A fountain pen works through capillarity: ink flows from a hidden reservoir to the nib, and as you write, air enters to replace the ink used. This delicate balance — ink for air, pressure through movement — turns writing into an act of precision.

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The Nib Is Everything

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The nib determines the character of the line. The most common are round tips: EF (extra fine), F (fine), M (medium), B (broad) and even wider versions like BB or 3B.

But the real universe begins with italic, stub, and oblique nibs.

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• Italics have a crisp, flat edge that creates bold verticals and fine horizontals — perfect for calligraphy, signatures, and writing with visual rhythm.

• Stubs are slightly rounded, offering smoother flow without losing contrast — ideal for expressive daily writing.

• Obliques, cut at a diagonal, suit certain writing angles, especially for left-handers or those with natural slants.

• Flex nibs, increasingly rare and coveted, allow line variation through pressure: writing with soul, breathing with the hand.

 

Discovering these nibs is like changing handwriting without changing pen. It’s about learning to listen to the paper, vary your line, and let your style emerge — naturally.

 

Filling Systems — Hidden Elegance

 

Not all pens fill the same way — and that detail is more than logistics: it’s a matter of ritual.

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• Cartridges are quick, clean, and disposable — ideal for beginners.

• Converters, refillable with bottled ink, open the door to wider colour choices and a more intentional writing experience.

 

From there, things get truly refined:

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• Piston fillers offer greater capacity, visual elegance, and mechanical pleasure in the refill gesture.

• Vacumatic systems (air-pressure sacs from the 1930s) still live on in collector’s editions.

• Lever fillers, once a hallmark of American pens, and eyedroppers, with their generous volume, are nods to tradition and craft.

 

There are even rare systems like capillary fillers, touchdown systems, or snorkel fillers, legacies of brands like Parker and Sheaffer.

Each system has its soul — and its ritual.

 

Materials — More Than Appearance

 

You feel a pen in your hand before you ever put it to paper. That first contact is shaped by its material.

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• Entry-level pens often use ABS plastics, lightweight resins or stainless steel — good value and balance.

• Higher up, things get more nuanced:

  • High-grade resins, like those from Montblanc or Aurora, offer depth and durability.

  • Ebonite (vulcanite), with its warm touch and signature scent, is a nod to pen-making history.

  • Celluloid, rare and luminous, is nearly extinct due to its complexity.

  • Some brands work with precious woods, carbon fibre, sterling silver, even solid gold.

 

Material defines more than looks — it sets the balance, grip, temperature… and the desire to write.

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A fountain pen doesn’t just write.

It gives shape to thought — and leaves a trace of judgement.