I recently landed this obscure designer sharp through a listing on Paypay Fleamarket (also known as JDirect Items Fleamarket). I wasn’t sure what it was but the thumbnail showed a somewhat thick grey tube with a row of 5 circular punched holes. It could have been a wind instrument except it was definitely listed in the stationery category.
It would turn out to be a capped mechanical pencil! The shiny grey plastic tip poked out of the aluminum front-end when you uncapped it. However this was not evident from the listing’s pictures.
In fact, the seller wasn’t sure it was a complete specimen, stating that they thought it was “missing a cap”. What I’d found out was that the main cap was snap fitted to the front end, which was itself screwed into threads on the tubular body. If you didn’t know and thought the main cap was a screw-on type (like on a fountain pen), unscrewing the main cap would actually unscrew the front end with it. Thus the mistaken description in the listing, and probably the low, low price. I’d taken a bet and it’d paid off.
Here’s what it looks like with the cap posted. Wait… so it has no access to the button? How does that make sense? Let’s take a closer look at the imprint on the aluminum body.
OK, now I have names to work with: ‘FISSO’ and ‘Igarashi Studio’. A quick search reveals I had actually come across this obscure design nearly a year ago on Reddit. Igarashi Studio was started by Takenobu Igarashi, an accomplished graphic and product designer / sculptor with a very impressive body of work. ‘FISSO’ was part of a series of desktop accessories he had designed for Raymay Fujii in 1988, which included 3 ‘pens’, scissors, a weighing scale, trays, etc. What I found frustrating was that none of the online pictures showed what the other two ‘pens’ might be. Here’s the best shot I’ve found of the ‘green pen’ and you can also see other shots linked on the page.
Back to the pencil at hand: Unposted, you have access to the grey plastic button and the eraser nub. But that meant you can’t use it posted? I gave the button a push and a familiar ‘spongy feeling’ surged through my fingers…
You see, the FISSO is an automatic lead advance mechanism. It makes sense when you consider the credentials of the designer. He wouldn’t make a capped mechanical pencil that would be useless if you posted the cap. This was something that wasn’t mentioned back in the Reddit post and I was happy to find out while exploring the pencil for myself.
Here’s a closer look at the automatic clutch – plastic – but still perfectly functional. And what of the 5 punched holes?
I’m happy to report that the holes are both decorative and functional. As an aesthetic choice, it makes the FISSO very distinctive and invites the user to pick it up. As a functional element, the size of the holes makes them instinctive hold-points for fingers and finger tips in a variety of grasping styles.
I don’t know know if I’ll ever find the other 2 ‘pens’ – I doubt they would simply be recolored mechanical pencils anyway, and more likely a ballpoint and a highlighter or fineliner – but I am very happy to add this pencil to my collection.
As a last note, Takenobu Igarashi passed away at the age of 80 in February 2025, RIP.
The webshop still lists a desk pen in 3 finishes that you can buy.
