Ink infused with a DNA sequence has been used in official ceremonies in Germany to mark the 75th anniversary of the German constitution (Grundgesetz).
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of Germany’s Basic Law from 1948, which forms its constitution, the DNA code of the ink of the original constitutional document has been deciphered and incorporated into the ink of the Graf von Faber-Castell collection.
The DNA of Democracy project has seen Professors Reinhard Heckel and Robert Grass from the universities ETH Zurich and TU Munich decipher the DNA of the ink used in the original Basic Law documents from 1948 into a DNA binary code. The artist Slimán López has used the DNA code in a new process to create a document-proof ink for the Graf von Faber-Castell Collection.
With each pen stroke, Faber-Castell’s ink reproduces the ink used in Germany’s Basic Law and preserves it on paper. The carbon black ink produced with the DNA of Democracy initiative is used in the Graf von Faber-Castell Guilloche Black Edition fountain pen, which bears the laser engraving GG (Grundgesetz or Basic Law). Special edition bottles of ink and fountain pens have been made available to political dignitaries in Berlin.
