Pen World V29.4 by Pen World

The Universe of Writing Culture

how Fonderie 47 and

CROSS are making the world safer

paper for fountain pen lovers and here they are...

the winners PWâ&#x20AC;&#x2C6;Readersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Choice 2016

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une is bustin’ out all over! So goes the famous song from the musical Carousel—and it’s true. Along with all of the other things that are bustin’ out, you’ll find a bumper crop of new pens in this issue. From the Cross Peerless Fonderie 47 on our cover (find out its noble purpose beginning on p. 36) to the sculptural beauties by Shawn Newton (p. 44) to the handsome, durable metalwork of Karas Kustoms (p. 40) to a host of pens in our Now section (p. 16), we offer a massive bouquet of pens to pick from. We’ve made it a tradition for each June issue to focus on writing papers as well. This year, we discuss how the paper’s finish affects the writing experience (p. 32), compared three popular fountain pen–worthy planners (p. 48), and profiled young bookbinder Anna J. Bach, whose affordable regular and custom-made journals may be the answer to your dreams (p. 56). Deborah Basel continues her series on calligraphers, this time introducing the work of Schin Loong—check out her stunning work, including pen holders hand-painted in the maki-e style, beginning on p. 52. A team of writers, Todd Eberspacher and Tim Laros, appears in Pen World for the first time, beginning a series on the multiplicity of Parker 51 caps (p. 62). We also honor the late Fred Plewa, whose

beautiful art graced these pages for many years. You’ll find a tribute to him on p. 12 and some of his favorite PW pieces reprinted on pp. 59–61. “Good Hands” was the title of my column almost a year ago when I was writing about the emerging generation of young pen manufacturers, retailers, calligraphers and handwriting enthusiasts, and entrepreneurs. Now I use it again for a more personal reason—retirement beckons, and the time has come for me to leave the editorship of Pen World in someone else’s very good hands. Although I will no longer be calling the editorial shots, I will continue writing for Pen World—as long as I am able to hold a pen or as long as my successor allows me, whichever comes first! I have loved all my time with Pen World, especially being editor-in-chief for the past eight years. My deepest thanks go to my colleagues at Pen World and to our writers—it has been a joy collaborating with every single one; to our advertisers, without whom Pen World would simply not exist; and to our readers. I won’t get to write this column anymore, of course, and I will miss it. I always feel as if I’m writing to the dearest of friends. And I am.

Pen with a Purpose

BY LAURA CHANDLER

The Cross Peerless Fonderie 47 wrings beauty from a most unlikely source.

The Cross Peerless Fonderie 47. MSRP: $4,700

he pen is mightier than the sword—at Pen World, we believe that. But we didn’t know a pen could be mightier than an AK-47 until we heard about a new collaboration of the A. T. Cross Company with Fonderie 47. Fonderie 47 is the brainchild of social entrepreneur Peter Thum, who, when traveling in Africa, was shocked at the number

of assault rifles he saw, even in the hands of children. In order to take as many AK-47s as possible out of circulation, he hit upon the idea of melting them down and turning them into objects of beauty: jewelry, watches, and now, a pen. To accelerate the goal of taking guns out of circulation, part of the purchase price of each item would go toward the further destruction of

arms. Thum wished to partner with Cross in the venture as he had been introduced to Magnus Jonsson, chief marketing officer at Cross, and discovered they shared the philosophy that brands should serve a social purpose. The journey of making the new pen—the Cross Peerless Fonderie 47—began in Virunga National Park.

Tourists on a mountain gorilla trek. Notice the armed park ranger at right.

Paradise Lost Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, situated on the border with Rwanda and Uganda, is one of the most beautiful and biologically diverse places on earth. A substantial number of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas live here, and in fact the park was established to protect the species. The official website for Virunga touts its “treks”—ranger-led expeditions that allow tourists to observe the gorillas at such close range that visitors must wear surgical masks to protect the gorillas against human illnesses, to which they are extremely susceptible.

Okapi, another endangered species, can be seen in the park as well, along with hippopotami, forest and savanna elephants, lions, and rare birds. Virunga is irresistible to tourists, even with one major catch. Virunga is also, heartbreakingly, a very dangerous place. It is large—only somewhat smaller than Yellowstone National Park in the United States—and its richly varied terrain provides the perfect place for militias to hide out. Armed conflict hasn’t ceased since the war that followed the Rwandan genocide in 1994 and the influx of more than a million refugees into the park.

Any measure of safety in Virunga is due to the heroic, well-trained park rangers who patrol and protect the park, but every day they put their lives on the line. John Vidal, reporting from Nairobi for the Guardian on May 7, reported that in March, two park rangers had been surrounded by local militia, captured, and executed in “another atrocity in the brutal wildlife wars raging through southern Sudan, the Central African Republic, Congo, and parts of Uganda, Chad, and Tanzania.” The two murders brought the total to five rangers so far this year in Virunga alone. The people behind this 37

A steel band on the barrel carries the number of the gun destroyed to make the pen; the Fonderie 47 logo appears at the top of the cap

violence are vicious criminals who use the profits from poaching to fund “war, terrorism, and crime,” writes Vidal. To explain the severity of the danger in Virunga and in Garamba, another large park in DRC, Vidal quotes Peter Fearnhead, African Parks director: “It’s war...Militia are now bidding for contracts to get tons of ivory. It’s big business with groups of armed people crossing multiple borders. These people have phenomenal bush skills, with AK-47s. They shoot for the head. They are a total law unto themselves.” 38

It’s important to know the background in order to fully appreciate the provenance of the AK-47s that Fonderie 47 obtained to make into jewelry and pens—the guns were confiscated by the forestry service from poachers in Virunga National Park.

From Swords to Plowshares It took a year and a half of negotiations for Fonderie 47 to get legal possession of the guns. The organization “made a donation to the park service for the guns

and covered their costs of transporting them,” says Magnus Jonsson. “The rangers also helped to identify a local metalsmith who cut up and then broke down the parts of the rifles in Goma.” He explains that the guns were cut up with a hacksaw by hand and the steel heated in a fire until red hot and then hammered with an anvil to break them into pieces. The pieces were transported to New York City in luggage, where they were “re-constituted” into usable material by forging and casting. The steel from these guns is used to add

distinctive details to the 18 karat goldfilled version of Cross’s Peerless model. The original Cross Peerless 125 was the cover pen for PW’s February 2015 issue. A “cross” between the company’s original Peerless in 1889 (the brand’s first fountain pen) and the Classic Century from 1946, the pen has a wider profile than most people associate with the brand. That wide profile comes from the 1889 Peerless. It has the tapered cap, however, of the Classic Century. At the top of the pen’s cap is a disk of blackened steel marked with the Fonderie 47 logo—a capital F and the numerals 47 for both the gun and the year it was introduced (1947). The shape of the logo evokes a crucible pouring molten metal. The letters are purposely a little off-center, as if floating on a molten surface. In addition, a center band on the barrel of the pen carries the serial number of the gun taken out of circulation to create it. The pen comes with an 18 karat solid gold nib in medium. Only 47 pieces, all fountain pens, are available worldwide.

is impossible to tell how many deaths have been averted because of Fonderie 47’s and Cross’s efforts. Still, one of the primary reasons for the AK-47’s popularity has been its accessibility. It thus stands to reason that any AK-47 destroyed translates into lives saved. To date, Fonderie 47’s initiative has destroyed more than 50,000 assault weapons and each purchase of a Cross Peerless Fonderie 47 pen will fund the destruction of ten more guns. Explains Jonsson, “When a pen is sold, the retailer keeps a portion, Cross receives a portion, and Fonderie 47 receives a portion. Fonderie 47 in turn makes a donation for every sale to Mines Advisory Group, our Nobel Prize– winning not for profit partner. These funds are used to pay for the labor and equipment needed to destroy 10 guns per pen.” When the last of the Cross Peerless Fonderie 47 pens is sold, the buyers will have been responsible for removing 470 assault rifles from Africa—each one potentially representing hundreds of lives saved.

Impact Deaths due to gun violence can be counted. Deaths prevented cannot, so it

Find out more about Fonderie 47 at fonderie47.com. Visit Cross at cross.com.

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