Frills

Itoya’s Maki-e Fair 2010

(This event was celebrated in a shop, and unfortunately the management did not authorized pictures. However, this being Japan, too often these decisions are enforced or not depending on the staff in charge. Fellow Fountain Pen Network subscriber Moskva (http://dondellinger.com/mipiace/index.php?) was allowed to take some pictures and I thank him for his permission to include them in this post. They are also published in this entry of the above-linked blog: http://dondellinger.com/mipiace/index.php?post/2010/05/18/Exposition-Maki-e-chez-Ito-ya).

These days –from May 12 to 24— stationery Itoya in Ginza (shop no. 15 in this link) in Tokyo organized what they called a Maki-e Fair. Five were the exhibitors invited to it: The three leading Japanese companies –Pilot-Namiki, Platinum-Nakaya, and Sailor—, the California-based Danitrio, and a fifth one dealing with Aurora, Caran d’Ache, Parker, Pelikan, and Waterman. All those brands showed their creations in maki-e and urushi (lacquer).

Pilot introduced a 10-unit limited edition of a black urushi finished exclusively for the Fair for JPY 52500. It only came with M nib. The whole line of maki-e by Pilot and all the Namiki branded pens were on display.

The lower pen is urushi finished; the upper one, the regular black pen with golden accents. The difference, JPN 36750, and the nibs are exactly the same. Picture taken at the May meeting of the Wagner association (May 23, 2010).

Some pens by Nakaya together with matching business card holders. Picture courtesy of Moskva.

Platinum presented their first maki-e pen after a long time (I cannot find how long…), but their main selling point were those marketed under the Nakaya brand. However, the Nakaya craftsmen only attended the event on the last four days.

Two more Nakaya pens. Picture courtesy of Moskva.

Danitrio made the big news being invited to attend the fair by Itoya. And from now on, this shop will carry their line of products. Urushi and maki-e –with examples of good and unbelievable bad taste— were present on display. All the art on these pens is made in Japan; all the nibs –with one Japanese exception— are made in Germany by Peter Bock. They also displayed their 24 K gold nib.

Danitrio urushi pens. Picture courtesy of Moskva.

Sailor showed their urushi King of Pen line.

Sailor's King of Pens in urushi finish. Picture courtesy of Moskva.

Finally, the Western companies showed their very limited set of products. Among them, two M1000-based Pelikan limited editions –Maiko in Kyoto and Fireworks—, and the Sérenité based Waterman models were the more interesting products.

There was also a maki-e workshop for those interested in learning the basics of the technique. It costed JPY 2100 and was quickly sold out.

Certainly, I am not enticed by these pens, Actually, I wonder if they really were pens ready to write. For sure, some of them were, as I had the chance to test some of the pieces. However, the writing experience was not in accordance with the price tag. And that is what finally counts.

(Pilot Telescopic – Waterman Florida Blue)

Bruno Taut
(Shibuya, May 22, 2010)
[labels: Tokyo, Pilot, Sailor, Platinum, Danitrio, evento, FPN]

Urushi Fermo

Nagasawa is, in a sense, THE stationery shop in the city of Kobe in Japan. Sure enough there are some other stationers in the area, but this centenary old store, founded in 1882, does attract most of the attention in the area. The reasons for this success deserve a detailed analysis, but that is not today’s topic.

Today I wanted to present a quite unique pen made for Nagasawa by Pilot. The excuse seems a bit lame –134th anniversary of the company--, but probably any excuse is valid to make some noise. The name of this pen is the non-descriptive “Urushi Japan”.

The pen in question is rather unusual—it is a limited edition fountain pen based on the well-known Pilot Fermo. The variations over the regular model are small but relevant:

-- The metal parts are now golden in color as opposed to the silver trim of the usual Fermo.

-- The nib unit, made of 18 K gold, is also golden in color and is not rhodiated. This is the only Fermo model to use such nibs instead of the rhodiated units. The nib is engraved with the logo of Nagasawa--a key.

-- The knurled knob that operated the nib is now smooth and of the same color as the rest of the pen.

-- Finally, and most important, the pen is decorated, or colored, with urushi lacquer.

Nagasawa ordered a total of 150 numbered units in two different colors—60 units in jet black (shikkoku, 漆黒) and 90 in red (shu, 朱). The price is the same for both colors: JPY 60000, plus tax.

Both "Urushi Japan" pens as displayed on the magazine Shumi-no Bungubako (issue 38) together with the real thing in red.

Size-wise, this urushi Fermo is less than one gram heavier than the regular model. The rest of the dimensions are nominally identical:

Length closed: 141 mm
Length open: 148 mm
Diameter: 12.3 mm
Weight: 34.4 g

On top, the red "Urushi Japan" of Nagasawa; on bottom, a regular Fermo in black.

Eboya Hôga – Diamine Graphite

Bruno Taut
Nakano, July 1st, 2016
etiquetas: Pilot, Capless, Kobe, mercado, urushi, Nagasawa

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

Timber! Timber! TIPS 2023

The 2023 Tokyo International Pen Show (TIPS) took place during the first weekend of November 3rd to 5th, and it´s time to reflect on it and on the new trends in the market. Needless to say, what I might write is just my perception and I am sure I am missing many other movements.

First, the pen show in itself. 3 days, 180 tables, five shifts to attend it, most of them sold out. The figures clearly speak of a big success. It might not be what you expect from a pen show, but this East Asian style pen show does work, and, best of all, attracts younger generations of stationery aficionados.

And that because, as I have repeatedly said, TIPS is not a pen show but a stationery fair where many vendors simply display their latest products. More on this later.

The shift system –you pay to enter the show during a limited period of just four hours, morning or afternoon- is one of the unfortunate aftereffects of the pandemic years. What initially was a good idea to limit the number of people at the lounge at once and thus limiting the risk of infection is now an excuse to increase the total number of visitors and the revenue associated to selling tickets. The downside of it is easy to understand—this fair is not a meeting point for aficionados but just a market place where you better rush to see it all and to execute your purchases.

On this occasion, 2023, the large number of vendors –180- pushed the organizers to use two lounges on two different floors in the building. Moving between them could be very easy, but the organizers decided to make it difficult and unpleasant despite giving you a paper bracelet as soon as you entered the fair. It looked like they did not trust their own controlling mechanisms. But do not ask difficult questions...

So, what was on offer at TIPS 2023? More of the same things we saw on previous years: very few second hand and vintage pens, many more new pens, inks, paper, assorted paraphernalia...

Assortted paraphernalia...

However, I could see some new trends:

1. Timber, timber, timber! It seems wood lathes are on sale and the number of people making wooden pens –fountain pens, ball pens, mechanical pencils-- was surprising. But, is the market big enough for so many operations?

Timber! Timber!

2. Emerging markets. TIPS was a success in previous years and some see this event as a good stage to present new companies and new products. In previous years we saw some European and American traders. This year, we also saw dealers from India, PR China and Turkey.

An Indian trader--Endless.

3. Urushi might be from East Asia, but now it is everywhere. And by urushi I also mean urushi-based decorative techniques. At TIPS 2023 we could see some interesting examples of urushi and raden decorated pens made in India and in Turkey.

Urushi-nuri and raden from Turkey.

Conclusions:

– The TIPS model –a stationery fair- works and is here to stay. Its ability to attract younger aficionados is a powerful argument to support this event in the years to come. Pens might not be the argument to attract them, but it does not matter as long as they come.

– New trends come and go. Wooden pens and urushi-decorated pens might be fashionable now, but everything can change overnight.

– Look out for products and companies coming from emerging markets as they will pose a very serious competition to well established companies.

Would I come again? Not sure. I always end up disappointed, but it is a good place to find out what is going on in the world of stationery.

Moonman A2 - Diamine Bilberry

Bruno Taut
November 8th, 2023
etiquetas: mercado, evento, Tokyo, maki-e

Sakai Eisuke and Pilot

The good name of the brand Namiki in the West is rooted in the maki-e and urushi decorated pens of the 1920s and 1930s marketed in England under the name Dunhill-Namiki. They have become mythical pens and their prices in the market are equally unreachable for most stylophiles.

The war in Asia –as Japanese call the initial stages of the Japanese colonial expansion in the 1930s—put an end to those luxury goods and the presence of Japanese pens in the West was severely limited for a number of years. We know now that Platinum exported fountain pens under brand names as 555 and President and that Pilot exported Capless pens to US as early as in 1966, but their actual importance in those foreign markets were never big.

A Danitrio-commissioned Ban-ei pen in red urushi.

By 1985, Pilot decided to recreate those old pens from the 1920s in order to activate the more profitable market of the high end pens. To do so, the company commissioned Sakai Eisuke (酒井栄助) to create a prototype of a big (jumbo) pen following the old models. Sakai Eisuke, let us remember, was the leader, and lathe master, of the four artisans behind a large number of apparently anonymous eyedropper pens made in the 1970s and 1980s. These pens are now known as Ban-ei pens.

And out of that prototype, Pilot started the production of maki-e and urushi pens ressembling those Dunhill-Namiki from the 1920s. Following we can see one such example: a vermillion (red urushi) jumbo pen with a size 50 nib. This nib has no special decoration other than the plain engraving of its characteristics: made by Pilot in 14 K gold. The filling system, needless to say, is by eyedropper with shut-off valve operated from the tail.

The Pilot-signed clip.

These are its dimensions:
Length closed: 173 mm
Length open: 158 mm
Length posted: 213 mm
Diameter: 20 mm
Weight (dry): 42.7 g

The nib is engraved with the following text: "14 KARAT GOLD / "PILOT" / REGISTERED / PATENT OFFICE / -<50>-".

The feed is also coated with red urushi.

The shut-off valve seat on the section.

Some years later, the pen was rebranded as Namiki. The nib was now made of 18 K gold, and was struck with an image of Mt. Fuji.

My thanks to Mr. Fukuyo

Pilot Vpen – Platinum Black

Bruno Taut
Shinjuku, August 12th, 2013
etiquetas: Pilot, Ban-ei, Sakai Eisuke

From Kamakura to Choshitsu

The fountain pen jargon is not always accurate. At times, words acquire a new meaning to fit an old concept—that was the case of kimono as a pen wrap that I explained on these pages months ago. On other occasions, a new concept requires a new description, but the chosen words are not always adequate.

The case of Kamakura bori is, however, different.

As a maki-e/urushi-e technique, the Kamakura bori is performed by carving the substrate –usually wood— which is then lacquered and polished. Kamakura bori, in actual terms, means “Kamakura carving”, and this technique dates back to the 13th century.

Two pens with carved urushi on a tray carved in the Kamakura style.

The pens are a Ban-ei (top), and possibly an Ishi Shoten (Yotsubishi), although not signed.
Both nibs are by Kabutogi Ginjiro.

On the contrary, on the so-called Kamakura bori pens, the procedure consists first in applying several layers of urushi in different colors that are afterwads carved to expose that stack of colors.

In actual terms, this technique is a form of choshitsu or “engraving of urushi”. However, what we tend to call choshitsu usually display figurative motifs instead of the regular patterns we see on those non-Kamakura-bori pens. These complex choshitsu pens are rare and expensive.

A very traditional choshitsu pen with floral motifs.
Photo by Mr. N. Syrigonakis.

I, for one, think we should rename those non-Kamakura-bori pens as choshitsu pens.


My thanks to Mr. N. Syrigonakis.

Omas 556 – Kobe Ginza Gold Sepia

Bruno Taut
Nakano, September 30th, 2020
etiquetas: Ban-ei, urushi-e, nibmeister Kabutogi Ginjiro, Yotsubishi

The Four Seasons of Mr. Sato

(You shall excuse my recent silence on these pages. Some personal issues came in my way and had to pay attention to them. Hopefully I will be able to post more often in the following weeks).

In the last years we have seen how urushi-based decorative techniques have been adopted by a number of craftsmen well beyond the traditional locations in East Asia. Now we see urushi-decorated pens in Poland, Spain, Switzerland, USA, Turkey, India... and probably many more, plus some others waiting to be discovered.

In the meantime, the Japanese scene remains relatively calm. Sure some younger figures have made some beautiful noise –such is the brilliant case of Bokumondoh—, but there are some others hidden in their own studios scattered all around Japan. And few of them become known beyond their communities and customers.

Such is the case of Mr. Tateo Sato (佐藤建夫, Sato Tateo in Japanese), an urushi master from the mountains of Miyagi, about 350 km North of Tokyo. Mr. Sato was born in Miyagi in 1951 and has been active since very early age, first learning with masters Sawaguchi Shigeru, Nishiya Kazuo and Yamamoto Hideaki; and since 1981 as the head of his own studio in Narako, Miyagi.

And now, thanks to the initiative of Mr. Uehara Yûichi of Ohashido, another fellow from Miyagi, we can see some of the works of the urushi master. Uehara commissioned Sato Tateo with the decoration of some pens. The result, or part of it, is the following set of four pens:

The Four Seasons.

The name of the set is “The Four Seasons”, and the pens are individually named after some evocative Japanese word: tsukushi (土筆) for Spring, hotaru (蛍) for Summer, kagerô (蜻蛉) for Autumn, and tokiwa (常盤) for Winter.

Tsukushi for Spring. Note the signature near the pen end.

Tsukushi is a form of horsetail (equisetum) that grows in Spring. Initially it is yellowish in color.

Fireflies in Summer.

Hotaru is firefly. For this pen, Mr Sato used some subtle raden decoration combined with black urushi.

Dragonflies in Autumn.

Kagerô is an old word for dragonfly, an insect deeply associated with Autumn in Japan.

Evergreen Winter.

Tokiwa, finally, means evergreen、with its usual connotations of youth and longevity.

All four pens are signed with the kao –stylized signature— of the master.

As for the pen, not much can be said once you know the works of Mr. Uehara. They are regular Ohashido pens made of ebonite with a medium size nib (big in Sailor terms) made of 21 K gold, manufactured by Sailor.

The Sailor nib labeled as Ohashido.

Rare as these pens are, they won't become representative of the works made by Uehara and the Ohashido brand, but sure they will become collectibles sought after by aficionados. And maestro Sato might become better known.


My thanks to Poplicola-san.

Parker 50 “Falcon” – Sailor Yama-dori

Bruno Taut
November 6th, 2023
etiquetas: Ohashido, maki-e

Duets

Ban-ei (挽栄) pens have shown up on these chronicles several times and their double history –as mostly anonymous and as limited edition pens commissioned by the American company Danitrio—is well known. But how do those pens from different times and different initiatives compare?

The differences are indeed minor, as we can check on the following pictures. The first example is a pair of pens made of black urushi. There are some small differences on the dimensions but, the main one lies on the nib. The original Ban-ei’s nib is signed by Kabutogi Ginjirô’s (兜木銀次郎) initials (GK). This was, in actual terms, the only reference to the authorship in the whole pen.

On top on both pictures, the Danitrio-commissioned pen. On bottom, the previous, unsigned (save for the nib) unit. The most obvious difference is the engraving on the cap band of the later model.

The second pair is decorated with a subtle urushi-e pattern. In this case, there is a very obvious difference—the cap ring present on the Danitrio-commissioned unit where the brand Ban-ei and the serial number were engraved. And as was the case with the black urushi pens, only the old Ban-ei nib is engraved with the initials of the nibmeister.

The pre-Danitrio pen does not have any band on the cap, and its nib has a heart-shaped breathing hole. This nib is also engraved with the initials GK of Kabutogi Ginjirô just below the JIS mark.

As it is known, Danitrio-era Ban-ei pens were limited editions of less than 500 units. However, the old pens, made in the seventies and eighties, are in my experience harder to find in the market. These older pens are also known as Tsuchida pens, after Tsuchida Shuichi (土田修一), who was in charge of the final assembly of the pen.

My thanks to Mr. Shimizu.

Platinum sterling silver pen, 14 K nib – Platinum Brown

Bruno Taut
Madrid, December 25th, 2012
etiquetas: Ban-ei, Danitrio, nibmeister Kabotogi Ginjirô, urushi, urushi-e