Eibar, 1920. Two employees of the company Orbea, Juan Solozabal and Juan Olave, who made firearms, created the company El Casco. It was about producing high-quality revolver, taking advantage of what was learned at the Orbe, and they did so for nine years. But the crisis of 1929 also affected the revolver market and both armers decided to adapt their production. Using the same raw materials, machinery and specialised personnel, office equipment will be produced from then on.

They designed a stapler in the form of a fungus and called it “cosepapers” or “paper sewing machine”. And from the beginning they clearly pointed out their relationship with the armory: “A staple in the stapler should circulate as accurately as a bullet in the barrel of a revolver.” Staplers already existed in the market, for example C. H. Heavy artifact of more than a kilo patented by Gould in 1879. Thus, it cannot be said that Olave and Solozabal invented the stapler, but they were the first to produce and expand the light manual staplers.

Paper drills, taps or letter weights were also manufactured, but the stapler would be the star product of the company, especially since the well-known M-5 model was manufactured in 1932. Today, at the Elgeta factory, El Casco continues to produce M-5 and is sold all over the world. In addition, the 90-year model is exhibited at the MoMa Museum in New York as a work of art.

The story of El Casco indicates that everyday objects can become art. But first he points out that many of the everyday objects originate in the military industry, giving priority to military needs in the face of the needs of civil society, although then they serve to respond to them. In addition to staplers invented in Eibar, many other inventions of military origin have changed our lives: adhesive tape, packaged food, microwave, contact tail, menstrual pads, weather radars, internet, synthetic rubber tires...