Fountain Pen Sales Are Growing. . .

As some of you may know, I use a fountain pen exclusively.  Well, not just one.  I have a small collection of 30-40.  A few I have purchased.  Most are gifts.  Some are hand me downs from my family members.  I love writing cursive and love the feel of that pen and love watching the ink as it is laid down upon the page.  Computers are fine except the speed of my cursive coupled with the delight of the fountain pen match the pace of my thinking better.  Plus, when you put a line through something, it is still there to be reclaimed if you decide it was a good sentence.  Delete it from your word processor a few times and things are lost forever.

According to a Bloomberg Pursuits article given to me by a member, smartphones, tablets, computers, and all things digital have NOT slowed the sales of the fountain pen at all.  In fact, in 2016 sales increased by 2.1% making fountain pens a $1 BILLION market.  Okay, so it is not close to the sales of a Big Mac or as common as the ubiquitous ball point, it is still a growing market.  Especially in Japan!  There fountain pens leaped in sales by 20%.  China leads the market is cheap but thoroughly usable fountain pens.  In fact, I have several to carry with me when I travel so that if I lose it, I can easily replace it. I have a half a dozen pen shops in my favorite's list and I often visit nibs.com.  Pens are a hobby, as well.

You feel something when you hold a fountain pen, when you place the nib on the paper, and when you put the ink on the page.  Pens are also works of art.  A couple of mine are too precious for me to use -- except occasionally.  I have expensive pens (a Montblanc, for example), several upper priced pens (Watermans), many old favorites (Parkers), some family heirlooms (the Scheaffers my parents got in grade school and used throughout high school), and some just for fun.  For whatever reason, I am very attracted to blue pens and blue ink, although silver (the pen body and not the ink) is not far behind.  Some like the real fat boys.  They are fine but I tend to use a slightly slimmer version more often.

Although I have bottles of ink, I tend to use cartridges simply because I travel a lot and want to have a spare easily accessible.  I would love to own one of the Japanese Nakaya pens.  I have been told they are simply wonderful new pens.  But all in all I am excited that there are collectors or writers who join me in my uncommon pursuit of an anachronism in our technological age.  Join me and swim against the tide!  Buy a fountain pen today!