We've drawn the names for the Eco Pencils winners!

The lucky people are:

Sarah Ison

Jennifer Rose Phillip

Wyvernfriend

Bluemoon2391

Tony Sweeney

Alan Zinn

Doroteja Noreikaite

Irene Hunter

Joesee Lapointe

Staar

Aduke

Ellen Stafford

Eloise Trett

Kimberley Stone

David Deville

Linda Addison

Darren Presley

Grey Allice

Tiffany Dowling

Scarlett

Please can all the winners email derwent.pencils@acco.com with their full names and addresses.

So you thought pencils were just for drawing? Well Zinc White is proving that ordinary objects can be transformed into something fashionable & funky!

We sent Paul Curtis from Zinc White some of our rejected pencils to see what he could transform them into – and the results were amazing! When you visit their website www.zincwhite.co.uk the message is clear “Our aim is to generate zero waste” which we think is great. In a world where the environment is becoming a top priority, it’s important to use & re-use whatever we can.

The pieces shown here are all made from pencils which are cut down & shaped to produce beautiful items of jewellery. Zinc White also make bags, home-wares & toys from unwanted ‘waste’:

“By reusing clothes we create bags, by recycling buttons and remoulding audio cassettes we construct lampshades, by remodelling men’s shirts and ties we fashion dresses and skirts and by reinventing kiddies plastic toys we personalize memories.”

A selection of Zinc White’s pencil jewellery is on sale at the Pencil Museum, Keswick (017687 73626) or you can buy direct from www.zincwhite.co.uk.

Derwent has joined forces with the Old Master Drawings exhibition at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight to offer you a fabulous chance to win £200 of Derwent fine art materials, an over night stay including breakfast and full use of the leisure club at the Village Hotel in Port Sunlight in January 2011 and a two-course lunch at the Lady Lever Art Gallery.  You’ll also receive an exhibition catalogue to take home as a souvenir of your visit.  Three runners-up will also receive an exhibition catalogue.

Speaking about the competition Leah Lister, Derwent Marketing Manager said ‘We are delighted to be linking up with The Old Master Drawings exhibition.  Sketching & drawing is just as important today as it was for the Old Masters and this exhibition explores its key role in the creation of art’

To enter the Derwent/Old Masters competition just answer the following question:

‘Graphite was discovered in the Borrowdale area of Cumbria in the early 1500s at a time when the Old Masters, featured in the Lady Lever Art Gallery’s exhibition, were simply Masters of Drawing. Giorgio Vasari was one of the first collectors of Old Master Drawings but when did he start collecting?’

a)1582
b)1548
c)1528

To find the answer visit http://www.pencils.co.uk/newsitem.aspx?nid=110 or www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ladylever or go along to the exhibition to find out!

Send your answer, name and contact details to: prizedraw@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk
Competition closes at midnight on 15 December 2010.

Terms & Conditions

Derwent art materials to the value of £200 and a double room at the Village Hotel Port Sunlight are offered subject to availability. 

For more information contact Emma Chapman
Tel: 01900 609590 E-mail: emma.chapman@acco.com

With the Queen bursting onto the Social Media scene with a Facebook & Twitter account, we thought it would be a great time to remember her visit to our factory!

On June 5th we were honoured to receive Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, who officially opened our new factory in Workington. Both were taken on a tour of the new premises and stopped to admire the work of two of our artists, David Cook & Linda Stevens.

Finally, as a memento of their visit The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were each presented with a wooden box hand crafted from English Oak and containing 24 of the last pencils made in our Keswick factory. The Duke commented ‘They will see us out!’

Speaking after the visit David Sharrock, General Manager said ‘It was a great honour for us to welcome The Queen and The Duke to our new home. Our staff were delighted to see them and to chat about their work.'

It was such a lovely day and an honour to see both the Queen & The Duke of Edinburgh - we just wish we could do it all again!

Hi guys! This is the blog of Derwent pencils - we'll be bringing you lots of pencil & art related news regularly so you can keep up to date on what's happening!

Since you'll be hearing a lot from us in the near future, we thought it would be a great idea to introduce ourselves!

There's 5 of us who make up the Derwent Marketing Team: Leah Lister (Marketing Manager, too shy to have her photo taken!), from left Sarah Taylor (Product Manager), Emma Chapman (Sales & Marketing Co-Ordinator), Rebecca Watson (Design & Marketing Co-Ordinator) and Kirsty Vickers (Design & Admin Assistant).

As a team we are responsible for bringing you fabulous new products, making them look great & giving you easy ways to buy them!

So this is us! Introduce yourself if you like, we'd love to hear from you!