Wax & Wane

Wopex Challenge 2012, 1 Utama New Wing – I didn’t know that Stationery can be so cool. Seriously, I’m an outdoor type of person and my personality is more of a people-person, bubbly, cheerful, child-like and positive. Of course, at times I can be very moody, withdrawn, irritable and devilish :) Therefore, for me Stationery is something that is very routine & stagnant. Handling the Bicycle, Camping, Sports & Nautism categories was great as it suited my outdoor nature. Live Plants & Live Pets were so-so; nonetheless I did enjoy it because out of curiosity and believing that this is the new industry to be in. Furniture was cool too because of the colors, designs & structure. But I love Toys & Luggage department the most because these 2 categories are full of animation and they are so alive. Even though, they are troublesome at times because we always have to follow the trends and these trends keep on changing non-stop which is hard at times to catch up with but this is the upside to it as well because we will always be a part of the new evolution & revolution. It’s never dull. However, I find Stationery to be too static. At times, I get bored behind my desk.

So when Staedtler organize this new activity to get more people to see that a pencil is just not a pencil and is not so boring after all and it’s actually so rich in history, functionality and can be cool too…I went Wham! This idea is so fresh and I have to salute Staedtler for its boldness. They acted independently on how to go about things differently. Some of the activities that they organized was the Wopex Studio (where you get to sample, purchase & experience the latest technology in pencil making), a station for people looking for skate & street stuffs, live sketch demo & graffiti art on a skateboard deck, Wopex doodling corner and they even include the latest craze - finger-boarding. And how these are all related? Well, the Wopex new collection is functional and good enough for sketches and graffiti art, an art form that is currently in the heart of the many urban youth now. They have beat box performance, cheerleading squad, shuffling & street dance, sumo wrestling and many more. Usually, Stationery fairs are very uninteresting – the most common are coloring contest, free pens, ergonomic pens etc. This is really out of this world. A very good first step. I am very sure that Friedrich Staedtler will be very proud of this work :)