The type of pop culture that is honestly very moving and powerful to me is [when artists] do their homework. They make it real.

Once you use a toothbrush to clean a pencil sharpener, you should no longer use it to clean your teeth.

Everyone has pencils in their house, no matter how hip and contemporary they are.

I've been really surprised about a lot of the negative comments about artisanal pencil sharpening. Like, it really rubs some people the wrong way.

I liked sharpening pencils and I was like, "Oh, I wonder if I could get paid to do it." And I figured it out and I did it.

The things I'm grateful for are: I had the one thing that I feel really lucky about, which is that I made something, I made art, that truly - in a weird way - truly comforted me and comforted a lot of people. And I'm really grateful that I got to have that experience.

I wanted to get paid to sharpen pencils originally just because I thought it would be fun.