The Bic Biro is back and it’s had a glow up in luxury lamp form

*Gets secondary school flashbacks *

Hermione Blandford's avatar
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an image of the bic biro hanging lamp
(Image credit: Seletti)

No pencil case from the 1980s through to 2010 was complete without a Bic biro. The biro that launched a thousand scrawled GCSE exams, the iconic pen is up there in British cultural history along with the TimeOut bar and YOU AINT MHY MOTHER!! YES I AAAAAM. Now, it’s back and bright than ever in new larger-than-life lamp form.

Bic Cristal was the world’s best-selling ballpoint pen and this year it turns 75, joining the likes of Danny DeVito, Susan Sarandon, and Denzel Washington. To celebrate the anniversary of such an institution, Seletti - an avant garde design store - has recreated the humble biro in a pretty eye-catching lamp form.

an image of the blue colourway lamp hanging vertically on a green wall

(Image credit: Seletti)

With a clear hexagonal plastic case and bold colour cap, the pen has been an instantly recognisable classic since its launch. Its manufacturer, Société Bic confirmed that it had surpassed the one hundred billion sales mark in 2006.

The Bic Lamp has recreated the pen at a 12:1 scale, featuring floor, pendent and wall versions in black, red, and blue colourways.

Clearly, Seletti love the pen as much as the public do. Art director Stefano Seletti said: 'At Seletti, we have always played with the concept of memory-driven design, placing people’s personal memories at the centre of the objects we create.’ For this particular design, they wanted to ‘transform a universally and instantly recognizable shape that lives in everyone’s memory, into something completely new.'

We don't yet know how much it will be retailing for, but it's worth keeping your eye on Seletti's website – or just pop down to W.H Smiths for the miniature version if you just can't wait.

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Hermione Blandford
Hermione Blandford
Content Editor

Hermione Blandford is the Content Editor for Shortlist’s social media which means you can usually find her scrolling through Instagram and calling it work, or stopping random people in the street and accosting them with a mini mic. She has previously worked in food and drink PR for brands including Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray, Gordon's, The Singleton, Lagavulin and Don Julio which means she is a self confessed expert in spicy margaritas and pints, regularly popping into the pub in the name of research.

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