Spring is here

I do not know how many countries have this tradition but here, it is a custom to offer to the ladies on the 1st of March a small gift in the form of a "martisor" and or snowdrops. In some regions, it is a custom for men to receive them. Anyway, it's meaning is the rebirth of nature the end of winter. It is the white and red string and usually, it comes attached to some kind of figurine, something that shows that spring is here, like a flower or something that brings luck like a horseshoe. And is a custom for women to wear them during the month of March or at least in the first days of March.

Of course, you can find different motifs, flowers, plants, good luck symbols, traditional symbols, birds, insects (usually ladybugs, I haven't seen a dung beetle martisor yet), and colored pencils. Wait .. what?

This is the first year I saw such kind of symbol but maybe it will start a trend. I think the magic pencil from Koh-I-Noor would be a much nicer spring symbol.

Koh-I-Noor and the Olympic Games PyeongChang 2018

It is very hard to find a connection between the sports world and the stationary world. But somehow there is such a connection, in the Czech Republic. Continuing the posts about Koh-I-Noor... 

It is very interesting to see how much the Chech company is tied to the country. In Prague, there are several Koh-I-Noor stores in very central locations. They are in the old part of the city, where it is full of tourists. I would expect to see a bar, a tourist trap or some fashion shops instead of a stationary shop, but they promote themselves very well and want to show the ties of the company to Prague and the Czech Republic. It like bohemia glass, when you say it, Czech Republic comes to mind. To show how "Czech" they are, they closed the production facility in China, so all the Koh-I-Noor products are made in EU.

So since 2016, Koh-I-Noor is a partner of the Czech Olympic team. I think this is the only stationary brand that promotes itself by partnering with the Olympics or with any kind of sport.