The Universe of Writing Culture
David Oscarsonʼs
15-year history coalesces in a pen
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VOLUME 27, NUMBER 6 ON OUR COVER: The 15th Anniversary American Art Deco by David Oscarson
58 David Oscarson turns fifteen
At fifteen, Oscarson’s brand is still young but firmly rooted and always fresh.
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36 the poet is a penman
Get to know California poet and pen lover Neeli Cherkovski.
40 throw away those cigar boxes
Organize your pens! Find out how one prolific collector does it.
48 going hunting
Pens are hot in India—and the pen hunting is fine in Delhi, Lucknow and Jaipur.
63 listen to the music
Franklin-Christoph offers a two-slitted music nib that sings on paper.
66 what’s your bag?
Hermès, known for its luxury bags and accessories, turns its attention to writing.
69 material world
Paul Erano’s series finale: the fabulous materials of today’s pens.
66
74 father of the Jif Matic
Waterman’s Jif Matic was ingenious—but it wasn’t the first of its kind.
77 PEN POWER!
See the latest and greatest in our 22nd Annual Fall Preview of Pens!
58 63 77
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Cindy Zimmermann
Behind the Wax Seal
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William Penn
108 network
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110 source 112 imho
guide to products and services
alive and well
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54 2
Winner, Best Fine Art Pen PEN WORLD Readers’ Choice Awards
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2014 Tropical Fishes • 2013 Storks
Power and Pens
I Horse and Eagle Emperor/magnum size One-of-a-kind
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Not only perfect writing instruments, but also your own museum that is always with you. One of a kind & limited edition pens. Custom ordered pens and desk sets. Artus pens now available at La Couronne du Comte, The Netherlands www.artuspen.ru•artuspen@inbox.ru TEL: +7-4932-478-111
can think of no better time to proclaim the power of the pen than right now. A few weeks ago as of this writing, New York Times technology columnist Nick Bilton’s article “Fare Thee Well, My Pen” announced that the pen is dead, the victim of the finger. “The pen will eventually become obsolete,” he summed up. (See IMHO in this issue for one reader’s response.) Evidence to the contrary is right here in your hands. The David Oscarson brand turns fifteen this year—a huge achievement for a one-man luxury startup. See his anniversary pen on our cover and in the story “Gathering up the Years.” And in Nicky Pessaroff ’s story “Hermès’s New Bag Is a Pen,” you will learn that the French luxury brand is adding an entire category of pens and writing accoutrements. Barry Gabay’s articles about India (see “A Tale of Three Cities” and “The Future Has Arrived,” beginning on p. 48) describe his adventures hunting for pens amid a culture that prizes the handwritten word, and Paul Erano, in the final segment of his series on fountain pen materials, delves into the staggering variety of pen materials that inventive makers are using today. Collectors won’t want to miss John Harwood’s article on organizing a collection or Richard Binder’s latest piece on
the filling systems of yesteryear. And of course this is our annual Fall Preview issue—the theme for which is Pen Power. Enjoy our special section and embrace the power! Yes, the pen is alive and well, still...but we can’t take it for granted that the writing culture we know and care about so deeply will always survive. If you love pens, whether vintage or modern, whether a certain brand or all pens, vote with your pocketbook. Support what you love, to the extent you can. And now, on an exceedingly sad note: just as we were preparing to go to press with this issue of PW, we, along with the rest of the pen community, were rocked by news of the sudden passing of PW columnist Cindy Zimmermann. Few people seemed more full of life than she, and her legions of friends are numb with grief. Few details are known at this time, but we will publish a tribute to her in the next issue. She would want very much for you to enjoy her column in this issue titled “Write Your Way to a Happier Life.” That’s just what she did in her life, as anyone who knew her is well aware. If there was ever an advocate for the power of the pen, it was Cindy—and she will be terribly missed.
editor@penworld.com
Gathering Up the
Years
BY LAURA CHANDLER
David Oscarson celebrates fifteen years of pen design.
David Oscarson Fifteenth Anniversary American Art Deco, $5,600–5,800
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 58
The young Oscarsons, from left—Grant, 15; Alex, 18; Anni, 10; and Max, 12. All have appeared in David Oscarson ads, as Anni did in this one for the Celestial.
ver the past few years, Pen World has celebrated the centennials of several pen brands that have been in continuous production since their founding. Their achievements are nothing less than inspiring—not least because they weathered the travails of the Great Depression, World Wars I and II, and a century’s worth of fads and fickle tastes. This year, we celebrate with David Oscarson as his eponymous pen brand, established in 2000, turns fifteen. Although it’s a short time in comparison, it’s long enough that readers of PW have watched his children grow up in the pages of this magazine and for Oscarson to have designed and brought to fruition twenty-two limited editions. He has created a highly recognizable presence in the industry and he did it entirely in the digital age. He also did it pretty much by himself. No, he
O
doesn’t actually craft each individual pen—the manufacture is carried out in England, and Oscarson is based in Saint Louis, Missouri—but he painstakingly creates every design, makes every decision, meets the public at pen shows and, yes, even answers the telephone. The designs themselves are wildly divergent, even though he has adhered to the same basic artistic concept over the years: his entire collection features hot enamel, often translucent, the better to see the guilloché engraving underneath on the solid silver bodies. The colors range from subdued to riotous, made possible by the vibrant color that can be achieved with hot enamel. Think about the Lilies pen, with its subtle
gradations of color, which was inspired by his young daughters’ innocence and which was also a tribute to an unnamed early supporter, a man who, Oscarson says, “is the reason I’m in business.” Now, compare the Lilies to the Valhalla, which is one of three pens that hark back to Oscarson’s Swedish ancestry. The Valhalla, decorated with runic script and Viking images, is crude by comparison, but authentic— Oscarson meticulously researches every pen. More recently, the Alfred Bernhard Nobel and Carl Linnaeus pens have celebrated fellow Swedes: respectively, the establisher of the Nobel Peace Prize and the eighteenthcentury naturalist who developed the binomial system of nomenclature for 59
Tree of Life and Pierrot. (Pierrette, the companion piece for Pierrot, has a white background.)
plants and animals still in use today. Some of Oscarson’s pieces were inspired by his faith, including the Celestial, which in Mormon theology is a reference to the highest of three heavenly kingdoms, and the Tree of Life, named for the tree in the Book of Mormon that gives eternal life to those who eat of its fruit. If these pieces seem personal, that’s because they are—unabashedly so. Intuition might dictate that such pieces would find a limited audience, but the evidence seems to indicate otherwise, affirming the old saying that the things that are most personal are most universal. Oscarson pens have twice won PW’s most presti60
gious honor—Pen of the Year in the annual Readers’ Choice Awards—for the Lilies and Harlequin—plus another award for Most Glamorous pen for the Diamond Seashell. In addition, the David Oscarson Harvest, Pierrot and Pierrette, Celestial and Harlequin pens were named “Best of the Best” in the Robb Report. Over the years, Oscarson’s designs have grown more complex, with the technical challenges ranging from difficult to exceedingly difficult. One technological milestone came early: making the handblown English leaded crystal barrel on the pen appropriately named Crystal
(2002) and incorporating it into the pen. Other more recent technical challenges included the overlays on the Black Water Dragon and Black Water Snake, and the rotating body of the Rosetta Stone (see “Written in Stone” in our June issue.) His first pen that included multiple contrasting colors of enamel, the Art Deco–styled Pierrot and Pierrette, was difficult to create because of the color scheme. Oscarson’s signature hot enamel requires firing in a kiln and the various colors of enamel have different firing temperatures because of the different metal oxides in them. A temperature of 1,000 degrees
David Oscarson Lilies; cap of the Valhalla
Fahrenheit is fine for heat-tolerant blue but would cause the more delicate greens, yellows and reds to turn brown. Each color of enamel, then, had to be fired separately in descending order of most heat-tolerant to least. Incidentally, on the day the ad for the Pierrot and Pierrette collection first hit, Oscarson says, he received an email with this message: “Congratulations, you’ve just ruined your entire collection and your reputation. I hate it. Sincerely yours, Anonymous.” With obvious relish, Oscarson adds, “I understand that not every piece is going to resonate with every person, but the Pierrot and Pierrette sold out faster than any of our other collections and was one of our most successful ever.” The vibrant Harlequin in 2011—along
with the Lilies in 2009 and the Carl Linnaeus in 2013, with the subtle gradations of color on the petals of the flowers—no doubt owe their existence to all that Oscarson learned through the work done on the 2004 Pierrot and Pierrette. The Pierrot and Pierrette have been so important to Oscarson’s oeuvre, in fact, that he describes his celebratory Fifteenth Anniversary American Art Deco pen in terms of them. “The Fifteenth Anniversary pen shows off what we can do, like the Pierrot and Pierrette did. It’s really a companion piece for the Pierrot and Pierrette—it’s in the same Art Deco vein. “I’m excited about the Fifteenth Anniversary piece because it’s so funky and artsy—it’s the recognition
of everything we’ve done for the past fifteen years,” Oscarson continues. Indeed it is, in a literal sense. The cap and barrel incorporate guilloché 61
Pierrot & Pierrette and Celestial
Pierrette Snake
Harvest
Crystal Henrik Wigstrom
Crystal
Dragon
engraving patterns from past pens in vibrantly enameled geometrically shaped sections, against a pinstripe guilloché background enameled in a contrasting color. On the clip are two quarter-sections of the full sunburst motif that can be seen on the Pierrot and Pierrette. Despite all the references to previous work, the pen has a brand new body style with a reverse taper and it looks fresh and new—different from anything Oscarson has previously made. The guilloché patterns, after all, are subtle, and only those who are highly observant or who own other Oscarson pieces would make the connection. That is why the Fifteenth Anniversary pen can also be 62
Lewis and Clark
seen as a tribute to Oscarson’s faithful collectors and supporters. “These are my friends—part of my family,” Oscarson says, speaking with a discernible lump in his throat. “It’s very humbling to create something you love that they also love, and I’m very grateful.” This pen is for them. As of press time, Oscarson still had not made his final selections for the background colors, but the possibilities include black, white, teal, orange, blue, yellow, purple and red. One hundred fifty will be made in each color he selects, comprising both fountain pens and rollerballs.
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