On Manu Propria

Manu Propria is the brainchild of Martin Pauli, the Swiss craftsman behind the watch brand Angular Momentum founded in 1998. In 2013, searching for larger canvas to display his ability with urushi, and frustrated with the current state of affairs in the watch industry, Martin Pauli created the Manu Propria, a pen brand.

These pens are, in general, made of ebonite –mostly Japanese, occasionally German. But Martin Pauli also uses wood and bamboo on his pens, and is not shy about combining materials —metal and ebonite, wood and ebonite— to ensure the durability of the pen.

Manu Propria at the Madrid Pen Show in 2015.

But the fundamental characteristic of Manu Propria pens is the urushi-e decoration. Urushi-e, as opposed to the sprinkled motifs of maki-e, are colorful patterns formed by layers of urushi of different thickness, with the occasional use of seeds or other materials. There are hundreds of these patterns, and Martin Pauli has used well over 100 of them.

Pen-wise, Manu Propria pens are usually cartridge-converters, but they can also be inked as eyedroppers as the metallic parts in direct contact with the ink are gold plated. A couple of models, though, are exclusively eyedroppers.

Nibs and feeds are JoWo, which guarantees a reliable, even if boring, performance.

Manu Propria pens are not signed and look anonymous to the less trained eye.

Manu Propria pens at Itoya Ginza in March of 2018.

Negoro nuri is one of the traditional decorative techniques employed by Pauli. On it, the upper red urushi layer looks worn out by use, revealings the underlying black layer.

That is the decoration of the following pen—a pocket model. As a pen, it is a cartridge-converter with a size 6 JoWo nib of 18 K gold. And it can also be inked as an eyedropper.

Pocket pen of the Negoro Nuri Series by Manu Propria.

The pen performs correctly, albeit with no particular character. It is solidly made--the metallic parts on cap and section really contribute to that feeling. The ebonite threads, however, are too sharp and could take some polishing. There are also numerous cut shavings inside the pen that could be understood as a sign of a craftsman's product. In some markets, though, those shavings mean an unclean and unfinished good. That is the case of Japan.

A cartridge-converter pen that can be eyedropped.

These are the dimensions of the pen:

Length closed: 111 mm
Length open: 97 mm
Length posted: 133 mm
Diameter: 17.3 mm
Weight: 23.3 g (dry)
Ink deposit: 0.6 ml (cartridge); 2.3 ml (as eyedropper)

Of course, this pen posts well. In fact, it must be posted.

All in all, it is an interesting pen, but expensive and not particularly refined on its machining. The Japonesque look might help to succeed in the current market, albeit no sane mind would claim these were Japanese.

Manu Propria pocket Negoro Nuri – Pelikan Black

Bruno Taut
Nakano, October 2nd 2018
etiquetas: Manu Propria, Suiza, urushi-e, JoWo