The free IKEA pencil — the little stub in the box next to the maps and measuring tapes — has changed color over the years, from blue to yellow to bare wood, but never its dimensions: 7 by 87 millimeters. IKEA orders 5.2 million of them a year for its Canadian stores alone. When the first IKEA opened in South Korea, customers went through two years' worth of pencils in two months.
Because they're disposable, surgeons use them to mark osteotomy cuts in craniofacial and maxillofacial surgery. Their graphite has been used to draw electronic circuits and to fabricate free-chlorine sensors for drinking water. The Dutch artist Judith Delleman built a chair out of hundreds of them, and IKEA says it doesn't disapprove of any of this.
In 2015, IKEA ran a social media ad for the pencils taking a shot at the newly announced Apple Pencil: "Absolutely familiar. Entirely free."
Previously:
• Weaponizing IKEA pencils made fun
• Man draws dozens of penises in Ikea, with Ikea pencil
