Instrument
The rule is this: if I use it once a day, I need to optimize for pleasure, and there is effectively no maximum budget. This becomes complicated when considering pens.
In pens as in cameras, the best pen is the one that’s on you. And so there are always pens on me. There should therefore be pens in the following places:
- My nightstand, where I do my daily journaling
- My desk, where I take notes for clients and do worky stuff
- Each of my bags, including: -- My sling -- My mini-sling (sorry, I’m that person) -- My daypack -- My travel bag
- A drawer in the closet for when I need to give pens to humans who need pens (this happens often)
Nightstand & desk: the fancy stuff
In 2015, I bought a Lamy Safari, the sort of pen that you get as your first fountain pen. It’s $20 and hard to screw up. It now sits on my nightstand; I use it every day.
In May 2021, I bought a Lamy 2000, wondering: how much better can this be? Most pen differences are in the barrel, making pens more of a fashion object than one of function after a certain price point. I figured that the 2000 had Safari internals with a more professional-looking barrel.
Fam, it is vastly better. It is so much better to write with, to clean, to fill, to hold, to sit with than a Safari. My Safari feels like plastic garbage in comparison. The 2000 is effectively a perfect object, providing so much pleasure in the process of writing that I cannot even express it in words. Its Bauhaus-adjacent formalism works amazingly for client calls – and yes, clients notice your pen on calls. It’s one of those things that may not be your jam, specifically, but it gave me the belief that there really is something to high-end pen design, which should probably be enough in and of itself to stop.
Nobody really needs a fancy pen. They are the sort of thing that falls in line with mechanical watches & fancy cars as part of the trappings of the upper class, which I am always deeply suspicious of. But they also create a sense of ritual that I am grateful for, that I notice. If the quality of the process of writing with them weren’t so high, I would wave any rational being off of them. And yet.
The bags: Kaweco rollerball
For my bags, my pen needs to be:
- Pleasurable to write with
- Airplane-proof
- Screw cap (so they don’t uncap in the bag)
- Durable (I bike; I wear my gear hard)
- Writable in cold weather (I live in Chicago)
This means three things: an aluminum barrel, a clip, and a rollerball. (No fountain pen will survive a bike or an airplane.) The nice thing about rollerballs is the refills are largely interchangeable. There are a few standards; you pick one and go with it.
I picked Kaweco, because it ticks all the boxes, replacement parts are easy to find in most cities, and it’s pleasurable enough – with the right refill.
Ink
I use Pilot Iroshizuku for my fountain pens, and Schmidt for my Kaweco. Just get something that won’t run or clog.
The unfancy stuff
Buy a 10-pack of these and forget about it. Hand them to people who ask for pens. Never hand out your fountain pens, for the love of god.