We take a look at how British writing instruments brand Ajoto uses the waste from its pen manufacturing process to create a minimal pen rest, in collaboration with artisan Olivia AspinallPen usage may be rare sights these days, but for the faithful, the writing implements made by Ajoto, a Manchester-based pen company established in 2011, continues to prove that writing is far from dead.
Off the back of developing its ebonite writing tools , Ajoto’s founder Chris Holden sought to recycle previously non-reclaimable waste materials. The result is an elegant duo of pen rests, created in collaboration with Nottingham artisan Olivia Aspinall, who specialises in bespoke surface and terrazzo design.02.ajoto_x_olivia_aspinall_pen_rest.jpg‘The Ebonite we use is produced by the combination of two core ingredients: natural rubber latex and sulphur.
‘The main challenge with the development process has been achieving the correct balance of ebonite to the binder,’ adds Aspinall, who completed a degree inat London’s Central Saint Martins. ‘The challenge has been to make a beautiful surface design that is also strong, whilst not overloading the background material.
Once the material was made, it was another challenge to cut and sand it. Here, Ajoto turned to Lazerian Studio, a multidisciplinary creative studio and fellow Mancunian. ‘The whole collection is produced in the United Kingdom,’ states Holden. ‘The manufacturing process is the result of modern craft; combining manual and traditional processes with state of the art machinery. We worked alongside Lazerian Studio to carry out the precision machining process.