It was never easy being a scribe. Imagine carrying your quill (and a penknife to sharpen it at regular intervals) along with a pot of ink to work. Dank. It was only a little better when the holders with their metal nibs were introduced. Well, it did do away with
Starmark is undoubtedly a “go-to” destination for bibliophiles, stationery lovers, and increasingly, fountain pen and ink aficionados in Kolkata. Naturally, when Starmark celebrates its 25th year, the city sits up to take note. As someone who has spent half my life browsing and buying from the different Starmark outlets, I
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
Mhatre. Mhatre Pen & Plastic Industries Private Limited, Bombay. How many of us pen lovers have even heard the name? How many of us know that this entity was once one of the largest players in the domain in India? That pens created by Mhatre, like the hugely popular Mhatre
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
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
Silver filigree work on a fountain pen. Interesting subject, made more so by a near complete lack of knowledge about the same. When did the practise begin? Who were the artisans who perfected the art? Where can one get one, if one so desired? The background din, is near deafening.
Writeway: the ecommerce site that serious hobbyists and lovers of fine writing, not to mention fountainpen and ink fanatics were waiting for! The last two years have witnessed a steady shift of consumer preferences for contact-less, digitised shopping, as more and more people have opted for ecommerce. This shift has
Dhar Brothers and the story of Calcutta’s brush with fountain pen making excellence – fact, fiction or folklore? Imagine that you are so well known for your skills that the Commissioner of Calcutta Police sends his prized fountain pen to you for some repair work. Mind you, this is a
Fountain Pen Culture – ushering-in a new dawn in Bangladesh The Genesis As a Facebook community group, Fountain Pen Culture is fairly new, having started just a few months back. But our ideological fight is at least two decades old – having started the day the fountain pen started losing
The story of Kosuri Venkata Ratnam meeting Gandhiji and Ratnam pens (dated 1932-35) has been documented extremely well. Ratnam pens are celebrated. When President Ram Nath Kovind visited the Pablo Neruda Museum in Santiago on 31st March 2019, the press release by Rashtrapati Bhavan stated, “He gifted a special pen to the
