A guy promoting local craftsmen, a metallurgist, a pen artisan and a nib-smith walk into a bar… No, this is not the start of a joke. It’s the cooperation of four Japanese companies that made something truly unique possible.
The pen maker Wancher from Japan’s Oita prefecture together with Oita Made, Nagao Seisakusho and Sailor collaborated on making this limited edition fountain pen. The pen is built around the Sailor Pro Gear modell and comes with the excellent Sailor nib. The body of the pen and the cap is made of aluminum which is hammered using the traditional Japanese Tankin technique. The metal is coloured using Japanese natural indigo. Now, indigo doesn’t stain metals and adhere to them, so it took Nagao Seisakusho three years(!) to figure out how to do just that. The result is mesmerising. Depending on the angle the colour of the pen ranges from deep purple to blue and even can have a pinkish hue. The tactile feeling is also very interesting thanks to the hammered surface.
For more information on the interesting backstory of this pen see