For over a century, the
As basic a piece of stationery they may be, pencil-making is no mean feat, with huge volumes of wax, graphite, paint, and cedar planks converted into a singular lightweight, neatly uniform products. It’s a multi-step process undertaken over multiple levels in the factory. Charcoal is processed in the dark basement, where an industrial sharpener shapes each pencil into a perfected point. Graphite cores are heated and placed in perforated cans before being dipped in hot wax.
American photographer
Some images capture wide scenes, showing employers working a discernible process at some stage of the pencil-making process. Pastel extrusions used for coloured pencils are malleable and noodle-like as they’re laid by hand onto grooved wooden boards, like dough being coaxed through a pasta machine. Others images are close-up and more abstract, more closely resembling contemporary art, such as a shot showing rows upon rows of royal blue pencils waiting to be boxed up.
Rather than outsource to overseas production, the General Pencil Company stands proud amidst a fast-gentrifying Jersey City, and a world which types and taps much faster than it will ever handwrite again. It’s as if Payne captured the last dinosaur, although we sincerely hope this one is not going extinct anytime soon.
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