BIC Lamp by Mario Paroli x Seletti reimagines the famed BIC Cristal pen.
Design. In 1950, French-Italian entrepreneur Marcel Bich acquired the patent rights for the “ball-sphere” pen from László Bíró, a Hungarian-Argentine inventor who devised the ballpoint mechanism after watching children play with marbles. Riding the optimism of the plastic revolution, Bich developed the original BIC Cristal at the end of 1950, just over 75 years ago. Designed for industrial-scale production, the ballpoint pen—also known as the Bic Biro—democratised writing through ergonomic design and accessible pricing. In 2006, Société BIC announced sales of more than 100 billion pens, all retaining the original design and mechanism.
Over the decades, the BIC Cristal has been held by artists and writers, entering the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, in Paris. More often, it lives a quieter life in pupils’ pencil cases and office pen holders worldwide, proving that good design thrives through daily use.
At Maison & Objet, Italian design brand Seletti celebrates the 75th anniversary of the BIC Cristal with the BIC Lamp, designed by Mario Paroli. The lighting piece reproduces the famed pen at a 12:1 scale and is available as a floor lamp, pendant, or wall-mounted version. Its cap and plug come in the three most recognisable colours—black, blue, and red. The design uses materials chosen to echo the original, swapping ink for LED technology.
With this project, Seletti transforms a familiar object into a playful design statement, reframing proportion, function, and memory with a pop sensibility and extending the BIC Cristal from desktop essential to domestic icon.
“The launch of the BIC Lamp at Maison&Objet 2026 represents a very special moment for us,” explains Stefano Seletti, the brand’s art director. “We have always played with the concept of memory-driven design, placing people’s personal memories at the centre of the objects we create.” According to Seletti, the project reflects the company’s unconventional approach to lighting. “The BIC Lamp – he concludes – is the perfect example of how an icon can be reborn to illuminate our homes and our memories.”
All photos are courtesy of Seletti.
