These were a real gem of a find. Marker pens really came of age in the graphic and design studios of the 80s. They were a key visualisation tool and any graphic studio worth their salt wouldn’t be complete without a full set of these stubby little glass bottles.
Their advantage over other rendering techniques was that they allowed you to work fast to get ideas out of your head, through your hand and onto paper in a form that represented form, volume, speed, texture.
For this reason they were ideally suited for product and automotive concept renderings. In the right hands and with the right choice of papers you could blend colours and produce illustrations that approached the photographic realism of the airbrush. I used to pour over work by the likes of Dick Powell.
These stubby glass bottles refused to conform to any ideas of ergonomic styling that current markers now follow, but fitted snuggly between your thumb and forefinger. They stood up proud and ready for action on your desk rather than rolling around. The name was great, the shape was great and you could refill them with solvent when they ran dry.
With these little bottles of colour you could render the future.