This luxurious metal cylinder is actually a pencil sharpener disguised as a desk ornament

There are many tools whose existence we take for granted until the time comes that we urgently and desperately need them. It’s easy to overlook them, especially because of their mundane or cold, mechanical appearances that don’t help endear themselves to us, especially when they’re not in use. A pencil sharpener, for example, is just a simple block of plastic or metal that often gets lost in the mess of our drawers and shelves. This particular incarnation of the stationery tool, however, is something you will probably never be able to ignore, precisely because it calls attention to itself by becoming an object of beauty that you’ll want to always keep on your desk and always in sight.

Designer: Beyond Object

What can be more mundane and infrequently used than a pencil sharpener? It is a critical tool for designers, artists, and engineers, but it is also being made irrelevant by mechanical pencils and digital tools. And even for those that do use pencil sharpeners regularly, these are often cast aside after use and shoved somewhere, sometimes never to be seen again.

Just one look at Funno, however, and you know this isn’t your typical pencil sharpener, not by a long shot. In fact, you might not even realize that it’s a pencil sharpener unless somebody actually points it out. It takes the form of a small cylinder, which is already uncommon for this kind of tool. But what really sets it apart is the lustrous sheen that makes it look more like a priceless desk decoration than something that cuts through wood and gets dirtied by black graphite.

Machined from a solid block of zinc alloy metal, the pencil sharpener is hand-polished to a mirror finish and given four different colors. Three of them look exquisite in polished gold, silver, and copper. The fourth and newest variant comes in a matte black finish that sets itself apart from the others by giving the object the appearance of cast iron. It might not look expensive, but it definitely still has an artisan quality to it.

Funno, fortunately, isn’t just all looks, bearing a German-made Möebius+Ruppert inside to make short work of dull pencils. And, when you’re done with it, the tool continues to be useful beyond its intended purpose, serving as a paperweight or just as a piece of decoration that brings something interesting and motivating for your eyes to see, giving your mind something to dwell on and hopefully draw inspiration from. The Funno pencil sharpener is definitely a beautiful example of how something mundane can be transformed into something glorious with a simple design and a touch of class.