MICRO was a frindle company in Korea. But it shut down in 1997 when IMF financial crisis. There is a rumor that this company sold the design to foreign company. Still now, a number of stationeries are selling these mechanical pencils. It's because these mechanical pencils' design is similar to foreign pencils' design. But the rumor is not true. MICRO sold it's design to other foreign companies. This is the reason why the designs' are similar. We can mention some companies which bought MICRO's design, like German company FAVER CASTELL, Rotring and Japanese company Pentel. Whenever we see these companies' TK Vario L, ROtring 500 and Graph 1000 each one has quite similar points in MICRO's HEXA 3000, M. I. T.(MICRO of Illuminant Technology) 3000 and M. I. T. 2000.
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| FAVER CASTELL : TK Vario L MICRO : HEXA 10000 |
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| Rotring : ROtring 500 and ROtring 600 |
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| MICRO : M. I. T. 3000 |
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| Pentel : GRAPH 1000 MICRO : M. I. T. 2000 |
See the attached pictures. First picture is compare FABER CASTELL TK-Vario L with MICRO HEXA 10000. Second and third pictures are compare ROtring 500, 600 and MICRO M. I. T. 3000. Last picture is compare Pentel GRAPH 1000 with MICRO M. I. T. 2000. When we see these pictures, we can find some particular points which resemble each other.
Translate German 'rotring' into English, it means 'the red ring'. But no one would name the company with the design which was bought. Also the Pentel Graph 1000 started its' selling since 1985 and MICRO M. I. T. 3000 started since 1986. However it can not make sense if the MICRO sold the design. So that this rumor can not be the truth. Although MICRO benchmarked its design from other foreign companies' design, MICRO not only beloved in Korea but also nowadays, MICRO's technology is not lower than other companies. After MICRO collapsd, Korea gave an effort to revive it. So, based on MICRO's superb technology, a person who worked in MICRO established e-micro. But e-micro's goods are worse than MICRO. So that e-micro is criticize from the masses. Let's concerned e-micro so that it can be revive.
The pictures are from
Interesting.. How did you find out about MICRO in the first place? -steven h. from USA
ReplyDeleteHi Taekyung! This is very interesting! It's not something I've ever thought about before. I'm glad that MICRO didn't sell it's designs!
ReplyDeleteI have been obsessing to try and find these pencils and the Miko Fancy Marble Pencils...
ReplyDeleteI really want them for my collection! -Nate from the USA