RomilloPens. 2007-2018

In 2015 I wrote a report on Romillo pens. Now, four years later, and with the operation stopped it might be worth to revisit some of the pens of this short-lived pen brand based in Madrid, Spain.

It started in 2007, created about 10 models –mostly made of SEM ebonite, made in Germany--, implemented Bock and in-house nibs, and disappeared around 2018 (see note at the end) leaving behind a big mess in terms of unpaid commitments.

The body of work left behind, though, deserves some attention.

The following pictures show some of the models by this company.

From left to right: Nervión, Essential Writer, Sil, Eo, and WiPens Toledo.

From left to right on the previous picture:
– Model Nervión in terracota ebonite. A size 8 Bock nib (18 K) with ebonite feed. Eyedropper. Made in 2011.
– Model Essential Writer in black ebonite. Size 6 Bock nib (18 K), plastic feed. Eyedropper. Made in 2010.

Sil model.

– Model Sil in red ripple ebonite. Size 6 Bock nib (18 K), plastic feed. Eyedropper. Friction-fit cap. Made in 2012.

Model Eo with a size 9 nib.

– Model Eo in blue ripple ebonite with celluloid band. In-house size 9 nib (18 K), ebonite feed. Eyedropper. Made in 2013.

WiPens Toledo. An unsuccessful attempt to create a secondary brand.

– WiPens Toledo. Black ebonite. Size 6 Bock nib (14 K), plastic feed. Cartridge-converter. Made in 2013. This pen was not marketed under the Romillo brand, but as WiPens, an attempt to create a second brand for more inexpensive models.

Starting from the bottom, two Essential, a special version of the Essential with a two tone nib, and an Essential with the in-house flexible nib named K.

This second collective picture shows a collection of pens of the model Essential. From bottom to top:
– The first two are from 2009. They implement size 6 Bock nibs of 18 K gold with plastic feeds. Eyedropper fillers.

A very customized version of the model Essential made in 2015.

– The third is a special model made in 2015. The nib is an in-house size 7 made of 18 K gold. Ebonite feed. Eyedropper.

The in-house K nib. Flexible, but it never worked satisfactorily due, possibly, to an inadequate feed. Essential made in 2012.

– The fourth (on top) is from 2012. It sports an in-house flexible nib named K, made of 18 K gold. Plastic feed. Eyedropper.

Romillo pens were expensive pens, with an average price of EUR 1000. Was that justified by the quality of the product? The pens here shown are very simple in their structure. Being eyedropper pens they had no movable parts or sacs to be adjusted. Internally, though, we see that all the threads (save in the case of the much more inexpensive WiPens Toledo) are made of brass, and there are elastic seals in the ink deposit to prevent leaks. Were those elements needed or effective?

Were these pens better that, say, most Indian eyedroppers also made of ebonite?

As eyedroppers, both Indian pens and Romillos have the same problem—the tendency to blob ink and ruining the document in progress.

Another problem of several of the Romillo models (Essential, Nervión, Eo) was the basic structure of the pen, with the cap attaching to the section instead of to the barrel. On these pens, uncapping them could result in unscrewing the barrel from the section and opening the ink deposit. This, in an eyedropper pen, is a very serious design flaw.

The cap attaches to the section instead of to the barrel.

Paradoxically, the cheapest of the models produced by the Romillo family –the WiPens Toledo- had solved these problems at the price of making a much more conventional pen.

RomilloPens was, all in all, a short-lived operation that left behind a small bunch –about 450-- units of expensive and attractive pens. Despite their flaws.


My thanks to Croma, Eliperin and ValenSpain; all of them members of Spanish pen community.


NOTE (26/Dec/2019): I have corrected the date of cease of activities of RomilloPens to 2018 after some sources mentioned that they could buy some pens as late as that year. Since late 2015 or early 2016, the Romillo family avoided Spanish customers and focused on foreign markets while continuing fixing and tuning nibs. However, this situation did not last for too long and is currently shut down.

WiPens Toledo – Montblanc Irish Green

Bruno Taut
Nakano, December 24th 2019
etiquetas: Romillo, Spain, WiPens

RomilloPens

The history of fountain pens in Spain is the story of a frustration—a big number of operations that failed to create a sustainable activity. Inoxcrom and, to a much lesser degree, STYB were the only survivors of the more or less glorious days of Spanish pens in the 1950s and 1960s.

However, in recent years, several small pen brands have appeared in Spain to cater the stylophile craving for more artisanal writing tools. Estilográficas Clavijo and Gimena are two examples of them.

Romillo Essential.

The better known of all those new companies is, however, RomilloPens. The Romillo family founded the brand in 2007 and after a couple of years of experiments, the RomilloPens Essential was launched. Since then, about 10 models have been produced. All of them save the latest arrival called The Celluloid Collection, are made of German ebonite.

Two Romillos with Bock nibs in sizes 6 and 8.

Initially, all the nibs were made by Bock –sizes 6 and 8. After some years, in 2012, they started the production of a flexible nib, the K nib. Apparently very flexible, there are reports questioning the ability of the feed to provide the required inkflow. Starting in 2013, RomilloPens makes its own nibs (sizes 7 and 9), albeit feeds are still provided by Bock.

The philosophy of the company is to make pens resembling old models from the 1910s and 1920s using traditional materials and implementing arcane filling systems, although cartridge and converters are an available option for some models. RomilloPens claims all its pens were made by hand—obviously an exaggerated claim as lathe and files are in order to machine the ebonite. However, being made to order allows for a great deal of customization.

The final result is an attractive product with a steep price. In fact, for an average of EUR 1000, many an aficionado might, in fact, prefer a real vintage pen in pristine condition to a newly made pen without the glamour and tradition of a well known name.

The flagship of RomilloPens is the model Nervión. On the image, the version made of terracota ebonite with a size 8 nib by Bock.

This is a risky initiative, and a brave one too. Can the market support it? Time will tell. This luxury market is very competitive; most pen companies have luxury models, and there are some small operations specifically targeting this high-end sector. And at the end,... Montblanc wins.


NOTE ON THE NAMES: The name of the pen brand is, actually, RomilloPens, and is owned by the company Pixeline S. L. Romillo is the name of the founding family. RomilloPens, however, sounds strangely artificial in Spanish (probably in English too) and I tend to use the family name, Romillo, as the brand name.

Romillo Nervión Terracota – Pilot Blue

Bruno Taut
Madrid, November 27th, 2014
etiquetas: España, mercado, RomilloPens, Bock

Reliquias

Per l'Olga.

La gente no debería festejar el paso del tiempo,
aunque siempre sea noble el obstinarse en celebrar el triunfo del enemigo.
Pedro ZARRALUKI. El responsable de las ranas. 1990.

En este año 2011 se cumple el 50 aniversario del modelo Olimpia de la empresa Súper T. Normalmente, éstas son fechas para celebrar y para descorchar una botella de buen cava. Sin embargo, el panorama estilográfico español, y aun europeo, no invita al optimismo.

Súper T Olimpia.

Tres compañías producen hoy plumas estilográficas en España. La más evidente es Inoxcrom. Su situación económica es mala y eso se nota en los productos que proporcionan prestigio pero no dinero. Su catálogo de plumas apenas ha cambiado en los últimos años y esta división parece ir a la deriva, sin una estrategia comercial clara. No obstante, sigue presente en bastantes comercios en Madrid y, presumiblemente, en España.

Inoxcrom 77.

La segunda marca española de plumas –desde un punto de vista histórico— es STYB, antigua Jabalina. Produce tan solo tres modelos de estilográficas y su presencia en el mercado es anecdótica.

STYB Compact.

Finalmente queda la empresa Pixeline como creadora de la marca Romillopens. Son estas plumas artículos de gran lujo, de producción pequeña y artesanal. Se distribuyen tan solo a través de una única tienda física, en Madrid, y, por supuesto, de su página web. Por tanto, las Romillopens no se ven en las tiendas del ramo.

Súper T Gester.

Súper T, por su lado, desapareció en 1976 y sus plumas son ya reliquias en manos de coleccionistas y comerciantes u objetos olvidados en un cajón. Desgraciadamente, me apuro a añadir, porque tanto la Gester como la Olimpia son plumas de buena calidad y de diseño interesante.

Pero ante este panorama, limitarnos a brindar y a darnos palmaditas en la espalda por el cumpleaños de la Olimpia no conduce a nada. ¡Es que ni siquiera podemos exclamar “per molts anys” al brindar!

Por ello quisiera que hubiera alguna iniciativa más atrevida que nos permita mirar al futuro de la estilográfica española con más optimismo. Con objeto de que en algún momento, con motivo de otro aniversario, sí podamos brindar por la larga vida de esa pluma, de esa marca, de esta industria.

(Kaweco Sport transparente – Senator Regent Royal Blue)

Bruno Taut
29 de julio de 2011
[labels: Súper T, Inoxcrom, STYB, Romillopens, España]