Furniture

The Bic Blue Cabinet by Studio Libertiny

Rachael Sykes

27 February 2009

Designer Tomáš Gabzdil Libertiny of Studio Libertiny has created The Bic Blue Cabinet, which is coated with the ink used in disposable Bic Cristal ballpoint pens.

The cabinet is made from American maple wood and has gold-plated hinges, and a golden Libertiny logo inside. Several layers of French polish were applied on top of the ink to create a high-gloss finish.

The cabinet will be exhibited with Perimeter Editions at Design Miami/Basel in June this year,

Here’s a description from the designer:

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The BiC Blue Cabinet is mysterious and dominant; an object that tantalizes the surroundings. It reminds of Yves Klein’s paintings and Kubrick’s 2001: A space odyssey’s mysterious monolith. It is a perfect alien.

The object (made of American maple) is painted with a special ink: the ink from the notorious disposable BiC Cristal ballpoint pen, which was generously provided directly from the BiC HQ office in France.

The ink has amazing iridescent characteristics. The final finish is French polish used on antique furniture and still nowadays on musical instruments. The process of application is very time consuming (dozens of layers of shellac). The surface becomes very hard with time. The interior contains sophisticated gold plated hinges and golden Libertiny logo. There is no handle but a push-to-open system.