DC Fountain Pen Supershow (Part 2)

Alright, get ready for a glut of pictures. 

This is Sam from Edelberg. Sam was there last year, too, and he's a really interesting guy. Edelberg pens are pretty awesome. They're the high-tech end of the pen world, using materials like carbon fiber, titanium, and superluminova. The price-point is really high, but these pens are extremely well-made and well-designed. You turn the top piece of the Sloop pen (above) and the clip retracts into the body as ballpoint comes out. It's very smooth.

I've never considered spending this kind of money on a ballpoint, but Sam is a heck of a salesman. He sells hard. We had a great time talking to him, and we learned a lot about the company and their work.

For instance, Edelberg designed and built the cases for the Omega watches that went to the moon. It was a huge undertaking by a small number of people, according to Sam. Let this dude tell you a story. You won't be sorry.

The fountain pens are just as beautiful as the ballpoints, and the titanium nibs are pretty awesome. They're smooth and they flex. If you have a lot of disposable income, and you want some Swiss engineering, You have to check out Edelberg's pens.

These last two pictures are of a prototype Sloop that honors the tiger. There are only 46 of these being made, and they're hand-painted and lacquered. Part of the profits will be donated to a foundation to save tigers. The bottom side of the pen is much lighter, like a tiger-belly. I'm not sure if the pen comes with the awesome stand but, for the price Sam gave me, it ought to. Don't get your hopes up for getting one of these, though. They're mostly pre-sold. Next year: Giraffe. Yeah. 

Ryan Krusac was at this show, and he has some really beautiful pens with him. The picture below was the best of the lot we took. Ryan was in the main lobby room. That's good placement for traffic, but it's terrible for taking pictures. There are can lights, and halogen lights, and daylight, and all sorts of things there that make picture-taking a big challenge. You should go to Ryan's site. His photos put mine to shame. He's got hand-painted pens, and pens made from neat materials and all sorts of things. Most of them (maybe all) are kit-pens, but that's not really a problem. If you want a fancy nib, you can get one to fit these. What you're paying for is Ryan's awesome craftsmanship.

Speaking of craftsmen, you have to check out Von Moos. The Von Moos table was manned by a Swiss fellow (whose name I didn't catch), who struck me as a bit of a mad-scientist-engineer, and he showed me some of his work. These pens are fancy. Fancy. Diamond-studded fancy. Oddly, the pen he let me try out (he was wearing white gloves) was fitted with a steel nib because he was a little worried that someone would walk off with a gold one. I said, "Man, you just handed me a pen that is encrusted in diamonds and you're worried about a nib?" He shrugged.

Neither of these pictures came out right. The lighting in that area... You gotta put the diamond-encrusted Swiss engineering art-pieces in a place when humble bloggers can take a picture or two. Try to combine these two images in your mind. That's more-or-less what the display looks like.

In the well-lit area we met Syd, the Wahlnut. Our buddy Tyler of Organics Studio told us that we needed to check out Syd's wares, and he was right. The new Wahl-Eversharp pens are classy. I'll be talking about my new Skyliner 50 at some point in the near future, but the short story is that these pens have a distinct 50s vibe. Mine came with a green Corvette whose paint matches the pen. He's matched the old-school pens with new technology like the ceramic-coated semi-flex nibs. I've got a little bit of a story here, but the short version is that Syd's customer service is top-notch.

More later.
Word.
Mike