I first had two lists: top ten modern pens and top ten vintage pens. That I had acquired enough pens in 2008 to make two lists plus have others that didn’t make it to either list gave me pause. I decided to stick to one list. That was harder than I’d expected. What about the …
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Other women reminisce about first dates. I get the same dreamy smile when I think of my first Nakaya. I was in Singapore for a creative workshop. I stole time to pass by Aesthetic Bay. The Piccolo Shu Chinkoku refused to let me leave without it. The housoge design, black on red, is to the …
When I’m in a hurry, I abandon cursive. Goodbye loops, goodbye shading, goodbye thick and thin lines that swoop and scroll into descenders, ascenders and pretenders in between. My G looks like a 6, my R can’t be bothered to close its loop like a lady. Slow writing isn’t necessarily slow thinking. Sometimes the words …
If a haiku were reincarnated as a pen, it would be the Nakaya Piccolo. The seminal Nakaya pen has to be the Piccolo in the kuro-tamenuri (blackish red) finish. It is a triumph of aesthetic restraint. It was the first Nakaya I liked, but the one I never bought, until last weekend. The shape, size …
There were three contenders for my affection in Aesthetic Bay last Sunday, all by Nakaya: a kuro-tamenuri Decapod, a cherry blossom Sumi, and a Piccolo with clip in arai-shu. The Piccolo won. It is the longer Piccolo, commissioned by Aesthetic Bay from Nakaya, because several of their customers liked how the Piccolo looked but were …
Thanks to a friend who’s in Singapore for a conference, my pen will be on its way home in a couple of days. I sent it out for a nib exchange – from a standard fine to a super elastic extra-fine. I can’t wait!
So this is what I was up to, really, in HK. I wanted to see a Nakaya table! Other people fly to Tokyo to see Madonna. This is not a strange thing. I registered as a buyer and waited until the fair opened at 9:30. When I reached the Platinum Pen Co. table, I gawked …
Actually, it’s eleven, but one of my pens is back at the shop, waiting for a nib exchange. I bought more than ten modern pens this year, many pre-owned, and while I liked them all well enough in the first place to buy them, inevitably favorites emerge. The Pilot Bamboo didn’t make it to the …