Voskresensk Paket
I’m sure most pencil manufacturers don’t actually fabricate their own packaging, but for some reason about 50% of my love of pencil collecting is related to the boxes and packages they come in. I enjoy seeing how this reflects the marketing and merchandizing choices the company makes, love seeing the evolution in the language and graphics used to enhance the aesthetic experience of a product. In the Amazon age, this is changing a lot, as stationery items need to be merchandized through product photos rather than aisles of stock. Packaging is playing a reduced role as a result.
Nowhere had I previously found more evidence of this than when I bought some boxes of pencils from Derwent and Caran d’Ache. In addition to using the same boxes for all pencils in the same line, with just a sticker to denote the grades and features within, Derwent goes farther, using the same boxes across multiple lines, including their two main graphite lines, the sizes of which differ. Thus the box is built for twelve of the larger round Sketching pencils, but also used to house twelve of the slimmer Graphic pencils, for which there’s easily room for fourteen.
Fabulous packaging no longer sells dozen-boxes of pencils, it seems. Still, for storage and completeness I enjoy having these boxes. Thus, when I received my first order from Russian art supplies shop Leonardo, I was sad to find most of the pencils were elastic-banded together with no boxes, despite possessing product details on the website indicating they were distributed in branded boxes of twelve. On a subsequent order, I mentioned this in an email, indicating I would like to have the boxes and any packaging available for the products.
Leonardo came through in flying colours. Not only did they include boxes for the new order, but extra boxes for the previous order. And I could immediately see why this special request was not a default for them: Like Derwent and Caran d’Ache, there was simply a single generic box used for all items, with a window barely large enough to see what was inside. The picture on the website was obviously for illustration purposes only and further digging on the manufacturer’s site shows the pencils are in fact typically only distributed to retailers in lots of 72 or 84, or in smaller retail merchandise packaging.
Happy despite this to have boxes for my Voskresensk collection, I was even happier to see the other lovely items in the box. Whilst batches of twelve pencils may not inspire manufacturers to design splendid packaging, apparently smaller batches of the product prompt a bigger merchandising investment. Voskresensk’s pencils all seem to come not only in the large batches with no individuated packaging, but in a variety of small retail packs and blister cards showing full-fledged marketing graphics.
Obviously not the pinnacle of design, the packages nonetheless display a wealth of additional product education. As a resident of Québec, I find it unsurprising that a product manufactured and sold primarily in Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe is covered in English graphics and branding. Even the company’s logo is in Latin letters rather than Cyrillic. A sad testament to the penetration of globalization even into an economy substantially isolated from it.
I had already tried out quite a few of Voskresensk’s products, but this purchase held quite a few new items. Vista Artista, their premium artist graphite, comes in two variants: a gold-dipped version only available in artist sets of various grades, and a black-dipped “Academia” version available in larger lots of single grades. From what I can tell in using them, they are identical in all but varnish colour. A line available in an equally wide variety of grades but identical between artist packs and bulk lots is the clear-varnished Engineer line. The latter are also made with a slightly bulkier woodcase than standard pencils, close to but not quite as thick as Caran d’Ache’s Grafwood and Swiss Wood lines.
Project was the first major line that was completely new to me in this order. Also in a smaller variety of grades but both in artist sets and bulk packs, the Project lacks the premium varnish and feel of the Vista-Artista and the thick wood case of the Engineer, but is otherwise indistinguishable. The biggest bonus for me was that this was the only line whose bulk packs came in a different packaging. These packages, too, were “anonymized” but at least in this case more reflective of the economy nature of the product and colour-coordinated.
The biggest exception I found to the rule of bland bulk or over-the-top retail packaging was a set of 6 artist pencils commemorating Victory Day. Not only is the packaging lovely quality and well-designed, but the pencils themselves have a unique design and varnish unlike any other line from the company.
The final pencils available in more than the standard HB (TM) grade were the Chertezhnik, which I previously grabbed in boxes of three which included one each of the 2H, HB and 2B, and this time got a full dozen-box of the HB and 2B by themselves.
The remaining product line outside these finely-graded artist pencils include a large variety of pencils obviously designed and merchandized to the student and youth market. Most available both in hex and round varieties, they include English names like Neon Way and Snowdrop. All seem basically identical beneath the varnish, and are likely from the same manufacturing line, but all are absolutely gorgeous in their tackiness. I also got three of these in larger boxes: the Metallic Shine seems to have a variety of varnishes not available in the retail packs, but is otherwise unremarkable; the Black Line I thought might be something like a test scorer, but is just a standard HB with a nice name; and the Prostoy “eco” pencil, which in a thinner than average natural woodcase likely is more eco-friendly than the extruded monstrosities typically pushed as such.
Another great haul from Russia, and I can’t wait till the next one!
