The writing instrument created by Caran d'Ache in collaboration with MB&F is called Astrograph. The adventure began four years earlier when Maximilian Büsser confided his idea to the creative team at Caran d'Ache: to materialise the space travel he had dreamt of in his childhood into a writing instrument. The slender, contoured body of the Astrograph, made up of a total of 99 components, recalls the silhouette of a spaceship. Its fluid design is emphasised by an embossed grid pattern in anthracite lacquer, a particularly delicate craftsmanship. Its operation is based on an ingenious mechanism inspired by switchblades: a miniature lever simultaneously and symmetrically actuates the three stabilising feet that rest on a structure similar to a launch pad. Accompanying Astrograph is a miniature figure representing an astronaut, which, coated in rhodium and magnetised, attaches itself freely to the body of the instrument, ready to "climb aboard". Three versions are available: fountain pen with shiny rhodium finish; fountain pen and rollerball with matt sandblasted rhodium finish; fountain pen with anthracite ruthenium finish. Each version of the collection, fountain pen or rollerball, is in a numbered edition of 99 pieces. Astrograph Limited Edition by Caran d'Ache is distributed in Italy by Whynot (tel. 055 696494), in all specialised writing shops.
