500 Pencils

[I love art supplies, office supplies and craft tools. I've never met a pencil I didn't like. While I resisted as long as I could, I had to post about this.]

Felissimo has released a set of 500 colored pencils which can be purchased as a subscription via Social Designer's 500 Pencils microsite. Twenty-five pencils will be delivered each month for 20 months at a cost of $33 per month. I did the math, that's $660 for 500 pencils or $1.32 per pencil. The largest sets of pencils I could find were about 120 pencils from Faber-Castell and Prismacolor for about $100. Yes its huge collection but the price tag is huge too. On the upside, Felissimo is donating one set of pencils to UNESCO (an arts charity for underprivileged kids) for every 100 sets sold.

Felissimo is also hosting a design contest for a case to house the complete set of pencils. Storage can be for storage, display, transportation, or all of the above. The winner will receive $1,000 plus a set of 500 Colored Pencils and the chance to attend 100% Design Tokyo (October 30–November 3) during Tokyo Designers Week. Two Honorable Mentions will receive a set of 500 Colored Pencils. The deadline for entry is September 21 so get cracking as it may be the only way to afford a set of these!