[HN Gopher] India's artisanal fountain pens are making their mark
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India's artisanal fountain pens are making their mark
Author : thomas
Score : 47 points
Date : 2021-02-22 20:46 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bbc.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bbc.com)
| Ancapistani wrote:
| I have a handful of Indian pens, and the article is pretty spot
| on. If you're interested in something unique, custom, and/or hand
| made, Indian pens are by far the best value out there right now.
| Ranga is increasingly popular in that community.
|
| A big part of it is that a custom pen from a small US
| manufacturer might run ~$800-$1k; a comparable pen from a small
| Indian manufacturer will likely be <$200.
| JumpCrisscross wrote:
| How do you buy them?
| wyxuan wrote:
| I've made a pen myself at a local makerspace. If you have the
| chance, you should definitely try to do it yourself- it's pretty
| safe and if once you get the hang of it it's very relaxing.
| khazhoux wrote:
| As a long-time Lamy Safari fan, I have a hard time believing
| people really put these fat, front-heavy pens to use. Anyone here
| actually use these as more than just decoration or gifts that get
| tucked into a drawer and forgotten?
| bad_extension wrote:
| I think they are often reserved for signing documents and not
| for general use.
| CarelessExpert wrote:
| What do you mean by "fat, front-heavy pens"? I'm genuinely
| curious. The article doesn't have a ton of close-up photos and
| none of them would seem to match that description.
|
| The pens they do show have a profile that reminds me a bit of
| the Montegrappa Elmo, which I have and love:
|
| https://www.montegrappa.com/en/cluster/fattoperte/myfirstmon...
| sharadov wrote:
| Loved fountain pens as a school kid in India. You had to write in
| cursive and "proper" handwriting was a big deal. They would not
| allow ball point pens in the younger grades. But they were messy.
| Then someone came up with the bright idea of cartridges with pre-
| filled ink. They were some great brands - Hero, Parker and
| Sheaffer.
| gramakri wrote:
| A parallel universe is the ink brand. Growing up Bril was the
| "cheap" and popular brand. But the best one was Chelpark.
| [deleted]
| rob74 wrote:
| First vinyl records, then fountain pens... out with the new, in
| with the old! But why stop at fountain pens, why not use dip
| pens, those are even more stylish and minimalistic, kinda like a
| fixie bicycle? Or why not go all in and use a quill? Fortunately
| I'm not in danger to succumb to this particular trend, I'm left-
| handed, so I _hate_ fountain pens...
| WaitWaitWha wrote:
| Interesting reference to adulthood.
|
| > ... The moment you graduated from a pencil or ballpoint, to a
| pen you knew you were no longer a child ...
|
| When I was growing up, we started with pencil, moved to fountain
| pens (the one with the cartridges & tiny glass balls), then
| graduated to ballpoint.
|
| A cultural difference.
| bad_extension wrote:
| In my country it generally works the same (as writing with
| fountain pen is enfoced in primary schools), but after
| "ballpoint" phase during college some people go back to
| fountain pens, as they are seen as more classy and elegent
| writing tool.
| throwawayboise wrote:
| Which country is that?
|
| My experience, and that of my kids (in USA) is that pencil is
| used through high school for daily work. When I was in
| school, final drafts of essays or other papers could be in
| ink or typed. Math and science was always done in pencil.
| Today, pretty much everything written is submitted by
| computer. Kids can barely print legibly, forget about cursive
| writing or any care for penmanship.
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(page generated 2021-02-22 23:00 UTC)