I'd like to talk about a matte black fountain pen that I bought a couple of years ago. It has a medium stainless-steel nib and a solid brass barrel, which gives it a really satisfying, substantial weight in the hand. I actually picked it up in a small independent stationery shop in Edinburgh during a weekend trip. I'd simply been browsing their notebooks and spotted it on display, and after trying a tester on some textured paper, I was completely sold on the spot.
These days, I use it almost exclusively for jotting down notes during project meetings and planning out my weekly schedule in my paper diary. Even though I handle most of my professional correspondence on a laptop or my mobile phone, I still find that physically writing things down helps me organise my thoughts properly. Whenever I need to brainstorm ideas, reflect on my day, or sketch out a quick project outline, this is invariably the pen I reach for.
I suppose the main reason I’m so fond of it is the sheer tactile pleasure of writing with it. Unlike cheap plastic ballpoints that tend to scratch the surface or skip ink halfway through a sentence, this fountain pen glides effortlessly across the page without needing any downward pressure. It honestly makes the act of writing feel therapeutic and intentional. On top of that, it’s entirely refillable with bottled ink, so it feels far more durable and eco-friendly than tossing away disposable biros all the time.