Cross-industry collaborations seem to be on the rise this year. After Caran d’Ache partnered with fashion designer Kevin Germanier for the colorful Les Fulgureuses, Yard-O-Led has now joined forces with renowned fashion label JW Anderson for a limited-edition project. The result is a sterling-silver mechanical pencil engraved with Oscar Wilde’s line, “The secret of life is in art.”
The pencil appears under JW Anderson’s “Yard-O-Led” category, a small but meaningful meeting point between two creative worlds that rarely overlap.
Yard-O-Led, founded in Birmingham in 1822, has been producing pens and pencils by hand for over two centuries. Each piece is crafted in sterling silver, individually chased, and assembled using time-honoured techniques. The brand’s focus on craftsmanship, precision, and longevity has earned it a loyal following among collectors and connoisseurs of fine writing instruments.
JW Anderson, on the other hand, has built a reputation as one of Britain’s most conceptually driven fashion houses. Known for his cultural references and unexpected collaborations, Anderson often blurs the lines between art, literature, and design, so this partnership fits naturally within his creative universe.
Yard-O-Led announced the collaboration on Instagram, writing that they were “incredibly proud to be selected by Jonathan Anderson for the reimagining of his label JW Anderson.” The brand added that the pencil “turns the tool into its subject—the paper—as Oscar Wilde’s quote is inscribed on the otherwise untouched barrel.” The inscription, rendered in Wilde’s own handwriting and finished with his signature, links the act of writing to the process of thinking, something Wilde himself explored in his essays.
For Yard-O-Led, this project opens a fresh direction for the brand, pushing it into a broader design conversation and introducing its craftsmanship to an audience outside the pen-collecting niche. For JW Anderson, it’s another opportunity to express the narrative depth he’s known for, showing how a writing instrument can carry artistic meaning.
At Inkstable, we’re glad to see the world of fine writing crossing into other creative fields like fashion. It’s a reminder that craftsmanship isn’t bound by category, it’s a common language that unites makers across disciplines.
The edition is available on jwanderson.com, priced at £600.
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