Upcycling Project: Brutalist Pencil Holder

Pencil holder by Alan IV – https://in.pinterest.com/pin/1001769510848484571/

For my Upcycling project I’m choosing to make a brutalist pencil holder. I was originally going to go with a steampunk aesthetic and while looking for some inspiration I saw this project by Allan IV on Pinterest. I had hoped to incorporate welds into my project and this seemed like a good introductory welding project. The aesthetic I will be aiming to mimic is brutalism. There were many variations of pencil holders online, however, the ones that caught my eye were made from square metal tubing, and to me looked like brutalist architecture. The image above especially reminded me of the Engineering center on campus.

Pencil holder by Иван Прищепа – https://www.pinterest.com/016bkwm1r24nzs3/

While I like the idea of a simple pencil holder I want to expand on the idea and make it have more use than jut pencils. I plan to add a spot for my calculator and rulers etc. while emphasizing a brutalist aesthetic. To make this happen I will try to make the piece mimic the general shape of a brutalist building, most likely the engineering center. I like the idea of working primarily with the same share tubing as many of these examples, the material is easily accessible and fits the brutalist theme. I plan to polish the metal to remove as many blemishes as possible to distance the piece from other aesthetics like scrap metal. My current plan is to prototype with sketches and later build it in Solidworks so that I have a good idea of the length of tubing needed and general dimensions. I also plan to make use of the Idea Forge resources as they have the machinery for all the cutting and welding needed.

Pencil holder by MG3 – https://www.instructables.com/Simple-Industrial-Pencil-Holder/