BIC: The Company Behind the Pen

BIC has reached such ubiquity in the pen industry that we have to remind ourselves that they are an actual company and not another word for pen. We also have to remind ourselves that BIC hasn’t been making pens since King John signed the Magna Carta. We do all that reminding with videos like this one from Business Casual. The video traces the history of personal writing instruments, starting with the feather quill in the 7th Century. It doesn’t spend any longer with them than it needs to though, quickly jumping up to the invention of the ball-point pen in the 1930s. From there, they draw a straight line to BIC. Turns out the company wouldn’t exist as it does today without World War II, just like virtually every other industry, product, or piece of tech invented from 1933 onward.