Christmas is coming. That means a lot of sweets, stuffing, and gifts are on our way! Well, Conway Stewart has found a way to make this magical time even more enchanting and thrilling. The brand has introduced the Conway Stewart Winston Cherry Red as its limited-edition Christmas Pen 2021. Hearing jingle bells already, you…
Read more

  “The heart of a fountain pen”, they say, “is the nib”. Some nibs, like the people around us, are large hearted – they write with beautiful, bold, wet lines. Some on the other extreme, are extra fine – frugal in their countenance, their lines thin and precise. Some move almost effortlessly through life’s relationships,…
Read more

 Rubel Shah, has long fascinated me with his work. After many failed attempts, I was finally successful in cornering the calligraphy / lettering wizard from Bangladesh. Am publishing his response to my queries in both Bangla and English as a test case. Excerpts: Pen Lovers Kolkata: You have fondly christened yourself “Akaru” – one who…
Read more

  Black. Why am I fascinated with Black fountain pens? Why do we fountain pen fanatics dream of the Black 149, or the Black KOP for that matter, when in a dream sequence, it can technically take any colour? Why is there such an aura about uncapping a black pen, while seemingly lost in thought,…
Read more

 The search for excellence is an unending quest – one that has no place for complacency, no respite as it were, from the steady surge forward, even if to sit back, relax and soak in the glory of one’s creations. And who can be a better example of this passion for excellence, than Dr Sreekumar…
Read more

  Dilip Basak, Ma Durga and the hand-made pen for a daughter! A father’s love turned to perfection to celebrate the homecoming of Bengal’s daughter! I have never seen a fountain pen being made before my eyes. Thus, when I got the chance, to see ace craftsman Dilip Basak turn a fountain pen as I…
Read more

 Harry Potter. Yes, that’s it, it is the introduction to this blog As I write this blog wearing Harry Potter’s infamous-mark-on-the-forehead-and-round-spectacles pyjamas and a Deathly Hallows T-shirt, I can sense the magic of the wizarding world around me. In 1997, J. K. Rowling enchanted the world with her first book ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s…
Read more

  Conway Stewart Series 100 Commander – a Limited Edition pen to celebrate Daniel Craig being made a Commander of the Royal Navy   Ian Fleming, when he created the fictional character of James Bond (double-O-seven) in 1953, little did he suspect that Bond would become the global phenomenon that he is. Books, comic strips,…
Read more

 The Little Book of Architecture’s authors, Prof. Harshada Bapat Shintre and Prof. Yashwant Pitkar, have successfully managed to take us to their world of Architecture. And not to the technical and intricate one but a vibrant and humble one. A new realm created purely for understanding and discovering the regular architectural objects that do not…
Read more

 Pelikan. Very few entities survive the ravages of time, especially if you are a colossus in your chosen field of excellence. Pelikan is a notable exception, dating back its legacy to 1838, when the chemist Carl Horemann started offering oil paints, watercolours and coloured inks (farbige Dinten). The fountain pens for which we know and…
Read more