Dyes

Sailor, we already said this, changed its marketing strategies last year. As a result, this company eliminated the line of old inks –some of them very popular—and launched what they call “seasonal inks”: four new inks per season. Having already passed the autumnal equinox, the fall inks had to be ripe for release.


These are the new four inks:
Chu-shu: Full moon in mid autumn. A grayish blue.
Oku-yama: Inner mountains. Red-violet.
Kin-mokusei: Fragant olive (Osmanthus fragans). Orange.
Yama-dori: Mountain bird. Blue.


These seasonal inks are, in actual terms, limited releases. Some of them –Sakura-mori and Yuki-akari, of the Spring and Winter collections, respectively— are no longer available in the shops in Tokyo.

This is indeed a great trick. Great and not completely fair. By doing this, Sailor raises some anxiety in all those fond or obsessed with inks—buy now, as soon as possible, for tomorrow they might not be there. And on top of that, their prices are 66% higher than the old line of inks.

Ink is becoming a luxury good. Fancy inkwells, creative names, low production costs, high profits… All for a quite simple product after all. Annoying.

The good news are that there might be room for cheap inks. Fellow blogger Julie (Okami) reported recently on this new line of inks: the Silk Route Inks. 50 ml. of ink at USD 3.50 (plus shipping charges) in functional plastic inkwells. And cheap does not mean, apparently, non-poetic. All power to them!

(Pilot Elite Pocket Pen with crosshatched cap (H187) – Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-guri)

Bruno Taut
(Shinjuku, October 1st, 2010)
[labels: Sailor, tinta, Silk Road Ink]