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How I turned struggling over my kids’ homework into an opportunity
by Michael Restin
Forget Labubu, check out my daughter’s Legami pens
22-8-2025
Translation: Elicia Payne
Pictures: Patrick Vogt
A monkey, lion, butterfly and llama – my daughter’s desk is turning into a real zoo. The reason being these cute Legami pens that have been on a popularity streak for a few years.
Time flies! It feels like I was changing our daughter’s nappy just yesterday – and now she’s already in year one. Of course, Zoe received a school cone just in time for the start of school. My colleague Katja was definitely right when she said the German school cone tradition has taken off in Switzerland now too.
The school cone alone isn’t the only important thing – what’s inside is important too. Responsible parents, as we sometimes mostly are, we’ve packed all kinds of useful things for Zoe’s new school routine, including various pens from Legami.
Lega-what?
I’d never heard of this brand before. No wonder, especially since Alberto Fasso only founded Legami in Milan in 2003. Long after my school days, when we still had to refill our fountain pens from the inkwell on the teacher’s desk.
In any case, Fasso obviously knew he was on to something when he came up with Legami. The bright pens and their animal designs in particular have been very popular and highly sought after by (school) children internationally for several years now. The range has expanded to various pens and colouring pencils as well as sharpeners, cases and erasers. What remains the same are the cute animal designs and the colours. Oh, and the erasers are supposed to be scented.
Yes, these cute pens are all the rage, my wife tells me. That’s why she secretly bought about a dozen of them, including accessories, for Zoe in the Legami store when the two of them spent a few days in Italy this summer. Because it’s cheaper there, says my thrifty wife. In other words, a holiday to help the family budget – how responsible!
It’s also great that when the pen runs out, that’s not the end of it. If the ink’s dry or used up, you can simply refill it with a cartridge.
And I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: Legami pens are just too cute!
The downside to the cute pen?
Our daughter’s only just starting school. The children won’t be discussing her Legami pens yet. But, sooner or later, this’ll probably change and then we’ll also have to deal with the possible downsides of such consumer trends.
Without wanting to stop this, it’s still down to us parents to steer away from this is as much as possible and to react as soon as there are negative signs.
For now, Zoe’s just happy to have a few cute pens to use at home. I get excited about them too and sometimes use one – when she’s not looking.
By the way, the current Labubu trend has completely passed her by. She thinks the grimacing Temu monkey is ugly. That’s my girl!
Legami or Labubu, what do you think of these trends? How many animal pens does your child already have? Let me know in the comments.
Header image: Patrick Vogt
I'm a full-blooded dad and husband, part-time nerd and chicken farmer, cat tamer and animal lover. I would like to know everything and yet I know nothing. I know even less, but I learn something new every day. What I am good at is dealing with words, spoken and written. And I get to prove that here.
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