[horolographer]

Local luxury pen retailer Aesthetic Bay hosting Yukio Nagaharasan - one of the nibmasters of SAILOR pens - over the next few days will be at the ION Singapore. I visited the shop today to see him at his craft and to correct a small issue with one of my pens that felt a tad scratchy. He managed to work his magic on my pen and it was right as rain in less than 10 minutes!

Here is where he was seated amongst his equipment. His primary tool was a custom made machine that he brought with him from Japan. Apparently that machine was specially designed and made for Mr Nagahara according to his specifications. It comes with reconfigurable rotating polishing stones. The amazing machine makes no sound! One hears only of the faint metal on stone. (look out for my video upload of him adjusting a nib with this machine)




See how his hands and fingers - steady as a rock - was able to work magic even on impossibly bent tins.












A wide angle shot of him next to his interpreter in Aesthetic Bay


There was even a wooden sail boat beside the nibmaster!


On display were the complete range of Sailor pens. Here are the images of the various nibs with sample scripts


Sailor had even produced a series of Limited Editions for Aesthetic Bay - shown here by Kum Fong, the owner of Aesthetic Bay.


Here is one of the limited editions up close


Managed to capture a shot of a fellow FPN member - LeCorbusier (the chap in the middle)


At the shop are the local and UK brand managers - here showing off the new but very expensive maki-e pens from Sailor.



The Sailor Team will be at the ION store over the next few days until Saturday. If you have any defective pens of ANY brand, Mr Nagahara will be there to graciously repair (if at all possible) at no cost! So do not miss this opportunity to have your nib adjusted or precious pens repaired by a truly skilled craftsman.

This post has been edited by horolographer: 21 January 2010 - 03:19 PM

[Firenze]

I was there earlier today and Master Nagaharasan fixed one of my pens. It was great seeing him at work. I enjoyed it a lot. Thanks to Aesthetic Bay for hosting this event.

[horolographer]

Here is a short video to capture Nagahara san briefly working on his machine.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7Beum6g64U"]http://www.youtube.c...h?v=G7Beum6g64U[/url]

[lecorbusier]

Thank you, Harry, for this wonderful report and photos! I am still just as happy in that photo--Mr Nagahara gave life to my dull Montegrappa (readjusted the nib AND widened the channel in the feed). And now the ink flow is consistent and perfect! He also customized the music nib of my 1911 to a size more suitable for everyday writing: it is now somewhere between music and stub! I feel that I have two new pens now.

He is a wizard.

[holgalee]

Thanks, Harry, for the gorgeous photos and concise write-up! I noticed someone with a camera but didn't realise it was you. Were you carrying a Herringbone bag? ;-)

[lucentstreak]

oooh... I didn't know it was you. I'm the person next to Jeffrey (LeCorbusier) in the picture. Mr Nagahara was most kind to help me fix up my banged up Lamy 2000 and other pens. He even customized my Aurora Optima to suit my handwriting.

[horolographer]

holgalee, on 22 January 2010 - 10:40 PM, said:

Thanks, Harry, for the gorgeous photos and concise write-up! I noticed someone with a camera but didn't realise it was you. Were you carrying a Herringbone bag? ;-)

Yup that was me. I thought my camera bag was discreet but clearly it wasn't! :-)

[horolographer]

lucentstreak, on 22 January 2010 - 11:13 PM, said:

oooh... I didn't know it was you. I'm the person next to Jeffrey (LeCorbusier) in the picture. Mr Nagahara was most kind to help me fix up my banged up Lamy 2000 and other pens. He even customized my Aurora Optima to suit my handwriting.

Hi! I am mostly nondesript and unrecogniseable so its okay :-)
Nagahara should have the nickname of "The Resurrector" for his awesome ability to resurrect quite dead and damaged pens!

[horolographer]

This evening, fans and collectors were invited for a small reception to thank the team from Sailor and for collectors to meet up and chat amongst themselves as well as with Nagahara-san. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me so I had to make do with my iPhone camera. :-(

I JUST HAD to photograph this real funny sign that was put by Kum Fong on the table lamp. :-)




Here he is just about to call it a day and join in the reception and guests.




Guests mingled and introduced themselves and started talking pens - non stop.




Here is Firenze who met the elderly gent (on the left) who travelled to his home town of Florence 8 times a year in his younger days. He actually spoke a fair bit of Italian! He brought along the box of very desirable vintage gold pens shown further below.




Few FPN friends were willing to let others try their pens....






Here are some pens brought along by FPN members

[PenFisher]

Thank your for the report and photographs. What a great experience it must be to have your pens adjusted by a master such as Yukio Nagahara. He was to have been in New York at Art Brown in late summer or early fall 2009 and I had planned to go. Unfortunately for me it was not to be. Hopefully I will get the experience at some later date/place. Thanks again for your post.

This post has been edited by PenFisher: 22 January 2010 - 04:00 PM

[bengine]

A great experience indeed. Mr. Yukio Nagahara turned 2 of my favourite vintage MBs into very smooth CI! Previously both liked to skip and a bit scratchy. After he worked his magic and voila... smooth like butter. I'm totally amazed.

The evening continued with cocktail party, and I had a nice chat with several FPN members, as well as peeking at their astounding pens. What a lovely event! Hope that Aesthetic Bay will host similar event in the near future.

Many thanks to Harry for the photos.