Milan Pencils

Milan is a Spanish stationer with a very large product catalogue but without much North American presence. I’ve managed to find their products from various European sellers such as Nero’s Notes, Deskstore of Sweden and The Journal Shop, and Amazon’s Spanish site also carries quite a few Milan items, especially if you have an EU dropship address.

I love their super-comfortable triangular pencils, which have a smooth, matte varnish and sleek design. Best of all, even the HB lays down a very smooth, dark line. The wood is very lightweight, which feels very comfortable to write with to me. I have heard some people don’t like this light feel, but I find it quite interesting, and have had similar experiences from Conté and Stabilo products. Similar to the Stabilos (but quite unlike the Contés), they require either a burr sharpener or a very sharp blade sharpener, as I have watched them shred to bits on a cheap blade. Still produced in Spain from what I can deduce from packaging and online details, the price point is competitive with even the most bargain-basement Asian contract basics.

In addition to their triangle pencils, they carry some standard HB hex pencils in a lovely red gloss and natural finish, with and without erasers, and a wide selection of coloured pencils and back-to-school style sticks in a variety of trendy varnish patterns. I have yet to grab many of these as I prefer the more subdued designs.

Milan is also known for their huge selection of branded erasers.

Whilst picking these up I also grabbed a couple boxes of a Spanish brand called Jovi, whose matte-varnished triangular pencils bore such a striking resemblance to Milan that I thought it may be a sister brand. Alas, they had a Made in China origin mark, something completely absent from Milan.