Venvstas hits 2.0 with the carbon fiber Magna piston

I can't fault Venvstas's persistence. After I heavily criticised the first Magna piston, this fiery Italian brand took my comments on the chin and came back stronger with the Magna CC, which I really liked: it had much better fit and finish, and the use of the converter both improved serviceability and filling, and fixed …

Aurora’s Matera and Deserto are gorgeous and (nearly) flawless

Ticking all the boxes I’ll say this right off the bat: I’ve discovered that I’ve become pretty fond of Aurora. In my time I’ve owned a grey flex Optima, a Duocart, a Talentum Black Ops, an 88 Black Mamba, a Pacifico, an 88 Minerali Amethyst, and my favourite of all, an 88 Nettuno. My experiences …

The Onoto Scholar was worth the wait

UPDATE: The Scholar is live on the Onoto website to order. I've been singing the praises of the Onoto Magna for at least three or four years now (Flanders, Shakespeare, Sequoyah, Mammoth...), and still I find that people don't see the value proposition until they've held one. A plastic converter filler with steel nib for …

Orange Leatherworks: flawless craft for a premium price

The first thing I should tell you about this three-pen fountain pen case from Orange Leatherworks is that it costs 649 CAD, or about £390. That's before shipping and import duties. This is unashamedly a luxury item, but a luxury item by the purest and least vulgar definition: an item that's made with no expense …

Silverburl hybrid pens: creative, but with quirks

I dunno about you, but my Facebook feed is absolutely swamped with people pouring epoxy resin on to pieces of wood. Often it's a coffee table. But you can also get phone cases and myrid other objects, large and small, made using this technique. While this 'hybrid' effect is on the verge of being overdone, …

My take on the Gravitas Pocket Pen

The TL;DR of this review: if you're in the market for a robust and comfortable pocket pen, Gravitas offers an excellent option. But there are a few things you should be aware of. Let's unpack it a little. The Gravitas Pocket Pen has very obvious shared DNA with the rest of the Gravitas range. Conical …

A fine entry indeed: the Gravitas Entry

There's really very little I can think of to criticise about the Gravitas Pens Entry. As I said in this video, comparing several pens from the Gravitas range, these are mature and well thought-out designs that are basically flawless in execution. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGYAvlYULAc With that TL;DR out of the way, let's talk about this model in …

Schon’s ‘full size’ fountain pens have that special something

As well as buying several pocket 6 pens over the years, I've somehow accrued two of Schon Dsgn’s full size pens, and they have both ended up becoming real personal favourites in short order. (A note on naming: when Ian first launched this pen model in Ultem, and later PEEK, they carried the name of …

You need a Platinum Preppy Wa. Or six.

You know, my last pen purchase cost four figures. You could literally buy 300 Platinum Preppys for the price of that one pen. And there are several very good arguments for why that would be the right thing to do. For as much as I love the TWSBI Eco as an incredible example of value …

Rocking out with the Tibaldi Bamboo Trio

I see plenty of tie-in pens, whether they're sparkly Sailors in the colours of cocktails, or Montegrappas and Duponts shaped like spaceships or buildings. You can buy pens about Elvis, Queen, and of course David Bowie. But as far as I can recall this trio of Tibaldis is the first time I've seen a series …