In 2016, German design blog Slanted published a photo essay and article looking inside the Viarco pencil factory in Portugal.  Here we reproduce the images taken by photographer Daniel Sommer for that essay.

Viarco’s history dates back to 1907 with the establishment of Fábrica de Lápis Portugália.  Following bankruptcy and acquisition in 1929-1931, the brand name Viarco was registered in 1936.  In 1941 they moved their factory to it’s current location in São João da Madeira, outside of Porto.  Viarco is now a 4th generation family owned business and are the only pencil producer in Portugal.

In 2007, Viarco registered the ArtGraf brand and began watercolour graphite production.  Today ArtGraf produce a variety of artistic products which are widely available and well known for their high artistic quality.

Viacro are much a 21st century company.  They continue to display a committent to their heritage, with some modern products replicating mid-century designs.  They continue to create innovative products such as ‘the worst pencil in the world’ – which is a dummy pencil designed to look like a pencil, but having no function whatsoever, and the extra special Backyards and Gardens of Portugal scented pencils.

Photographs copyright and reproduced with permission from the artist Daniel Sommer. Check out his website here, and the original Slanted article here.