Pen World V30.5 by Pen World

The Universe of Writing Culture

30th

Anniversary 1987-2017

STAEDTLER celebrating cities around the world

Santini Italia Turin-based and turning heads

Hey, Sailor! Jentle Inks are making waves

Plus: Ink-Fest 2017! Summer sizzles with a festival of inks AUGUST 2017 $6.95US $7.95CAN

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Classic 200 Smoky Quartz

SPECIAL EDITION www.pelikan.com/exclusive

AUGUST VOLUME 30, NUMBER 5

72 58

ON OUR COVER: STAEDTLER Premium Corium Urbes

58 around the world with 80 pens

Okay, not 80 pens, but Staedtler’s Corium Urbes gives major cities leather-wrapped love.

33 piston full-ﬁlled

Richard Binder takes us to the present in the second part of his history of the piston ﬁller.

48 more, Montblanc, more!

Montblanc limited edition inks are beloved.

51 Sailor’s Jentle touch

Six classic Sailor colors are available again on this side of the Paciﬁc.

54 ink-fest 2017

In PW’s newest special section, see inky offerings from Monteverde, Akkerman, Robert Oster, Herbin, and many more.

62 don Giovanni

Santini Italia’s masterful metalwork, handmade in Turin.

66 David gets koi

Oscarson Pens pays tribute to maki-e and colorful carp.

68 a happy marriage

Aurora Pens and Kenro Industries are looking to the past to inform the future.

72 the aloha spirit

Kanilea Pen Co. ﬁnds inspiration in the Hawaiian Islands.

68 62

departments 6 8

view indelible ink

mail our readers speak

10 news

Fahrney’s, Bittner, Kaweco, Story Supply Co.

18 now 26 date

new pens and products

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30 show

Washington D.C., San Francisco, Dallas

36 nibs

the Minuskin touch

40 strokes 44 deskology 76 network 78 source

Inktober’s Jake Parker

what is ink?

classiﬁed advertising

brand contact information

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Indelibility BY NICKY PESSAROFF

here’s a whole lot of nothing in the Chihuahua Desert of southern New Mexico—vast expanses of sand and scrub, Yucca plants whose long stalks stretch to the sky, the whiff of mesquite after a summer monsoon. The stark beauty of the desert demands poetry, while the vast expanses of open land seem designed to make an individual feel small. Between 900 and 1400 C.E., native Jornada Mogollon peoples decorated the rocks, mountains, and caves of today’s Three Rivers, New Mexico, in expressive art. Fifty acres of basalt rock are adorned with over 21,000 petroglyphs: birds, insects, plants, abstract designs. But by the 1500s, when Spanish explorers first discovered the Northern Chihuahua Desert, the Jornada Mogollon people were already gone, like so many settlements at the time. Some speculate that they moved north toward Albuquerque, while others believe the civilization simply petered out. The remains of a village and those petroglyphs are all that remain of the Jornada Mogollons. Arguably, the petroglyphs are the Jornada Mogollons’ most important legacy. Spend all day in the park, and you still won’t get anywhere near to exploring all its depths. Those glyphs were made to be indelible, and thank goodness they were, as indelible signs like these allow us a greater understanding of who we are as human beings, where we’ve been, and where we’re going. I like to believe that we do the same type of work in the pen community. You can save all your files to the Cloud, but what if the Cloud fails? The digital realm may appear permanent, but one brown out, and we all remember just how virtual that reality is. Ink is designed for permanence, and it’s a chemical substance that rarely gets its due. That’s why we dedicate the August issue of Pen World to the handwriting community’s liquid best friend. What’s a pen without ink? What’s paper without the scratch of the nib? These three items—stylus, paper, ink—allow us to leave an indelible trace. Outside of children, written letters may be our best chance for some semblance of immortality.

Petroglyphs from the Three Rivers area of New Mexico. Photo by Dusty Matthews of Brooklyn, New York, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Ink is the place that art meets science, that self-expression meets history. Those Jornada Mogollons couldn’t imagine that they were leaving a written record of their lives—or could they? Almost every civilization has attempted to write its history on landscape, to etch history into the land indelibly. We’re really not all that different today. Ink is experiencing a renaissance both in terms of production and public response. A savvy and self-educated populace is demanding brighter colors, better viscosity, better adherence, and permanence. From the bright and shimmering to the deep and shaded, today’s inks are varied, singular, and above all, reliable. So in this issue, we pay our respects to that thin wet line that connects pen to paper. We also take you on a journey—not to my desert backyard, but across the globe. From Staedtler’s new Corium Urbes cover pen, which pays respect to some of the greatest cities in the world; and on to Italy, where Santini Italia’s fine metal work awaits, and Aurora’s Italian flair and technical prowess impress; to Japan, and Sailor’s line of fountain pen inks, along with David Oscarson’s hot enamel homage to maki-e; then a quick stopover in Hawaii for a glimpse of the paradisiacal landscapes that inspire Kanilea Pen Co. Don’t worry—we’ll get you home in plenty of time for the D.C., San Francisco, and Dallas pen shows! A millennium from now, some archival site will provide students of history with a glimpse of our culture. Chances are, inked documents will provide some of the clues. Even rocks, after centuries of erosion, will lose their luster. But given today’s high standards and continuing innovations, our inky messages might live on even longer.

Coming in October: Pearls of Wisdom Pen World’s Special Edition 30th Anniversary Issue Featuring the 25th Annual Fall Preview of Pens The original and best journal on handwriting culture celebrates three decades as the voice of the pen community. Accept no substitute.

STAEDTLER’s Corium Urbes celebrates cities of the world.

Metro Chic BY NICKY PESSAROFF

The Staedtler Premium Corium Urbes line features cowhide leather barrels with metal appointments. The collection spans 35 cities from across the globe, including the company’s home base of Nuremberg, Germany, and a vision of the Kremlin in Moscow.

he Eurail Pass is an amazing thing. I used it almost 20 years ago on a whirlwind tour of Europe over Spring Break. Backpacks on our backs, my friend and I traversed Spain, France, Sweden, Denmark, Italy…at this far remove, I’m not even sure anymore. My memory is a haze of Alps, bars, late-night searches for hostels after staggering out of the train station in our next European city, and then further museums, city centers, tours. As our last train pulled into our final stop, I realized someone had stolen my Discman while I slept. The whole trip feels that way to me now, somehow stolen, as if all those cities—Paris, Stockholm, Frankfurt, Prague—were a dreamscape, ephemeral glimpses only made static by my photographs. The sketched glimpses of famous global cities on the new Staedtler Premium Corium Urbes fountain pen have a similar dreamscape aesthetic—a barrel of calfskin leather with a sketch of a city skyline or iconic symbol with the city name written perpendicularly. There are 35 distinct cities represented in the Corium Urbes line, and it’s impossible to 58

see them all with a Eurail pass, as they span the globe: New York, Paris, Tokyo, Moscow, Johannesburg, Dubai, Rio de Janeiro—every continent and region save Antarctica is represented. The pen and ink art on the barrel is refined and clear—there is no mistaking the Statue of Liberty on the New York pen with any other icon—but the design also incorporates some whimsy in the very fine but relaxed calligraphy. Corium Urbes is classic Staedtler Premium style: a metal body with matte chrome finish, the company’s triple-overlay metal clip, and the Mars head logo on the cap top. The pen accepts a cartridge or converter and has a stainless steel nib in fine, medium, or broad. Like writing instruments across the Staedtler Premium line, the Corium Urbes is more than just a looker, it’s a writer; and with an MSRP of $470, this is a reasonablypriced piece of luxury. Corium Urbes is not Staedtler’s first foray into the leather-wrapped lifestyle; Corium Simplex is the progenitor in the line. Metal fittings with matte chrome finish on the section and cap compliment the cowhide leather, which comes in brown, anthracite, or beige. Corium Simplex is available in fountain pen, rollerball, and ballpoint modes. With the Eminentes line of limited edition leather-wrapped pens, Staedtler Premium took leather artistry to the next level. The Eminentes Albertus Durerus Noricus is a fine example of this line. Honoring German-born artist and allaround Renaissance man, Albrecht Dürer, the body is wrapped in premium-grade Simmental cattle leather. Dürer’s famous self-portrait is printed on the leather using a manual ink jet printing process. The gold-plated body has a clip inlaid with European black walnut. Limited to 541 numbered pieces.

Corium Urbes features Staedtler’s signature triple-window overlay clip. The stainless steel nib with engraved Staedtler Mars head logo comes in ﬁne, medium, or broad. Right—Corium Urbes: New York shows the Statue of Liberty on the leather-wrapped barrel.

Before the printing can begin, quality control specialists at Staedtler hand-select the finest pieces of cowhide leather. Hand-tanning and dyeing make each writing instrument one-of-a-kind; the process is proprietary to Staedtler and takes quite a number of labor hours to complete. When the leather and finish are perfected, the barrel is hand-printed with yet another proprietary process that creates a vibrant image without damaging the leather. Staedtler’s interest in cities is an honest one. The company has been one of the cornerstones of industry in Nuremberg, Germany, since at least 1662—the first recording of Friedrich Staedtler and his pencil-making interests. Since then, Staedtler has continually reinvented the pencil and writing instrument market, thus helping Nuremberg’s retention as a major manufacturing hub of Europe. Staedtler ranks among the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of writing instruments, drawing, and creative products. The company is wellrespected among professional artists for its lines of art pens, FIMO clay, pencils, and erasers. The company has over 2,000 employees worldwide (including its North American headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada), with 1,300 employees in Germany alone. Staedtler has a presence in 150 countries, but the vast majority of their manufacturing takes place at the main Nuremberg factory: the complete lines of Lumocolor markers and Triplus fineliners, all writing instrument inks, almost all pencil and colored leads, and the majority of fine writing instruments. It’s a global conglomerate, but Staedtler remains true to its hometown. Since 1997, the Staedtler Foundation has sponsored not-for profit programs across the globe but has paid special attention to Nuremberg. In 2010, Staedtler was honored when a local primary and secondary school—an institution the company had

always supported—changed its name to the Friedrich Staedtler School to honor the company’s founder. Students are able to eat hot, healthy meals prepared by Staedtler’s chef. In 2007, Staedtler donated over $55,000 for the construction of an after-care home for chronically ill children treated at Nuremberg’s Suedklinikum Hospital, ensuring that these brave children receive the follow-up care they need. Staedtler regularly donates writing instruments and art products and even leads workshops to keep up the children’s spirits, an extremely important part of the convalescence and recovery process. Staedtler takes ecological responsibility seriously, as well, using smart sourcing for its pencils. The factory’s carbon footprint is surprisingly small, and recycling is a top priority. For anyone who thinks ecological awareness always comes with a price, Staedtler is proud to point out that its products are made with the highest levels of efficiency and with quality control that demands each Staedtler-brand product is still made to last. The world moves fast. The last time I visited Europe, the Euro didn’t even exist. A satchel of coins from across the continent followed me from city to city, home to home, until they were finally lost. My memories will fade further with time, as well. Thank goodness for the Corium Urbes: whatever city you select, this writing instrument gives a glimpse into the culture and aesthetics that make each metropolis a unique experience. With 35 cities to choose from, you’ll never get tired of the Staedtler world tour. Visit staedtler.com or staedtler.us. Coming in October: more on Staedtler’s lines of art pens and products.

Cursive Is Cooler than Ever It’s not just Staedtler’s hometown of Nuremberg that benefits from the company’s tradition of giving. Staedtler is also directly involved in the Campaign for Cursive®, an ad-hoc committee of the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation that advocates for cursive instruction. Campaign for Cursive chairperson Gayna Scott says the Cursive Is Cool® contest, now in its fourth year, is the highlight of the year. Judges received hundreds of cursive writing samples from North American students in 2017, significantly increasing the number of participants from prior years. In the United States, 29 different schools participated. Male and female student winners for each grade were selected in the United States and Canada. In addition to the best penmanship competition, a “Creative” category rewarded students for creative compositional aspects to their essays. As in prior years, Staedtler donated gift baskets of the company’s art products for contest winners. “Staedtler was once again a terrific sponsor and worked closely with our chairperson in Toronto, Edda Manley,” Scott says. Other sponsors include Pen World, Pelikan, Fahrney’s Pens, CursiveLogic, Amsterdam Printing, Dixon-Ticonderoga, eeBoo, New American Cursive, Think-Board, Sakura, the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation, and Laywine’s stationery store of Toronto, Canada. U.S. girls fourth grade winner Sophia From top—2017 Cursive is Cool fourth grade girls’ U.S. winner Sophia D’Amato of D’Amato of San Diego, California, demonstrated San Diego, California, also won last year her cursive writing skills by winning her grade for this essay. Staedtler donated gift level contest a second straight year. baskets to the winners. Further, a French-language contest was introduced for French-speaking Canadians, with the goal of expanding the Campaign for Cursive’s contest to more students internationally. Scott explains, “Recently, a few other countries have reached out to Campaign for Cursive to run a similar contest using our blueprint. It would be wonderful to further expand this contest globally since we want everyone to be able to read and write cursive, and to be proud of their signatures!” Staedtler Premium Corium Urbes: St. Petersburg, London, Barcelona, and Singapore.

For a complete list of winners, visit cursiveiscool.com. To find out how to participate in the Campaign for Cursive®, or for those interested in helping expand the contest’s borders, visit campaignforcursive.com.

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