Comrade Stephen has a nice post over at Paper and Pencil about some very beautifly Italian pencils made by Nava Design:

Sometimes writing instruments present us with choices between form and function: something that writes well, but doesn’t meet our aesthetic standards. I don’t think this is a major issue for pen users - high price points can be realized for fountain, rollerball, and ballpoint pens, which means that pen manufacturers are able to attract significant design resources and talent. But for the woodcase pencil, who apart from Faber-Castell seriously invests in design?

The answer is Nava. They are an Italian brand known for leather journals and briefcases. I recently discovered that they make pencils - and what pencils they are!

Read on.

[Images and text, S.L. Used with kind permission.]