Lumin Bút Chì Bấm by Alexis Zapata is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 A' Design Award Bạc in Thiết kế Vật tư Nghệ thuật Competition Category.

BạcVật tư Nghệ thuật· 2025

Lumin Bút Chì Bấm

by Alexis Zapata

Client: Lumin

A' Design Award Bạc Winner in Vật tư Nghệ thuật Category

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The Design

About Lumin Bút Chì Bấm

Lumin là thiết kế được chế tác hoàn toàn từ nhôm. Không sử dụng cơ chế phức tạp, tính đàn hồi của vật liệu được tận dụng để giữ ruột chì. Sản phẩm được sản xuất thông qua các quy trình gia công điều khiển số khác nhau, với hoàn thiện thủ công ở từng công đoạn. Được định danh bằng số seri khắc và đi kèm bao bì xác thực nguồn gốc. Nhà thiết kế mong muốn thể hiện qua Lumin cảm xúc về sự trống không. Một mảnh ghép của ánh sáng rực rỡ tồn tại trong mỗi con người, không hoàn hảo nhưng chân thật. Theo cách này, Lumin mời gọi sự tự vấn và chiêm nghiệm nội tâm.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Bạc

Lumin Bút Chì Bấm là người chiến thắng giải thưởng A' Design Award Bạc, một sự công nhận đặc biệt danh giá dành cho các thiết kế thượng hạng đẹp lộng lẫy, cao quý và gây ấn tượng. Những người chiến thắng giải Bạc là những tác phẩm cực kỳ xuất sắc và giàu sáng tạo, minh họa chuyên môn, tài năng và sự nhạy bén nổi bật của các nhà thiết kế. Lumin Bút Chì Bấm được kỳ vọng là một tác phẩm tuyệt vời, mẫu mực, chuyên nghiệp đáng kể và đổi mới sâu sắc. Thiết kế chiến thắng giải thưởng A' Design Award Bạc này là một phát minh rất đáng chú ý, được ngưỡng mộ, mang lại lợi ích và thúc đẩy ranh giới của nghệ thuật, khoa học, thiết kế và công nghệ. Lumin Bút Chì Bấm là một sáng tạo được vô cùng ghen tị, khơi dậy ham muốn, mang lại cảm xúc tích cực và khơi gợi sự kinh ngạc, thán phục.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Lumin represents an emotion, of emptiness, to give rise to the new. A fragment of light, not perfect but authentic, that shines one's own brilliance. Materialize the intangible.
In its packaging, emptiness is symbolized. Where, for the light to find us, we must find that breaking point.
The pencil, what must always shine, protect itself, defend...Education.
"Alumina,
light that propagates through the emptiness.
Lumin, born from absence."
Dimensions & Packaging: Mechanical pencil, material aluminum alloy 2011, weight 90 grams, dimensions 100 mm x 19 mm, between the faces of the hexagon
Packaging material 300 gr illustration, printing full color, finish matte polypropylene on both sides, die cut digital, finish 2 double sided, dimensions 140 mm x40 mm x 40 mm
Tags: emotion, intangible, emptyness, authentic, light, absence, aluminum, alumina
Production Technology: Lumin is an exclusive design, made 100 percent from aluminum. Stripped of any mechanism, it uses the elasticity of the material to hold the graphite. It is produced using different numerical control machining processes, with a manual finish in each of them. Identified with its engraved serial number and accompanied by the packaging that authenticates it.
Design Challenge: From 2017 to 2022, I was a professor at a university in the model and prototype workshop. After the pandemic, classes were taught online, so the workshop became unnecessary. This made me think about how education changed, and today I think the pencil was an act of protest to defend it. It wasn't easy to find a CNC lathe operator willing to make only 100 units at first; they usually order 1,000 units. Costs also increased due to devaluation in my country. Even the cost of the packaging was high, given the small quantity, so I had to do it using digital offset.
I made virtually no profit, nor was I interested in making any. It was a process through which I was able to understand the anguish I carried inside, and by materializing it, I was able to face it and thus let it go.
Research: The initial idea was to create a mechanical pencil using discarded aluminum. Information was collected on different mechanical pencils and their possible mechanisms. At that time, as a teacher in a model and prototype workshop, I had access to lathes where the first six prototypes were created. They were so popular that I began researching how to mass-produce them, since making them individually is time-consuming. Today, it has become a coveted object for designers, architects, and artists. I would like to make a more democratic product, making it accessible to everyone, but production costs are high for the quantities I can make.
Inspiration: It was an exploration of personal introspection of my emotions.
Lumin was the key to a new stage. It was my breaking point, to change my reality.
Project Duration: At the end of 2020, 6 functional prototypes were made and the pre series was launched in July 2023.
It participated in Buenos Aires, Argentina in INNOVAR 2023 with the ID 23902 and Sello Buen Diseño 2025 with the ID 5834.
Operation Flow: Release the lead from the packaging by pushing the tip of the mechanical pencil inward from one side to eject it from the other side and pulling to remove it. Do not open, disassemble, or break the packaging.

The lead is 5,5 mm and is adjusted when released, vertically with the tip pointing down, always opening slightly to the sides. Hold the lead with both hands on a horizontal surface to prevent the lead from falling out.
If it has been held for a long time, you may need to open it and simultaneously press the lead on a horizontal surface to release it from its internal grip. The lead should fall freely when the clip is opened.

Reload from the rear vortex by inserting a 5,5 mm lead, positioning it vertically with the tip pointing down, fitting the lead into the front hole, and opening it slightly to the sides again to adjust the length.

The length of the graphite exposed is adjusted using the same procedure. Place the clamp against a horizontal surface and adjust it to the desired length.

-The opening is minimal. While the material holds the graphite, it is not very elastic. If the graphite is moved without opening it, it will wear down and the clamp will no longer work.
Patents: -Patented. Patent No 103.171. Alexis Zapata. 2022. Argentina.
-Trademark belong to Alexis Zapata, 2024, registration number 3.504.852.

Intellectual Property Institute of the Argentine Republic
https://www.argentina.gob.ar/inpi
Image Credits: Image #1: Photographer Federico Ariel Serrano, 2025.
Image #2: Photographer Federico Ariel Serrano, 2025.
Image #3: Photographer Federico Ariel Serrano, 2025.
Image #4: Photographer Federico Ariel Serrano, 2025.
Image #5: Photographer Federico Ariel Serrano, 2025.