every minute of it.
This woman is not a pencil artisan like my father and his father. She is simply selling mass-produced products without getting in touch with their rich history. Don't lecture me about passion.
So, you're saying that she's unworthy of selling pencils to people? That sort of implies that there's only 1 pencil salesperson in the world. All others are beneath her level and must never attempt selling pencils. Going further it means that there's only one person per any kind of job. The One. Most knowledgeable, with undeniable passion...
High horse called, you've been on it for way too long.
Not sure if this obvious, but this person is a "troll." They have no posting history other than this article. And the story he is weaving about his family's history with pencils is pretty outlandish.
They're just doing some creative writing and having fun riling people up.
> pencils are not a passion, they are a way of life.
The final quote has a lot of relevance for any person building a product or service: "I didn’t start this because I want to be a business lady. I started it because I really wanted to sell people pencils.”
Not saying I am going to go and open a shop that sells hats now but I found this somewhat refreshing. Everytime I think of a potential business idea, I quickly think 'naah that'll never work. Amazon, or "ACME-Corp" has probably done it already or they'll do it better'
Seems like it is a matter of finding that passion and niche. She clearly found both.
To be fair, she had passion, niche, and a huge conglomerate of people with loads of disposable income (aka NYC) at her disposal. The same shop in a smaller city would likely not survive.
That's the beauty of cities: they made the long tail possible well before the Internet.
The mid-list publishing industry has taken an enormous beating. There used to be a lot more people who made a living writing; now, the split between best seller or writing around a day job is much more pronounced.
If you care enough about pencils to buy from a specialized pencil shop, then perhaps you will also be interested in having your pencils hand sharpened by an artisanal pencil sharpener: http://www.artisanalpencilsharpening.com
Personally, I use a mechanical pencil--the Uni-ball Kuru Toga. This has a simple, clever ratcheting mechanism in the head that slightly rotates the lead every time you press it down on the paper and also when you pick it back up, so it wears evenly on all sides into a conical point instead of developing a flat spot. Here's a video showing how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80k7Jl1o8Lc
I struggle to think of the occupation for which a $500 pencil sharpening is a good value, but if you just want to give loads of money to someone interesting, hey, why not?
The guy who runs it is a humorist, so there's that.
Oddly enough, it's the same guy who used to write the brilliant "Get Your War On" comic (and the more surreal "My New Fighting/Filing Technique"), for anyone who remembers those.
It's worth noting that the person behind it is a humorist and cartoonist, and while I expect that he'll actually sharpen a pencil if you pay him, it is almost certainly not meant to be taken as a serious method of pencil sharpening. I expect the significant increases in price after the service's inception—over an order of magnitude—reflect this.
The service is connected with a book that a New Yorker review suggests is classified as humor by its publisher out of a lack of "avant-garde reference" sections in bookstores.
I can see your point there. I remember my friend suggested some mechanical pencils to me a while ago (don't remember which brand) but I bought them because he said they were sturdy and the lead was stronger on normal paper so it wouldn't break as often. Yeah my 6th grade self bought into it and they felt like any other cheaper alternative brand
“Mechanical pencils, they don't smell like anything. The lead is so small you can get no line variation out of it," says Weaver.
I heard this countless times in art and architecture classes in college, but I disagree. My favorite pencil to draw with is the Alvin Draf-Tec Retrac, http://www.alvinco.com/Shop/Products.aspx?IID=29525, which they offer for 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7-mm graphite sizes. Both the 0.5 and 0.7 are good all-around but the 0.3's are great for fine details. I love the way the weight and balance of the pencil allows very responsive feel so I can easily shift from light to dark shading or thick to thin line weight intuitively. I've never found that it's harder to get a full light-to-dark shading gradient from that mechanical pencil. I also like to exploit the point the tip develops to have different edges to use for different strokes. As the tip develops, it's more predictable, where a wood enclosed pencil requires constant tip maintenance.
those are fantastic pencils, I own a few, they are quite fragile though and the plastic casing tends to crack making the whole thing useless. when I'm drawing I really enjoy the pentel 1000, especially at 0.9 mm
Great recommendation, I'll look to try one of those out soon. I'm hoping to wrap up my current project in the next couple of months and after that should be the perfect time for experimenting with new tools.
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[ 4.2 ms ] story [ 99.3 ms ] threadI don't want to disparage her shop but people read these articles and think they can move to NYC and make artisan hot sauce. People doing that aren't making enough to pay for their rent or lifestyle. They just have money from another source.
I got a box of pencils that you sharpen on both ends, one end is red pencil and the other is the "normal" black/graphite color. Great for drawing little UI mockups and such.
From reading the title I thought something very similar to you, but then I realized, none of us could probably pull anything similar. This is a person that has passion about what she does, and that's all she needs. She's probably not trying to get in the industry so she can then sell out and move to the next thing, this is simply what she wants to do.
She had a passion for pencils and she made it into her job and is succeeding, well done! That's something that a lot of people will never manage to do! She likes to share her love for pencils on instagram? well, we all have our passions and want to share them with like minded people!
Personally, I do not share her passion, but attacking her like that seems an act of pure jealousy. Maybe you should just learn from it and think how you can transform your passion in something more?
My father took over the business until 1997 when rising Ames rents and increasing mass-produced competition drove us out. We had to move to San Francisco where my father, who was not college educated mind you, got a job at Staples in the pencil department. He hated every minute of it.
This woman is not a pencil artisan like my father and his father. She is simply selling mass-produced products without getting in touch with their rich history. Don't lecture me about passion.
High horse called, you've been on it for way too long.
They're just doing some creative writing and having fun riling people up.
> pencils are not a passion, they are a way of life.
That's funny, not serious.
Find your passion.
Just have someone turn up at the theatre and dropkick the kids two rows forwards, it would be tempting.
Fortunately the cinema near me now does late showings (through to 1am or later) and I'm naturally a night owl.
It is so much better!
Seems like it is a matter of finding that passion and niche. She clearly found both.
That's the beauty of cities: they made the long tail possible well before the Internet.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/putting-a-fine-point-on-pencils-...
This helps find the audience that's willing to pay.
Personally, I use a mechanical pencil--the Uni-ball Kuru Toga. This has a simple, clever ratcheting mechanism in the head that slightly rotates the lead every time you press it down on the paper and also when you pick it back up, so it wears evenly on all sides into a conical point instead of developing a flat spot. Here's a video showing how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80k7Jl1o8Lc
Oddly enough, it's the same guy who used to write the brilliant "Get Your War On" comic (and the more surreal "My New Fighting/Filing Technique"), for anyone who remembers those.
The service is connected with a book that a New Yorker review suggests is classified as humor by its publisher out of a lack of "avant-garde reference" sections in bookstores.
http://youtu.be/VkSmaFAuaH4
http://youtu.be/spMaP-_Cq_8
http://youtu.be/KabOfnbS4TQ
He puts on a good act.
I heard this countless times in art and architecture classes in college, but I disagree. My favorite pencil to draw with is the Alvin Draf-Tec Retrac, http://www.alvinco.com/Shop/Products.aspx?IID=29525, which they offer for 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7-mm graphite sizes. Both the 0.5 and 0.7 are good all-around but the 0.3's are great for fine details. I love the way the weight and balance of the pencil allows very responsive feel so I can easily shift from light to dark shading or thick to thin line weight intuitively. I've never found that it's harder to get a full light-to-dark shading gradient from that mechanical pencil. I also like to exploit the point the tip develops to have different edges to use for different strokes. As the tip develops, it's more predictable, where a wood enclosed pencil requires constant tip maintenance.
---Alex