Visionnaire Fountain Pen

[heymatthew]

The way I see this project now is that he didn't design the pen. He simply saw a business opportunity and capitalized with marketing and a made up story. Normally I have no issues with this, but in this case he put together a story around him designing the pen and that is a lie. Some of the comments in thread are holding more weight as you can see he really doesn't know too much about FP.

If this was not done on a crowd funding site under the pretense, of check out the pen I designed, then power to him for creating a new brand.

 

EXACTLY! I didn't care that his pen wasn't revolutionary or new or groundbreaking. Most pens aren't. In fact, there's not a whole lot one can do in the stationery world that is any of those things. What I thought was cool was that this guy created a fountain pen. And I love fountain pens so I backed it. It is incredibly deceptive that he would buy in bulk, slap his own logo on it and pass it off as something he engineered and made up some story to go along with it. He basically lied about every single bit of it.

 

And that is where I have the biggest issue. All of those backers were lied to. I've made it a priority to post that link in as many places as possible on the campaign pages and I've also passed it along to Kickstarter to see if they can look into it.

[recluse]

What I thought was cool was that this guy created a fountain pen. And I love fountain pens so I backed it. It is incredibly deceptive that he would buy in bulk, slap his own logo on it and pass it off as something he engineered and made up some story to go along with it. He basically lied about every single bit of it.

 

 

You don't know this for a fact. He could design it, as in we put this body to this grip section and add this cap with this clip. He could even do this while being all emotional because he became a father. In order to make the pen he needed to order, say, 10000 pieces and so on. Once the order was made, the factory continues to make pens and distributes them along all channels possible. They can make up to 1 million pieces per month! It wasn't supposed to be a limited production or anything.

 

The guy didn't know much about fountain pens, he ran a cheesy campaign, it was going to be all-Chinese pen, the design was honestly presented. What was promised is being delivered. I didn't see anything exciting about the project at the beginning and don't see any differences now.

[recluse]

The way I see this project now is that he didn't design the pen. He simply saw a business opportunity and capitalized with marketing and a made up story. Normally I have no issues with this, but in this case he put together a story around him designing the pen and that is a lie. Some of the comments in thread are holding more weight as you can see he really doesn't know too much about FP.

If this was not done on a crowd funding site under the pretense, of check out the pen I designed, then power to him for creating a new brand.

 

We don't know whether he designed it or not. The design was generic from the start but it could be honestly done by him. He just didn't know anything better. What may be happening right now is rebranding by the factory of the original design by this guy. They may be obligated _not_ to put Visionnaire stamp on the pen.

[heymatthew]

 

You don't know this for a fact. He could design it, as in we put this body to this grip section and add this cap with this clip. He could even do this while being all emotional because he became a father. In order to make the pen he needed to order, say, 10000 pieces and so on. Once the order was made, the factory continues to make pens and distributes them along all channels possible. They can make up to 1 million pieces per month! It wasn't supposed to be a limited production or anything.

 

The guy didn't know much about fountain pens, he ran a cheesy campaign, it was going to be all-Chinese pen, the design was honestly presented. What was promised is being delivered. I didn't see anything exciting about the project at the beginning and don't see any differences now.

 

Kickstarter is not an outlet for pre-manufactured goods. If it was, people could just buy whatever they wanted from these sites and then sell them on Kickstarter. What he is delivering is a pre-manufactured good. That is where the problem lies.

 

Yes, he is delivering a pen made in China. Yes, he is doing it on time and as-promised. Where this becomes a problem for me and other backers is that he took advantage of peoples' willingness to help "kickstart" a manufacturing process by pretending to have a need for manufacturing funds when what he "needed" was money to buy X-thousand of these pens.

[heymatthew]

 

We don't know whether he designed it or not. The design was generic from the start but it could be honestly done by him. He just didn't know anything better. What may be happening right now is rebranding by the factory of the original design by this guy. They may be obligated _not_ to put Visionnaire stamp on the pen.

 

I think you're probably way off here... I'm not trying to be a jerk, but the site clearly states that the owner's brand can be laser engraved or screen printed on the cap band. So, I'm sure this company didn't "copy" anything. Even the details of the "Iridium Point Nib" are identical. Typically, Chinese pens such as Jinhao and Hero have a different nib. It's unlikely they'd use this same exact nib.

[TheGreatRoe]

 

...He could even do this while being all emotional because he became a father...

 

You know this was the part of the story that convinced me this guy wasn't on the level. That story of the birth of his kid was like the writing for a sitcom that got rejected from every network in the hemisphere.

 

He went to sign the birth certificate and was struck by the cheap pen he wound up signing with....so he went and designed a fountain pen. WHAT?!?!? Go to Amazon, buy a pen, and then spend time with your wife and kid! This just came across as the story a used-car salesman makes up to bond with people.

 

BUT, I did at least assume that he designed the pen, and just made up a story to sell it. The pens in that picture show that's very possibly not the case.

 

If I'd pledged, I'd be mad, too.

[stopher]

Once the order was made, the factory continues to make pens and distributes them along all channels possible. They can make up to 1 million pieces per month! It wasn't supposed to be a limited production or anything.

 

A client of mine got this type of answer from a "creator" who is selling HIS original speaker on Indigogo. The factory is simply making them behind my back. To me this is just another lie. Can I be wrong, absolutely, but if it smells like a fish, looks like a fish, and swims like a fish...

 

It will be interesting to see what KS comes back to Matthew with.

[TheGreatRoe]

 

...I've made it a priority to post that link in as many places as possible on the campaign pages and I've also passed it along to Kickstarter to see if they can look into it.

 

If you're in the mood, pass the link along to the sites that endorsed or spread the word of his kickstarter. They may have someone who has the time and resources to run down an answer. I hear rumors that journalism still exists.

[recluse]

 

A client of mine got this type of answer from a "creator" who is selling HIS original speaker on Indigogo. The factory is simply making them behind my back. To me this is just another lie. Can I be wrong, absolutely, but if it smells like a fish, looks like a fish, and swims like a fish...

 

It will be interesting to see what KS comes back to Matthew with.

 

Personally, I also would like to see some kind of action. This is clearly an abuse of the KS system and the fact that it was pulled under the cover of fountain pens makes it almost personal.

[stopher]

Until I read this thread last night and then found that link on Alibaba today, I actually believed the story, ST, he was selling. I believe a little too much in the human race some times!

[hashish81]

I backed this KS project, and I want to thank stopher for finding the alibaba link. I mulled over those images, the identical ball point pen images, and the high res images on the visionnaire website. It's clear that backers have been swindled into buying a rebadged Leyica fountain pen with a laser printed Visionnaire logo on it. The pens are identical. I wish I could found out when the alibaba ad was posted in relation to the kickstarter project.

 

p.s. thanks heymatthew for posting the KS comments page. I've also reported the project to KS for violating the "Projects cannot resell items or offer rewards not produced by the project or its creator" stipulation.

Edited November 7, 2013 by hashish81

[stopher]

I was just reading your KS post Hahish. The green flooring is standard issue in Chinese assembly rooms. I have toured facilities overseas for clients and they all look the same. Like you said on KS Hashish, the fact that he was showing production images before funding had me pause and think for a second too. WOW, look at him, investing in tooling before his campaign is finished, good for him!

 

I also was shocked at how low his pricing was when his funding target was only 15K. Again all these little signs are stating to add up.

[stopher]

A QUOTE FROM KICKSTARTER

Fiona Cockwill about 1 hour ago

Reading comments on here further down. The project designer states that the nibs are made by another company, there was a fishing reel on Kickstarter recently, it will contain something called a One way bearing, almost all high quality reels (apart from Abel) contain one, so technically it is being resold as it is made by a different factory to the reel maker. so are they breaking the rules? I doubt it as most design projects on here would have to be terminated if that were the case.

Of course designers and creators source components, that is how manufacturing works. But HOW IT APPEARS in this case is that he sourced the entire pen!! LOL

You can lead a horse to water... and then beat it with a stick

[kpyeoman]

Still at it, I see...

 

http://awesomegifs.com/wp-content/uploads/dead-horse.gif

This animation is awesome!

[MisterBoll]

[heymatthew]

But HOW IT APPEARS in this case is that he sourced the entire pen!! LOL

You can lead a horse to water... and then beat it with a stick

 

No, no... You're missing her point. I am going to source all the parts for a 2014 Camaro Super Sport, have them assembled at the Chevrolet Factory and then sell the completed car. On Kickstarter. I shall call it the "Chevy Camaro."

 

And, since I'm only sourcing parts, it's okay. Because it's entirely new.

 

Now, where did I put my stick? I have a dead horse to beat.

[mikehodgman]

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/698964398/Good_price_for_metal_fountain_pen.html

 

I have found one of the suppliers for the Visionnaire Fountain Pen. It really is too bad that this guy is pulling the wool over thousands of peoples eyes!

 

Holy cow! That is the EXACT same pen! That is crazy. I did not back this pen as this guy was obviously a hack and I've had other pens with a generic German Iridium point nibs and have not had good experiences. Just crazy that this hack took a generic Chinese pen and put it on Kickstarter.

[stopher]

 

No, no... You're missing her point. I am going to source all the parts for a 2014 Camaro Super Sport, have them assembled at the Chevrolet Factory and then sell the completed car. On Kickstarter. I shall call it the "Chevy Camaro."

 

And, since I'm only sourcing parts, it's okay. Because it's entirely new.

 

Now, where did I put my stick? I have a dead horse to beat.

That seams totally legit!!!!

There is a KS campaign right now for an exotic car company!!! It is a pile of brown ink

[stopher]

 

Holy cow! That is the EXACT same pen! That is crazy. I did not back this pen as this guy was obviously a hack and I've had other pens with a generic German Iridium point nibs and have not had good experiences. Just crazy that this hack took a generic Chinese pen and put it on Kickstarter.

IF you were to launch your own custom fountain pen, what tip would you source?

[mikehodgman]

IF you were to launch your own custom fountain pen, what tip would you source?

 

There aren't that many options are there? Why isn't there a Japanese option for nibs? All you see are German ones. That is probably what I would look for although I'm not sure it's possible.