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- Product Description
- History of the Brand
The extra-large Handmade Water Soluble Graphite Stick is a product by the Portuguese company and brand Viarco. It was created with the direct interventions in spaces or large scale drawings in mind.
With 8B graphite grading, this object, which is one-of-a-kind in the world, is transformed into a soft drawing and painting instrument.
Its Artgraf XL design has its starting point in the production and handmade processes used to manufacture graphite leads.
Conceived with large scale drawings in mind, this unique object also permits the creation of shadows and volumes with great precision.
«The XL Stick allows the artist to paint in various spaces, the intention is to be a handmade, rough looking, rustic stick. The goal is that each piece is unique.»
- (Ana Costa - Commercial Department)
«I can paint a wall, I can paint a canvas, I can paint on paper and it’s still possible to make a series of corrections if there is a mistake - with clean water or a cloth, recuperation is possible.»
«This product has opened the doors to new forms of plastic expression.»
- (José Vieira - Administrator)
Viarco - Portuguese Pencil Factory was, in the beginning of the 20th century, a pioneer company in the creation of writing equipment, leaving a testimony of great value for the history of the Portuguese industry. Today, Viarco develops products that are one-of-a-kind in the world. A historical brand that shows us how to make history... every day!
More than 100 years of history
«We want to use the past to promote the future.»
- (José Vieira - Administrator)
Viarco, also known as Portugália, had its start in the city of Vila do Conde, during the year 1907. After the first few years of success, the Portuguese company had some difficult moments caused by Portugal’s role in World War I and particularly because of the 1929/1931 economic depression. In the year 1931, Manoel Vieira Araújo, a renowned businessman in the hat making sector and prominent personality in São João da Madeira, acquires the Portuguese pencil factory.
In 1936, Vieira Araújo & Cª, Lda., registers the brand Viarco, a name that would later be associated to the most famous pencils of that time and that still remains very present in the Portuguese collective memory. The Portuguese company operates in Vila do Conde until 1941, when it is transferred to the São João da Madeira installations, where it remains until today. The place where the company is located witnesses the growth of many companies from different sectors. At one point, there were five companies with distinct activities coexisting within the same perimeter: hat making, pencils, plastics, shoes and shirts.
Years marked by consecutive technological developments followed, which led to the creation of wax crayons and a vast range of technical pencils used in different trades. During the 1970s, the pencil factory becomes independent and is then called Viarco - Indústria de Lápis, Lda. At this time, Viarco - Indústria de Lápis is dedicated to four distinct market segments: School Office, Professional, Advertising and the Artistic sector, which was in frank expansion.
Projects that Viarco wants to embrace
Viarco has plans to totally recuperate the building that holds a unique industrial archeological estate, adapting it so it may receive the many visits that are requested and thus actively contribute to the development of industrial tourism in Portugal. One of the other projects it has in mind is the construction of the Pencil Museum, a project whose goal is the preservation and divulgation of this centennial company’s estate and history.
«The Pencil Museum will be a way to organize and show the existing estate. It is important to preserve it and the initiative is related to the preservation of our own history.»
- (José Vieira - Administrator)
Attentive to new artistic talents, Viarco also plans to develop diverse ateliers for young artists who are just starting out their careers. The establishment of partnerships with institutions linked to education, culture and solidarity that create social benefit dynamics and permit the development of relationships and mechanisms that value the community where the company is inserted, as well as its interveners, is another one of the company’s priorities. On the other hand, Viarco plans to create and produce writing equipment with superior quality that stimulates the values of national identity.
«It is very important that products that are one-of-a-kind in the world and that are having a fantastic acceptance, have very visible the indication ‘Made in Portugal’, it is very important that the origin is known and that it is associated to Viarco.»
- (José Vieira - Administrator)
Technical Information
Company: VIARCO - Indústria de Lápis, Lda.
Address: Apartado 454,
3701-914 S. João da Madeira
Telephone: 256 830 880
Owners: José Vieira
Employees: 21
Founded in: 1907
Site: www.viarco.pt
