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31-Crimson Hot Wheels

RAPID E6 STAPLER

信不信由你,我留意到不停反覆按圓珠筆筆桿上按鈕的人,十居其九就是男生,每按一下,就會聽到「噠」一下聲響,不為甚麼的,只是下意識在享受彈簧實在的回彈感,那似乎是在一套難以言明的男性專屬機械語言。文具像是特定功能的工具,不同粗幼度的筆尖好比各種大小的螺絲;它又像可以組合的機械,每個細部都經過了精密的計算。

Believe it or not, I have noticed that nine out of ten people who habitually click their retractable pens are guys. It is as though the incessant, tactile sound of the click formulates a mechanical discourse – one that only men would understand. Just as there are different screw sizes, pen tip sizes vary, too. Stationery are, therefore, essentially specialty tools, or products of precision engineering.

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說到這裡,是時候介紹一下這次的主角——Rapid E6火紅戰車。唔。該是訂書機才對。相信很多人對於Rapid訂書機並不陌生,該公司的開山之作Rapid 1正是後來家傳戶曉像一把鉗子的Rapid K1訂書機的前身,也是史上最暢銷的訂書機,說不定剛好你的抽屜也放著一台。

Rapid為一家瑞典公司,全名是Isaberg Rapid,之所以成為現今(文具或工業)訂書機業界的先驅,乃跟當時戰事有關。創辦人Olle Westlund於1936年成立公司,本業是生產賽璐珞薄片,當中需要依賴德國進口的訂書機和訂書釘作組裝之用,不料1942年德國的工廠被炸毀,Olle便用了五個月的時間自行研發並生產Rapid 1釘書機,Rapid公司藉此成功過渡為一家廣受歡迎的訂書機公司。

Which brings me nicely to our protagonist: the Rapid E6 stapler, or what I call Crimson Hot Wheels. You’re probably no stranger to Rapid, the manufacturer of the bestselling K1 stapling plier, which succeeds Rapid’s signature Rapid 1 stapler.

The Swedish stapler manufacturer Rapid, also known as Isaberg Rapid, has a history married to war. Olle Westlund founded the company in 1936 which specialised in celluloid covers and worked with staplers imported from Germany. When the German manufacturer was bombed in 1942, Westlund spent five months making his own stapler – the Rapid 1. Since then, Rapid has become a household name.

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再次拿起我手上的這台Rapid E6訂書機,一台估計產於八十年代的平凡家用訂書機,並不位列於世界著名設計之中,卻把我吸引過來了。跟一般訂書機有點不一樣,它非常的整齊,筆直而爽朗的線條好像在告訴你:「我可以站起來。」到它實際上真的站起來,簡直是順利撫平了我心裡過往不知如何在桌面安放訂書機的疙瘩。

The Rapid E6 was presumably manufactured in the 80’s. Neither an award-winning design nor a bestseller, it appeals to me anyway with its slick lines. The fact that it can stand on a surface solves my problem of never knowing where on the table to put my stapler.

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文具作為細小又不甚起眼的存在,在發揮功能的前提之下,眾多無名的設計師也考量到所謂基準款式的造形。愈是簡單的物件,愈容易畫蛇添足。我再次深深落入對於線條的思考,井然有序、按比例、耐看,好的線條該是可以被理解的,有種「剛好放回去」的感覺。Rapid E6正好符合了我對於訂書機的標準模樣,以至它的內部組件沒有一處我看不明白。我們後來傍身的文具不都是那些最基本的款式嗎?

Small and unassuming, stationery are measured to the highest standard of functionality and benchmark of form. The simpler the object, the harder it is to get right. The Rapid E6 has spurred in me reflections on lines, order, proportion and endurance. “Good lines” are easy to understand, and they remind one of a puzzle – fitting just perfectly. The Rapid E6 represents precisely such a standard; there’s not a single component which I cannot understand its purpose in relation to the whole. Come to think of it, that’s what every piece of stationery we keep close to ourselves has in common.

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我在此順帶一提訂書機一種鮮為人知的功能。很多人未必知道訂書機前端底部的砧塊(anvil)可以通過旋轉換成「Pinning」模式,如此一來,訂書釘在裝訂後是向外彎而非常見的向內彎,訂書釘因此可以輕易橫向拔除,不再有拆爛紙張的煩惱。光是這種「Pinning」訂書釘的線條也很美吧?……

好。先談到這裡。我是時候要坐上我的火紅戰車走一回了。

Here’s a life hack: the metal plate attached to the base of a stapler, known as the anvil, can rotate or slide to switch between bending the staple ends inward for permanent stapling or outward for pinning. The perfect lines of the Rapid E6 in pinning mode are simply beautiful.

Right, time for me to go for a ride with my crimson hot wheels.

w