The Limited Edition is a tribute to one of the most important dramaturges of the 16th and 17th centuries and his writing skills. Poet and playwright William Shakespeare, considered by many to be the greatest writer in the English language.
After Claude Monet and his paintings, ST Dupont dedicated his new art theme series to William Shakespeare and his handwriting, creating a perfect series of the “Sword” theme – “The pen is mightier than the sword” – according to this metonymic proverb by the English auther Edward Bulwer-Lytton, S.T. Dupont added another Limited Edition to its Art Icons line.
With this special collection, the French luxury goods manufacturer commemorates the freedom of the press and sends the message that a written word is a powerful weapon to communicate ideas and feelings. In memory of the events surrounding Charlie Hebdo, this unique collection was created as a symbol of freedom and consists of a Fountain Pen/ 290103, Rollerball/292103, Ballpoint Pen/295103 and Line 2 lighter/016351.
Hamlet – one of the most famous and longest plays by William Shakespeare, inspired S.T. Dupont to create this new collection. The tragic story of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, was first performed between 1598 and 1601. The plot begins when the prince sees the ghost of his father, the King of Denmark, with the theme of revenge and death.
In this play, William Shakespeare represents death, the inevitable, in a symbolic way by the skull of the jester Yorick, which comes to sign all the products of the S.T. Dupont Collection.
Limited Collection
The Shakespeare Limited collection is crafted by hand at the S.T. Dupont workshops in Faverge, France, and there, each piece is subjected to over 150 handcrafted steps and controls, each with the goal of aesthetic and functional perfection.
The writing instrument is made from brass, which is coated with Urushi lacquer, made using the sap from the Rhus vernicifera, a Japanese lacquer tree, grown in the Far East and Southeast Asia. All of the appointments on the pen are vermeil, and well-conceived details highlight the life and works of William Shakespeare. The pen’s brown lacquer barrel is decorated with a likeness of Shakespeare’s signature running lengthwise. The fountain pen’s medium nib is 14-carat gold.
The pen’s cap is coated in a natural parchment-colored lacquer. On it, handwritten lines from an original Shakespeare memorandum run its length in a decorative script. The cap of the fountain pen and the rollerball close with a reassuring click designed to mimic the “ping” of S.T. Dupont’s renowned lighters.
The clip is shaped like a sword in homage to the decree by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839: “The pen is mightier than the sword”, which echoes Shakespeare, during Act 2, Scene 2 of Hamlet. He wrote, “… many wearing rapiers are afraid of goose quills.” This entirely new articulated clip also incorporates a stylistic “D.”
The cap crown is inspired by “Hamlet”, in which the author personifies death via Yorick’s skull, a likeness of which is seen throughout the collection and is here set into the cap’s top. Yorick is the dead court jester whose skull is exhumed by the First Gravedigger in Act 5, Scene 1, of the play.
The Shakespeare collection includes a lighter, which is also made with Shakespeare’s manuscript reproduction in natural lacquer and glitter dust body, brown natural lacquer cap, skull on side and yellow gold finish.
Each item in the William Shakespeare collection is housed in a black lacquered wooden case.
In honor of Shakespeare’s birth year, the fine Writing Instruments and Ligne 2 lighter are limited to 1,564 pieces.
Launch 2020
Fountain Pen
Rollerball
Ballpoint Pen
L2 Lighter
