The Shakespeare Bic

To celebrate BIC Cristal’s 75th and make its “writes 3 km” claim real, we handwrote a 226-page Romeo and Juliet using a single BIC pen. AI-assisted analysis of rare Shakespeare samples mapped his letterforms, joins, slant, spacing and baseline drift; designers, a calligrapher and a forensic expert rebuilt the system. A robot then wrote and illustrated the book with the pen. Made for Brazil, donated to the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon.