Putting pen to paper becomes a successful venture for a Waterloo man

CTV Kitchener: Fiddle with the Polar Pen You can play with it, use it to draw a perfect circle and write with it. A Waterloo entrepreneur creates a fun and functional pen.

It has been said that the pen is mightier than the sword.  Well for a Waterloo inventor he has proven that his pen can do all types of things; draw the perfect circle, spin it, play with it and of course write with it.

“The product is made out of individual magnets and the idea is that you can fiddle with it, it’s intended to be pulled apart.” Inventor Andrew Gardner explains.

It’s been a couple of whirlwind weeks for the entrepreneur.  His invention has been getting a lot of attention on a crowd-funding website.  He came up with the idea for the Polar Pen, a device that’s meant to be both fun and functional.

“I’ve always had a fascination with magnets and taking pens apart and playing with them.” Gardner explains.

He took the idea to Kickstarter, a crowd-funding website that has just opened up to Canadian projects.

“Basically my initial expectation was to raise $14,000 which would allow me to make two to 500 pens or so.” Gardner says.  But the response to his creation has been much greater.  “I’ve sold 10,000 and the number just keeps going up daily.”

His project is more than 3,000 per cent funded.  Gardner is now reconsidering the initial business plan.   The pen also comes with a stylus tip that can be used on a tablet.

“I didn’t want to fall behind with just paper now that this is the modern day paper.” Gardner says.

He says the attention has been a bit overwhelming.

“We’re super excited and can’t wait to see what comes next.”

These pens are available through the Kickstarter webpage.   Gardner is warning that new orders likely won’t be delivered until February.