The story
Inspired by Harrod Blank’s art cars and driven by relentless curiosity, I transformed a 1981 Mercedes-Benz into a rolling piece of art covered with more than 750,000 discarded pens. What started as a strange personal project became Mercedes Pens: a recognizable public object, a school-visit magnet, an art-car-festival regular, and a story carried far beyond the driveway.
The brand inside the object
The car was not only sculpture. Its name, website, public appearances, collection campaign, and message were designed to answer “What the hell is that?” before the question disappeared. That clarity helped an absurd object become a memorable icon instead of anonymous visual noise.
The unglamorous part
Thousands of pens had to be glued, replaced, and glued again after sun and weather damage. Scraping silicone and restarting sections became part of the work. The project proved that a bold idea still has to survive maintenance, logistics, and repetition.
What it changed
Mercedes Pens appeared with National Geographic, Smithsonian Channel, Yahoo, Wealth TV, Maker Faire, and art-car events. More important, it made strangers wave, smile, ask questions, donate pens, and participate. It taught me to trust the strange idea, make its story legible, and start before permission arrives.
