The 1st Edition of the India Pen Show (TIPS) in 2019 was a watershed event. It was to date, the biggest show of its kind in India; was reasonably well organized at the Nehru Centre in Worli; had solid participation from fountain pens, inks, and accessory makers from all parts
Mizanur Rahman bhai is a well-known name in the fountain pen and ink user groups in Bangladesh. He runs a very successful shop in Dhaka and can easily be considered among the handful of opinion-makers in the country. As a fountain pen and ink importer, his knowledge about the quality,
There are broadly four kinds of people who buy fountain pens. I know that I am about to commit an unpardonable sin by writing what I have set out to write in this piece, for I will be generalising things to a point where it will be rankling at the
BENU pens have shifted operations to Armenia. Without getting into the details of what necessitated the shift, and without venturing to hazard guesses as to what kind of an effect such a move will have on the sheer genius of this creative prodigy, I can say only one thing: Love
The great depression had brought the roaring twenties to a cruel halt in the USA. Fountain pen sales, had plummeted, resulting in a number of pen brands going irretrievably under. The big four – Parker, Sheaffer, Waterman and Eversharp – were battered, with some facing sales losses of upwards of
It had originated in the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in Palermo, Sicily. Giacomo da Lentini, credited with having brought it into being and in its earliest forms, it was restricted to expressing courtly love. However, by the time of the Renaissance, the Sonnet had evolved into
Brahmam fountain pens, to most collectors of India made vintage or antique pens, is but a mystery, wrapped in a riddle, inside an enigma, so difficult it is to come across good, working pieces. Naturally, their scarcity leads to the creation of newer fables around them as the scamper to
There are many interesting fountain pens that may not have been the movers and shakers of the industry, but had made contributions worth recognising in the annals of fountain pen development. As a matter of fact, most of them come replete with histories that make fascinating reading, just as their
I am Muhammad Ilyas Khan. I belong to Southern part of Khyber Pakhtoon Khwa province (Distt. Lakki Marwat). I am a retired bureaucrat and am now settled in Pak Capital – Islamabad. I speak, read and write in more than seven languages including English, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Punjabi, Dari and
John Culmer has been repairing and restoring fountain pens for over thirty years, having acquired the skill from his father Charlie. John’s skill is such that his services are recommended by Parker and Waterman. Today, although the Peel Pen Shop (London) retail store location has now closed, John still repairs
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly had written Frankenstein, or, The Modern Promethius (published 1818) in a summer spent in Switzerland. She would later go on to describe that period in her life as the moment, “when I first stepped out from childhood into life”. While Frankenstein continues to remain, a genre defining
Death. Depression. Devastation. These are indeed difficult times. And I must commend the Inked Happiness for having not only broached the topic of depression, but for having, so eloquently at that, focussed on the light at the end of the tunnel. Let us accept that the first step towards victory
