Korean Fountain Pens That One Can Buy Today

[ksson]

I am curious about Korean pens that can be bought new today in stores (as opposed to second hand or other unofficial/ad-hoc channels). Does anybody know of such pens? I know four:

- The Monami Olika, there are some reviews here on FPN. It costs around 3 USD.

- The Monami Neo 153 fountain pen. It costs roughly 25 USD. I found a review (in Korean but with many pictures) here: https://edo1412.blog.me/221223909068

- The HEXA pen, at first a give-away for customers of the Alladin bookstore, and now a regular item in their catalogue (roughly 8 USD). The product presentation is here: https://www.aladin.co.kr/Ucl_Editor/events/book/180914_mug_jy_popup.aspx?index=2

- The 3Oysters Hunters. Roughly 18 USD. As far as I know it's the only fountain pen produced by the company 3Oysters, which is well-known
for its inks. Product page on the website of the blueblack pen store: http://blueblack.co.kr/product/detail.html?product_no=1434&cate_no=607&display_group=1

The two Monami pens can be bought in the larger stationery stores, the Olika even in the smaller ones. The HEXA can be bought only at the
Alladin book store. The 3Oysters pen can be bought in some fountain pen stores such as blueblack.

I'm curious to know if there are more such pens.

Edited March 25, 2019 by ksson

[penzel_washinkton]

Didn't know that 3 Oysters have a fountain pen line, and the name Hunter sounds excellent (although a complete name 3 Oysters Hunter changes the whole perception )

Edited March 24, 2019 by penzel_washinkton

[Antenociticus]

The 3 Oysters one actually seems to be called Hunters, plural. The 3 Oysters Hunters. I quite like the look of it. Seems to be a sort of "hunter green" and hence, perhaps, the name. Love the antler motif.

[ksson]

Indeed, it's "Hunters", not "Hunter", I corrected my post. There are three colors in fact, though I like the green the most and that's the one I linked. It's also the one I bought myself :-) Here is a link to the 3 colors: http://blueblack.co.kr/product/list.html?cate_no=607 . There is a single nib size "F".

 

It's definitely a nice pen body, I also like it a lot. The nib is marked "Iridium Point Germany", after some online search this doesn't seem to mean much. My nib isn't great, a bit dry. At the end of the barrel is written "Taiwan", I don't know if that means that the entire pen was assembled in Taiwan.

[KLscribbler]

Is Pilot Korea still in business? They used to make Pilot pens for the Korean market - some pens were similar to the Japanese-made ones we are more familiar with today, but other models were unique to Pilot Korea. Vintage pens produced by them still appear quite frequently, e.g. FPN member Speerbob often has a bunch of them for sale. Not sure if they are still making pens nowadays.

[Antenociticus]

Indeed, it's "Hunters", not "Hunter", I corrected my post. There are three colors in fact, though I like the green the most and that's the one I linked. It's also the one I bought myself :-) Here is a link to the 3 colors: http://blueblack.co.kr/product/list.html?cate_no=607 . There is a single nib size "F".

 

It's definitely a nice pen body, I also like it a lot. The nib is marked "Iridium Point Germany", after some online search this doesn't seem to mean much. My nib isn't great, a bit dry. At the end of the barrel is written "Taiwan", I don't know if that means that the entire pen was assembled in Taiwan.

 

So much for my theory about "hunter green". "Iridium Point Germany" probably means the nib is Chinese.

[ksson]

Is Pilot Korea still in business? They used to make Pilot pens for the Korean market - some pens were similar to the Japanese-made ones we are more familiar with today, but other models were unique to Pilot Korea. Vintage pens produced by them still appear quite frequently, e.g. FPN member Speerbob often has a bunch of them for sale. Not sure if they are still making pens nowadays.

 

I don't think Pilot Korea are still in business, I haven't seen or heard anything of them except in a context of vintage pens.

[Aramchek]

I haven't kept the (blister) packaging for the Monami Olika, but I'm pretty sure it said made in China. I bought two, the F is surprisingly good for its price, the EF, well, isn't.

[ksson]

Indeed, from what I gather, the Monami Olika was designed and produced in China - it's a really cheap pen. According to Korean blogs, the Monami Neo 153 is produced in Korea, the nib is German from Schmidt. I would assume that the HEXA pen I mentioned is also a chinese production. I don't know for the 3Oysters pen.

 

For me all those pens still count as "Korean" as they are sold under a Korean brand, but I can understand that others see things differently.

Edited March 27, 2019 by ksson

[ksson]

I just found two companies I never heard of. They both make pens in Korea.

 

The first is Zenyle: https://zenyle.com/ You can see their pens either by scrolling down on the home page or by clicking on the various entries in the "Shop" menu.

 

The second is http://www.javapen.com/en/

 

I have never seen pens from these companies in offline shops.

[linearM]

I spent a couple weeks in Korea this past summer. In browsing a shop I found a Javapen and purchased it, from their website I believe it is an Amores II. It is black with gold furniture, a rather skinny pen, but with a very nice smooth nib, and a cartridge/converter. It came in a rather nice spring hinged box with two cartridges and a converter. From their website it appears that they have eight fountain pen models.

 

From what I have read about the company, it was started by former employees of Pilot Korea.

[Mannyonpil]

One might consider https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/349629-hello-guys-i-started-a-small-fountain-pen-company-in-skorea-eureka/?hl=korea

 

I have seen one in hand before but I am intrigued by them.

[basterma]

I have a pen by Micro Korea that is a wonderful little writer. I can't find anything that says if they still make fountain pens.