Here's how the world is witnessing the mighty fountain pen's second coming

Ink. Splash. Spill. Write. Ghost. Stain hands. Blotting paper. With school, most of us also left behind our fountain pens. In fact, today, educationists are debating whether writing by hand still matters in the digital age. And yet, sale of fountain pens is rising worldwide. Quartz quotes a Euromonitor report pegging the global fountain pen retail sales in 2016 at $1.046bn, 2.1% up from the year before. In the luxury market, fountain pen sales grew even when sales of other premium goods was flat. Technavio’s report, published in Businesswire, revealed that in 2016 the fountain pens segment accounted for the maximum share in the global luxury pen market and forecasts close to 5% CAGR from 2017-21. While US and China, followed by Europe, seem to be biggest markets, India has seen an upswing too. Nikhil Ranjan, MD of William Penn that has 31 stores across the country, says, “The writing instruments base will always be small – about 350cr today, of which fountain pens may comprise 25-30% – but for the next few years, one expects double-digit growth.” No wonder Montegrappa has opened exclusive stores and Pelikan has begun facilitating hubs in India.

Online Auctions to WhatsApp Groups

Mumbai-based Sudhir Kalyanikar (45), who began collecting fountain pens three decades ago, recalls, “I’d encounter buyers at some shops in Fort, but thought only I am collecting them. I discovered The Fountain Pens Network (FPN) around 2000.”

A Mecca for fountain pen enthusiasts, FPN possibly the old fountain-pen forum today has over one lakh members and threads covering everything – fountain-pen basics, pen history, reviews, turning tips, brands and regional pages, inks, paper, accessories, calligraphy and creative expressions. To buy/sell there’s a classified section. FPN launched its Facebook page in 2008 and got incorporated in 2013. Over time, as FPN has become regulated, alternatives like Fountain Pen Board and Fountain Pen Geeks have come up.

“I encountered eBay auctions in 2005, by chance, while exploring the website as an IT professional,” adds Kalyanikar. eBay entered India through Bazee.com and while several countries had offline fountain-pen auctions, India got her first taste of pen auctions directly with the web. eBay’s free-marketplace model enabled small businesses and individuals to sell and inadvertently ended up collectors from around the world, including fountain pen aficionados, who seeked to buy or auction rare/vintage pens.

But the way the fountain-pen fever has caught on, competition is tough. Pune-based Prasad Venkatraman (48), who won bids in the early years, says, “Three-four years ago, I used to buy a lot of vintage pens and nibs from eBay.

The prices were fixed, but increasingly sellers only want to auction. I got sniped (hiking the bid last-minute, sometimes a few minutes or seconds before the auction closes) for good brands.”

Players snipe to outbid others, causing prices to go haywire. Once a trick of few seasoned players, sniping is now commonplace. “It has increased consistently since 2012/13. Now there are apps and websites for sniping!” adds Thane-based Subodh Khanolkar, who won a bid last year. Then how do you win? “Find something no one else is keen on,” says Kalyanikar.

OLX surfaced with a similar buy/sell platform in 2011 and now Italy-based PMAuction.net, curates auctions well. Around 2012, once WhatsApp entered India and social media picked up, fountain pen interest and buy/sell groups mushroomed on the app and Telegram. Fountain Pen Lovers, a WhatsApp group, has 200+ members!

“After Pelikan facilitated the first hub in Mumbai, four years ago, the community just exploded!” recalls Kalyanikar, who has been hub master for two years. Subsequently, an informal Mumbai-Pune group got formed and has monthly meet-ups to explore each other’s collection and sometimes restore vintage pens.

Reasons for Resurrection

How are magazines like Pen World thriving when eBooks and Kindle are pushing out paperbacks? Why is getting ‘inked’ in? William Penn’s Ranjan believes “because people are writing less and with new technology and filling mechanisms, using fountain pens is no more cumbersome. Moreover, the trend of digital detox is reviving all things analogue – journaling, board games, adult colouring books, etc.” Fountain pens also have ornamental value and make for a great talking point. William Penn’s marketing head, Yagika Madan, adds, “Many customers want fountain pens for special signing moments and following international trends, here too it’s preferred for gifting. Fountain pen users generally know what they want, so today’s bespoke options add to the allure.” Technology too has played a direct role. “When I was younger, I had to find out everything for myself, buy books and purchase pens through trial and error. Today you’ve got forums and YouTube reviews,” says Kalyanikar. Many, like Khanolkar, consider fountain pens environment-friendly.

Aficionados, explains lawyer and collector Mihir Govilkar (32), comprise accumulators and collectors. The latter have themed collections, whereas accumulators simply buy pens they fancy. But there’s no right or wrong.” A male-dominated hobby, its takers are often doctors, lawyers, and academicians, whose professions traditionally involved writing. Delhi Pen Point have colonels buying too. But calligraphers are mostly women.

For most collectors, it’s not merely about aesthetics or displaying; they like using their pens. Mumbai-based businessman Kshitij Shetty (30) says, “Once you go fountain (pen), you never go back. All my to-do lists and memos are handwritten. I keep a journal and write letters to people (pen pals) all over the world. Writing with fountain pens is so much more pleasurable than a ball point. Today almost all aspects can be tuned to your preference – the filling system, line width, line style, wetness of nib – and the variety of inks is endless!”

Gone are the days when your only ink options were black and blue, today inks can be Mediterranean blue or wild strawberry pink, dark yellow with golden shimmer, or khaki with a red sheen…all deliciously stored in stylish, perfume-like bottles. You can get ones that are water-resistant, fade-resistant and even heat-resistant and for those love letters, you’ve got scented ones too.

No wonder Kalyanikar says fountain pens bring out the inner narcissist. Look up #fountainpens on Instagram and how pictures posted by enthusiasts seduce, and you’ll agree too.

Marketing and design consultant, Tarun Durga (38), whose fountain pen rediscovery started with an impulse purchase at Delhi airport a few years ago went on to participate in Jake Parker’s Inktober Challenge (2017), making one ink drawing everyday of October. He says, “Your writing just improves. There’s a proven connection between clean writing and clear thinking. Sketching is only one good thing that came out of using fountain pens, now I’ve also use writing for problem solving.”

([Top] Manoj Deshmukh, founder of Fosfor Pens, customises  fountain pens from rosewood, teakwood, afzelia burl and walnut burl, and accessorises them with handcrafted silver rings; [Below] Marketing and design consultant Tarun Durga’s fountain pen sketches)

Gen Next Pens and Pen Makers

For collectors quality can trump brands; they are happy owning pens worth a few hundreds, as much as lakhs. Popular premium brands have been Parker, Waterman, Cross, Sheaffer from USA; Mont Blanc and Pelikan from Germany; Platinum, Sailor, Nakaya and Pilot’s Namiki from Japan; Aurora, Delta, Montegrappa and Visconti from Italy; and Switzerland’s Caran d'Ache. But what’s made this hobby more accessible are competitively priced, quality introductions from brands such as Diplomat, Edison, Franklin-Christoph, Faber-Castell, KaWeCo, Lamy, Monteverde; budget ranges of Waterman, Pilot and Platinum; and entry level offerings by Taiwan’s TWSBI and China’s Jinhao, Baoer, Lanbitou, Wing-Sung and Hero.

On home turf, Ratnamsons was India’s first swadeshi pen. Among other old timers – Airmail (that owns Wality), Camlin, Guider and Kanwrite – Ranga Pens found an international niche with the continued use of ebonite when everyone moved to plastic. Yet, it remained relevant by experimentation and transforming to modern designs and filling systems.

In the past few years, new entrants are creating a lot of buzz and boast demand in international markets. Lotus pens, started by Arun Singhi a year ago, has sleek pens made of Japanese Nikko ebonite (some with a wood finish), premium quality acrylic as well as combinations of aluminium and ebonite. The best part? You can have hand-painted ones customised with imagery of your pet, home or even kids.

But the pioneer of the custom-made wave in India was ASA’s founder Subramaniam, who left a successful corporate career to turn his passion for fountain pens into business. Kalyanikar recalls days when the Chennai-based pen maker would crowd source designs.

Banker Vishal Singhi, also a collector was the inspiration behind his wife, Nisha, starting Constellations 88. “He was inspired by artistic pens that usually come for $1000+ and wanted to make them affordable,” says Nisha. Today priced under $100, her exquisite hand-painted collections carry motifs of Ganesha, Christ (with fresco effect), Buddha, wildlife, etc. You can also personalise the imagery.

The busiest among them is Manoj Deshmukh. You have to book him 40 weeks in advance for a custom-made pen. An enthusiast since childhood, he began collecting vintage pens and later started making them as a hobby. Then in 2014, he left his IT profession and started Fosfor pens, which he runs as a one-man show. His wooden pens – made of rosewood, teakwood, afzelia burl and walnut burl – with handcrafted sterling silver bands set him apart, as do his experiments with pen shapes (like the Trikona/triangle series).

Want your pen made-to-measure? Choose the nib, design and material of your preference. He’ll customise the nib holding section too. “These days, people often send their own material,” says Deshmukh. People say, if you want something unconventional, he’s your man.