When the pencil takes its livery
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DESIGN ROEL VANDEBEEK
IN COLLAB WITH HUGO DUCHATEAU
YEAR 2016
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Since time immemorial, the pencil has been in livery.It obediently serves the hand of its master, be he the a ist who gives his spontaneous impulses free rein, the designer who uninhibitedly launches his ideas, the philosopher who makes notes in the margins of his books, … The pencil sits on the table in silence. It does not protest, it never expresses its own opinion, it seems satisfied with its existence in the shadows. Occasionally, a manufacturer will give it a new jacket, one a bit more fancily decorated or somewhat more flamboyant. But it remains a liveried servant. Hugo Duchateau and Roel Vandebeek have changed all that.The pencil dictates, the a ists have given shape to its stories. The servant becomes the master, and the master the servant. Then we see how rich the hidden life of the pencil really is.