Whenever an expensive fountain pen employs a cartridge/converter (C/C) system, criticism tends to follow.

Across high-end pens, a built-in filling system is generally read as evidence of extra effort: additional engineering, additional cost, another layer of consideration. Whether the absence of one is actually a failure is another matter.

The King Profit is an excellent fountain pen. It delivers that sensory feedback Sailor fountain pens are famous for, and the soft nib does so with a spring in its step. The ink flow is plentiful. For many people, these qualities are what make the King Profit great. For me, it is a pen that haunted my collection.

This is a slight deviation from fountain pens, but I love Komeda's Coffee. It's a place I can always rely on for light sustenance, a warm coffee, or simply somewhere to put my things down and smoke before continuing on with the day. It is also one of the places I most reach for my fountain pen and write.

Kiyoshi Kato started his career digging up his backyard. He ended it having ascended heights few ever will. He’s a Spaceman.

To experience more, you acquire more. It is a logic that is hard to argue with. The Pelikan 400NN taught me there is another way. Ironically, it did so by being a purchase.

The advantages of ebonite feeds are real, but so are their demands. They reward competence, punish hesitation poorly, and punish overconfidence even more. This is fine if you enjoy that sort of relationship with your pen. Many people do. But it is worth being honest about what exactly is being admired.

Eizo Fujii of Eurobox is colourblind.

It got me thinking about ink bottles. What they are, what they're for, and whether those two things are always the same. From what I've observed, manufacturers work from one of three philosophies when designing them.

I imagine that when my parents explained the stationery was for their child, the staff pictured an actual child. Not a grown adult with opinions about optimal gsm and texture. An actual child, small and sticky-fingered, expecting a colouring book. The evidence supports this.

In this series, I’ll go through the stationery I’ve collected along the way: how it feels to write with, how it holds up to fountain pens and ink, and—most importantly—whether it makes me feel like I’m Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love.

It’s hard to tell which part is most implausible: the years-long queue, the nitrocellulose, the true sepia ink, or the fact that one of the world’s largest companies made room for him.

This series will cover the niche within the niche. The donut hole within a donut’s hole. First up: Nakaya

Those of us who had years to accumulate our gold nibs should be careful not to develop the posture of boomer homeowners: mistaking timing for virtue, and confusing “I bought early” with “I earned it.”

As the anecdote goes, the scene takes place inside Pilot’s headquarters in Tokyo. A meeting of executives. A new Capless model being introduced.

Traveler’s Company, a division of Midori, has built a remarkably loyal following around a single product: the Traveler’s Notebook.