Origin One where my addiction for fountain pens seeks its final solace
I am a self-confessed fountain pen addict. Addiction, that borders on penophilia. Countless well-wishers have suggested that I seek professional help. Friends and relatives shun me. Colleagues nod disinterestedly in stoic silence every time I accost them with stories of my latest pen-capades and the young simply think I am nuts to be even trying to woo them off their word processors, to take up a pen (an ink pen, no less) – the way God must have intended them to.
Well, not that I deny the fact that I have been pushing my pen (no pun intended) just a bit too far. But what else could I have done? As Lewis Armstrong said “Pen is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place, If I quit, however, it lasts forever.” Well, he had actually said “pain”, but that is not the point. Point is, I needed something to complement my obsession with pens, to even contemplate looking away from them with caressing eyes.
And then I stumbled into the world of Origin One. But “stray” warned. If the design doesn’t get you, the products will. Besides, there is the topping of terms like “sustainable”, “conscious” and “progressively new”, all exclusively designed at giving you the moral justification to take the plunge into hedonism of the vellum kind.
Seriously, the Origin One website is way too cool and can match my Duofolds fold for duo-fold. And why not? The man behind the show is none other than Pushkar Thakur who seems to have more talents that I have Montblanc’s and is one of the foremost names in the field of digital art. (Check him out and other uber kewl stuff he has done at www.thegrafiosi.com) 
Digital Art and note-books for fountain pen freaks? Well, let’s skip the geometry. Who says natural brilliance must be packaged in plastic bags of conformist mediocrity?
And brilliant his stuff really is. Not only in terms of the minimalist design with his trade mark touch of the exotic, but also from the point of view of functionality. Take the thread stitched notebook that I am now using for example. It is made of 112 GSM paper that comes from sustainable forests (look at my carbon footprint shrinking even as I say this). What makes it even more drool worthy is the fact that the paper is ink friendly – no blotches, no bleeds, no after-taste like varicose veins on the other side of (what you wrote / scribbled / doodled at) midnight.
Apart from the five sizes they come in, they also offer picks from plain, ruled, squared and multi-use grids that work as broad-spectrum anti-biotic to any creativity blocker that may raise its ugly head. Sketch, doodle, scribble or write the next Das Kapital in Capitals – lack of a proper note book to complement the ink will never be an excuse no more. And least I forget, the guys at Origin One have thrown in a perpetual calendar to aid the proletarian struggle for paper, for good measure.
So far so good, the real tear jerker is when one is expected to choose between the Screen-Printed Kraft or the Solid Black cover. There is only one reasonably wise thing to do – buy both.
Origin One designs are proprietary, and innovations like the multi-use notebook or the weekly planner are aimed for the global nomad who has been there, tweeted it all. Constantly evolving (and growing) since their debut in 2014, this niche brand is, to put things in the right perspective, the rock band of the stationery space. As a matter of fact, the specially curated gift boxes and India’s first stationery subscription service are a rage with a following that has already accorded Origin One a cult status that puts them in the same league with Bollywood stars and cricketing legends.
Planners, diaries, journals, social stationery, curated gift boxes, pencils, thread-stitched and wire-bound note books … Origin One has come a long way since it mesmerised on debut in Goa (which was followed up with a launch of the inaugural collection at the London Design Festival) and it is a shame that I had not started collecting their limited edition offerings earlier.
For, what good is an obsession with fountain pens if you don’t have the full arsenal of exclusive stationery products to give vent to your passion?
Some obsessions are stand alone. Some demand a soul mate. And Origin One, I realise, is the chosen one to fill the void that was there in the hearts of my pens. As I write this, do I hear a faint murmur of approval from the pens who have consumed the last three decades of my attention? Are they in agreement when I feel compelled to have every piece that Origin One has crafted with such obvious love and tender care? Is the Namiki Emperor nodding in approval? Are the Pelikans and the Sailors and the Gamas endorsing the idea with beaming smiles. They are.
Origin One, get ready for the one thing you deserve the most – an addict for whom each peak is reason enough to vie for the next high. I’m on my way.
If you want to join me and be comfortably numb visit: