I don't know how accurately it measures creative output, but the Sharpener Jar is definitely a practical alternative to the underground artisanal pencil sharpening movement. So it should come as no surprise that designer, entrepreneur, teacher and sometime Core-toonist / Sketch-notetakerCraighton Berman (a.k.a. Fueled by Coffee) has nearly quadrupled his $2,500 Kickstarter goal in just four days.
Every day professional "creatives" spend their waking hours sketching, writing, doodling, brainstorming, drawing, and scribbling on paper—hoping that their next amazing idea will eventually appear. This process fuels a unique angst in the modern-day artist; they spend most of their time merely thinking about what to make with nothing physical to show other than a pile of sketches. Can you get credit for creative effort without showing an end product? How is your boss going to know that you spent most of the day working and not just surfing Tumblr? How can you prove to your clients that your rates are justified despite the absence of actual finished work? Can creative output really be measured?
As in the Dux Inkwell sharpener, an extant glass vessel takes on a new purpose as a reservoir for pencil shavings, underscoring the ritualistic appeal of paring down a stick of wood and graphite.
On the other hand, unlike the Cuppow, Berman has opted to include the jar (and lid and threaded ring) with the sharpener, which surely adds a bit of unnecessary shipping/packaging expense to the product. Hence, the $39 pricetag for a single Sharpener Jar—assuming that the 32 remaining "first editions" at $34 will sell out shortly. (Still, it could be worse: $210 worse.)
We'd love to see these letterform pencils IRL...