Mod Style Pens

[catbert]

Absolutely we should appreciate those design-forward pens. My hoard is mostly vintage and mostly mod or modernist as defined by the OP. To me they are retro-futuristic, but also very much of their time.

Thinking about the tendency in current pen styling to look backwards rather than to express our time, I wonder if fountain pens got out of step with (for want of a better word) ’fashion’ when they ceased to be everyday necessities. Reverting to archetypal designs makes it easier to clearly differentiate fountain pens from rollerballs and ballpoints (check out the nib on this!), whether to signal status or one’s inner contrarian. When a pen is also a luxury object, as so many current pens are, making it big and blingy helps justify the price.

Marc Newson's Montblanc M was an attempt to do unadorned functional simplicity in a modernist rather than a traditional way. An integral filling system would have been preferable but cartridges are arguably more mod and the way the industry was going. The future ain't what it used to be.

Another pen with today’s design sensibility, reflecting now and not the past? The Apple Pencil.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Oh by the way. . .

 

http://zobeid.zapto.org/image/melmac.jpeg

 

Go ahead and laugh. I still think it's faboo.

Same here.

[jar]

 

Marc Newson's Montblanc M was an attempt to do unadorned functional simplicity in a modernist rather than a traditional way. An integral filling system would have been preferable but cartridges are arguably more mod and the way the industry was going. The future ain't what it used to be.

 

 

Marc Newsome's fountain pen design like his furniture just comes across as really, really silly to me; not modern or mod but rather designed to put money in his wallet only..

[Sailor Kenshin]

Marc Newsome's fountain pen design like his furniture just comes across as really, really silly to me; not modern or mod but rather designed to put money in his wallet only..

 

My first thought: 'What's the deal with that divot in the barrel?

[catbert]

I did say 'attempt'.

[Zookie]

I have a turquoise colored Eversharp Challenger that has a nice modern look to it. Same basic design as the Parker 45.

[tonybelding]

 

Marc Newsome's fountain pen design like his furniture just comes across as really, really silly to me; not modern or mod but rather designed to put money in his wallet only..

 

I hadn't seen that pen before.

 

Mac Newson first came to my awareness when he designed the notorious Pentax K-01, AKA The Yellow Brick. They did come in less garish colors, but it's the bright yellow one everybody remembers. It was derided for being big and clunky (not Newson's fault, with Pentax dictating the specs), and toy-like in appearance (maybe), and having poor ergonomics (if you tried to hold and operate it in the traditional way).

 

The K-01 was definitely a modernist design at a time when other camera makers -- such as Olympus and Fujifilm -- were going retro and making their new models closely resemble 1970s 35mm film SLRs, and to great success and acclaim. So it was definitely out of step.

[pen2paper]

Fugifilm

[KBeezie]

It's open nib... but it also looks like an egg...

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/parker/ellipse/full.jpg

 

Next to some Parker 45s

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/parker/parkers_dec2014.jpg

[Sailor Kenshin]

But how does it write?

[KBeezie]

But how does it write?

If you mean me, rather smoothly an F point leaning towards the dry side. (I don't have it anymore though).

[Sailor Kenshin]

If you mean me, rather smoothly an F point leaning towards the dry side. (I don't have it anymore though).

 

Awww.

 

I still have a semi-vintage Parker catalogue, and that one caught my eye.

[KBeezie]

Awww.

 

I still have a semi-vintage Parker catalogue, and that one caught my eye.

Not too hard to break down, and from what I understand they were short-lived (around 2001-2002)

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/parker/ellipse/disassembled.jpg

 

I know someone with a near mint red one at a medium point that I think he was selling for 100.

[catbert]

 

I hadn't seen that pen before.

 

Mac Newson first came to my awareness when he designed the notorious Pentax K-01, AKA The Yellow Brick. They did come in less garish colors, but it's the bright yellow one everybody remembers. It was derided for being big and clunky (not Newson's fault, with Pentax dictating the specs), and toy-like in appearance (maybe), and having poor ergonomics (if you tried to hold and operate it in the traditional way).

 

The K-01 was definitely a modernist design at a time when other camera makers -- such as Olympus and Fujifilm -- were going retro and making their new models closely resemble 1970s 35mm film SLRs, and to great success and acclaim. So it was definitely out of step.

 

Interesting point about retro-styled cameras. As cameras and phones blur together, this sounds like another example of traditional design highlighting contrarian/connoisseur choice. A modernist design like the K-01 elicits a 'what's with that?' response (much like the Montblanc M) but at the same time gets attention, which must have been part of the brief.

 

Haven't handled the K-01 but did get a chance to try the Montblanc M in store. Guessing Montblanc dictated some specs to Newson - that Starwalker-like nib and section - leaving mainly the barrel and cap for him to play with. One possible explanation for the barrel shape is that it gives new users a visual cue to help with nib orientation, though Newson seems more of a fineliner guy.

 

Hard to see many new modernist pens emerging unless Bock, Jowo, etc. start making non-traditional designs.

[jar]

 

Interesting point about retro-styled cameras. As cameras and phones blur together, this sounds like another example of traditional design highlighting contrarian/connoisseur choice. A modernist design like the K-01 elicits a 'what's with that?' response (much like the Montblanc M) but at the same time gets attention, which must have been part of the brief.

 

Haven't handled the K-01 but did get a chance to try the Montblanc M in store. Guessing Montblanc dictated some specs to Newson - that Starwalker-like nib and section - leaving mainly the barrel and cap for him to play with. One possible explanation for the barrel shape is that it gives new users a visual cue to help with nib orientation, though Newson seems more of a fineliner guy.

 

Hard to see many new modernist pens emerging unless Bock, Jowo, etc. start making non-traditional designs.

Bock make the Sheaffer inlaid nibs as well as other non-traditional nib styles.

 

How effective are non-traditional square wheels?

[catbert]

Bock make the Sheaffer inlaid nibs as well as other non-traditional nib styles.

 

Did not know that. You mean modern not vintage Sheaffer?

 

How effective are non-traditional square wheels?

 

Merely responding to OP's request for other examples of current non-trad styles.

 

(This thread has problems with terminology and a tendency to go straight to the heart of the periphery, but is fascinating nonetheless.  )

[jar]

Did not know that. You mean modern not vintage Sheaffer?

 

 

Merely responding to OP's request for other examples of current non-trad styles.

 

(This thread has problems with terminology and a tendency to go straight to the heart of the periphery, but is fascinating nonetheless. )

Yes, the modern Sheaffer inlaid nibs.

 

And Yes, the terms "Traditional" and "Mod" seem to have whatever meaning each individual gives them. What is non-traditional about the K-01?

[catbert]

Yes, the modern Sheaffer inlaid nibs.

 

And Yes, the terms "Traditional" and "Mod" seem to have whatever meaning each individual gives them. What is non-traditional about the K-01?

 

Yup, on reflection the K-01 seems more post-modern. Naturally there are limits to how much a designer can play with the customary form of a thing and still have a functional object. (Art pieces such as Lockheed Lounge don't count.)

[Ernst Bitterman]

Oh by the way. . .

 

http://zobeid.zapto.org/image/melmac.jpeg

 

Go ahead and laugh. I still think it's faboo.

 

To each their taste, I suppose...

 

 

...and I think I'd support "faboo" for your set.

[Pen Engineer]

 

I tried to address that in my post right above yours, but I guess I didn't do it well.

 

To me, anything that veers away from tradition, is relatively clean and un-ornamented, and puts function ahead of form falls into the general category of modern design. Closed nibs -- whether hooded, conical or inlaid -- are the easiest trait to pick out, since the ubiquitous open nib is the most entrenched tradition you could ever hope to veer away from! It's not the only thing we can look at, though.

how about form AND function? Form, ornamentation has a function, is function. For me, old tools would express this. In my opinion, closed nibs do not deserve to be called nibs. I think, someone wanted to make a fountain pen look like a ball pen. Yuck.

I tried to express this clearly in my FP site.... https://fountainpendesign.wordpress.com/fountain-pen-nib-function-material-manufacture/

Art deco is fab

and so is youth style