Felissimo 500 Color Pencils – 4th set

Blue is the theme of Felissimo’s fourth set of colour pencils.

I’m a bit behind in displaying these – I’ve already received the fifth set, and a Canada Post notice tells me I wasn’t in when they attempted delivery of the sixth set. Wow, 150 colour pencils here or nearby! The collection is starting to take shape.

I’ve noticed that pencil blogs in Japan mention these pencils with different reference numbers. I’m afraid I only just figured this out – the boxes have a small circled identifier. I’ve been referring to the pencils as I’ve received them (calling this the “4th set”, for example), but depending on where you live and when you ordered them, you might receive them in a different order. For the record, this is volume 15.

Quite a bit of feedback has been sent this way about the pencils. I’ll try to summarize.

The concept is unique and intriguing. Many mainstream media breakthroughs confirm this.

The subscription sales model (you buy 25 per month over 20 months) is quite controversial. A few love the idea of getting a colourful package of pencils each month. And many find the approach very hard to digest – taking almost two years to buy the set of pencils!

Professional artists are not onside. While many were attracted by the concept of so many colours, the lack of “open stock” replacements, the absence of comprehensive lightfastness testing, and the overall quality don’t meet professional needs.

The price is too high for many.

I’ll offer some feedback on these points:

1. I am very happy to see mentions of these pencils in mainstream North American media, especially television and magazines. Felissimo has clearly made an impact in the public arena, a place other pencil manufacturers seem to have forsaken.

2. A subscription may provide ongoing revenue, but it should be an option rather than the only purchase method.

3. Artists – the message is clear, but as I’ve written before, high quality pencils that offer open stock, accompanied by laboratory tested lightfastness reports, are in a completely different price range. If Caran d’Ache offered a 500 pencil set, it might cost thousands. But it would be amazing!

4. Cost. The Japan Post EMS (“registered air mail”) delivery multiplied by 20 is no doubt a large (majority?) part of the cost.

Perhaps five shipments of 100 pencils, or just sending the 500 pencils together, might be a better offer. If you could buy the 500 pencils in a single package for $250, would you be tempted?

The offer may soon end. Though all orders will of course be completely fulfilled, the acceptance of new subscriptions may soon be closing.

Further reading: Felissimo pencils at pencil talk