The great depression had brought the roaring twenties to a cruel halt in the USA. Fountain pen sales, had plummeted, resulting in a number of pen brands going irretrievably under. The big four – Parker, Sheaffer, Waterman and Eversharp – were battered, with some facing sales losses of upwards of
It had originated in the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in Palermo, Sicily. Giacomo da Lentini, credited with having brought it into being and in its earliest forms, it was restricted to expressing courtly love. However, by the time of the Renaissance, the Sonnet had evolved into
Brahmam fountain pens, to most collectors of India made vintage or antique pens, is but a mystery, wrapped in a riddle, inside an enigma, so difficult it is to come across good, working pieces. Naturally, their scarcity leads to the creation of newer fables around them as the scamper to
John Culmer has been repairing and restoring fountain pens for over thirty years, having acquired the skill from his father Charlie. John’s skill is such that his services are recommended by Parker and Waterman. Today, although the Peel Pen Shop (London) retail store location has now closed, John still repairs
Kolkata has often been called the Cultural Capital of the Nation – killing fields for the Tagores and the Rays (and innumerable others) that have, and continue to dominate our perceptions. While the creative history of the city is mostly well-documented, what is less known is the story of the
Silver filigree work on a fountain pen. Interesting subject, made more so by a near complete lack of knowledge about the same. When did the practise begin? Who were the artisans who perfected the art? Where can one get one, if one so desired? The background din, is near deafening.
Writeway: the ecommerce site that serious hobbyists and lovers of fine writing, not to mention fountainpen and ink fanatics were waiting for! The last two years have witnessed a steady shift of consumer preferences for contact-less, digitised shopping, as more and more people have opted for ecommerce. This shift has
Dhar Brothers and the story of Calcutta’s brush with fountain pen making excellence – fact, fiction or folklore? Imagine that you are so well known for your skills that the Commissioner of Calcutta Police sends his prized fountain pen to you for some repair work. Mind you, this is a
Football, despite its universal appeal and immersive magic, has, by snobbish and opinionated casual commentators, never been seen as an academic pursuit. They somehow overlook the fact that intellectuals and creators like Pasolini, Gramsci, Camus and Galeano have thought about the game at length. There are thousands of books that
How the pen box has brought together my two passions in life – writing and woodworking. A few months ago, I rediscovered an old fountain pen, a long-forgotten companion from my college days. It was a cheap Parker with a plastic body, hidden in the midst of a drawer full
Fountain Pen Culture – ushering-in a new dawn in Bangladesh The Genesis As a Facebook community group, Fountain Pen Culture is fairly new, having started just a few months back. But our ideological fight is at least two decades old – having started the day the fountain pen started losing
A Doctor, a daughter and a fountain pen (sorry, many fountain pens) The joy of touching a pen to paper is, in my humble opinion, a sorely underappreciated one. Every drop of ink holds the power to change the world – or someone’s world, at the very least. I was
