Danitrio Omakase

[AltecGreen]

I start this thread with the Japanese term 'Omakase'. This should be familiar with those indulge themselves on the exquisiteness of sushi. No, I'm not talking about a California roll,a dynamite roll, or any other monstrosity that claims kinship with real sushi. I mean the real stuff that is an ode to the wonders of fish. In simple terms, 'Omakase' means "I'll leave it to you". A signal to the chef to take charge. For those who are now completely lost, I recommend watching "Jiro Dreams of Sushi". I'll return to this movie later.

 

So this particular journey began almost three years ago when I decided to pursue a custom Danitrio maki-e pen. For me, maki-e is something personal thus the desire for a custom pen to reflect some aspect of myself. My chosen subject for this pen is a reflection of one of my other hobbies/obsessions ('exotic' high end audio) and a tribute to Kenichi Shindo, the heart and soul of Shindo Laboratories, the maker of my audio gear. Having pursued high end audio and it's accompanying endless spiral (not unlike pens) for over two decades, my journey ended when I discovered Shindo and it's sonic purity. It was not longer after I received the Danitrio Fellowship pen that I started to broach the subject of having a custom Danitrio pen made with Kevin (winedoc). These discussions accelerated at the LA Pen Show in 2010 when Danitrio brought Tatsuya Todo (Kosetsu) and his wife to the show for maki-e demonstrations.

 

Still, the process of having a Danitrio custom made does require patience. They do not make that many custom pens because their artists are normally fully subscribed. So there is kind of a waiting list. Jopen was ahead of me on the queue. Still, Jose received his pen in 2011 and I was next.

 

The only direction I gave Kevin was a budget (not a small amount) and the motif of Shindo. The rest I left up to Danitrio. A pen 'Omakase'. I had no idea who was going to work on the pen nor any idea what direction they were going to take. At first the pen was going to be done on the baby Genkai body but then the artist requested I consider using the Genkai body instead (a larger canvas). My first instincts were that the pen would kind of be like Jose's dolphin pen but with swans instead since the Shindo logo is a swan. Maybe a brilliant maki-e swan in flight. In the end, I place my trust in Danitrio's artists and left it at that. I think I only enquired about progress once during the last LA Pen show. The pen will arrive when the pen arrives. The only thing I was worried about was that the pen was going to arrive fully covered with maki-e. A Genkai covered completely with maki-e is not an inexpensive pen.

 

Over the weekend, I finally received an e-mail from Kevin. The pen was done by Tatsuya Todo (Kosetsu). At first, Kosetsu's thinking was very similar to mys first instinct, something to do with swans. But Kosetsu went and did research on Shindo and decided that a swan would just be a swan pen. Instead, the pen paid the ultimate hommage to Shindo by using simplicity. Simplicity and purity exemplifies what I love about Shindo and Kosetsu drew out this essence. The pen uses the Shindo Green as a base colr and then nashiji-nuri was applied. In some abstract sense, the gold flakes of the nashiji-nuri represents sound,notes, music. The kanji from Shindo's website (music) is applied to the barrel and with beautiful Raden work. The Raden represents the music being amplified. Simple and elegant. So enough of me rambling.

 

 

Hmmm.......there are two boxes?

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8437/7848845810_e3a0284e08_z.jpg

 

 

 

Nice box inside a box

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8283/7848849800_fca5fdc1b6_z.jpg

 

 

Cool logo

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8289/7848854896_9678c7b8b8_z.jpg

 

 

A first look. Yes, the pen comes with a wooden stand.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7139/7848852492_4e6b599280_z.jpg

 

 

 

Here's the pen. Yay!

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8447/7848859714_fa57b4896a_z.jpg

 

 

 

Wait. Here's the other pen!

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8438/7848857138_397be72dbb_z.jpg

 

 

 

So my custom pen became two custom pens. One is gold accented with silver and the other is it's 'mirror' image (silver accented with gold).

 

 

 

Gold w/Silver. The kanji is taken from Shindo's website

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8301/7848863324_3bb728964b_z.jpg

 

 

Silver w/Gold

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8302/7848861270_5f04ed28d9_z.jpg

 

 

The traditional Shindo Gold Logo on the cap.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8300/7848865282_37666bea37_z.jpg

 

 

A silver version of the logo on the silver pen.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8444/7848869362_2a5f0c0266_z.jpg

 

 

The signature

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7267/7848867328_7c250bc6bc_z.jpg

 

 

The obligatory nib shot

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8421/7848871580_9506ecabcd_z.jpg

 

 

 

Beautiful Raden work

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8429/7848874102_fb3dfa32ab_z.jpg

 

 

 

Side by Side

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8308/7848876548_81d873e3e6_z.jpg

 

 

The gold pen in front of my Shindo Latour Speakers.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8443/7848847934_d71dbcd469_z.jpg

 

 

Pen and pre-amp

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8423/7848841838_5ceb33b9bb_z.jpg

 

 

Pen and amp

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7124/7848843722_581778507a_z.jpg

 

 

 

 

This pair of pens work on so many different levels. It is fitting that Danitrio pens are Japanese made pens using German nibs. The Shindo amp and pre-amp are Japanese made but use German tubes. When I look at the pens, they immediately evoke Shindo in my mind. Both pens together came in less than half of my original budget. For this theme, there was no need for more intricate maki-e. The quote by Jiro sums up these pens perfectly. "Absolute simplicity is purity".

[raging.dragon]

Those are beautiful pens.

[tenney]

Wow!

[spinon]

very very elegant indeed.

[quinden]

The pens are magnificent and your photos are beautiful!

[dannyboy]

I love the story as much as the pens! Thank you for this fascinatingly detailed account of the processes involved in the creating of custom Danitrio pens. This post represents the very essence of why I find FPN to be such a great source of information regarding pens and their owners. Congratulations to you on these pens--may they bring you many hours of pleasure and creativity.

 

And kudos to you for that moment of zen wisdom when you gave up control and turned over the creative process to the Danitrio artist and allowed him the freedom to let the "music of creation" take over.

[JLS1]

Great pens and a fascinating story to boot - thanks for sharing it with us!

 

BTW, have you inked the pens yet? (Will you?)

[teeitup418holes]

Wow! This is incredible! Thanks for the great story and great pictures. Now, I'm going to research the Shindo Lab...

[teeitup418holes]

And, hopefully, this could spur on a conversation about the next Danitio Fellowship Pen...

[jde]

Glorious story and magnificent pens! I love it when people allow a great artist to take the essence of what's desired and let the artist create it. Cherishing Kosetsu-san's distinctive touch.

 

Curious to know as someone else has asked, if you will ink either of them or both?!

 

Congratulations, Ricky.

 

 

[Nikolaos]

fantastic set! An excellent example of Japanese simplicity and elegance.

 

Enjoy them,

 

Nikolaos

[Nikolaos]

fantastic set! An excellent example of Japanese simplicity and elegance.

 

Enjoy them,

 

Nikolaos

[geoduc]

Congratulations on a beautiful pair of pens. It's a leap of faith to put your vision in the hands of the artist, and it looks like Kosetsu came through admirably. I love the raden work.

 

Would you give us a better photo of the stand? Any idea what kind of wood it is? Looks like rosewood, but it is hard to tell.

 

Also, I noticed that one of your photos showed a number of 5/12 on it. Were 12 pens made? I assume the artist had to ask for permission to use the corporate logo so perhaps extras were made for people at the Shindo company?

[ethernautrix]

WOW!

 

I love the workmanship of those pens, Ricky! The raden work is exquisite.

 

Beauty and simplicity -- that's what I want, when I was thinking of a custom Danitrio (then my design elements got out of hand, and when my head exploded, the idea went with it). Yes... simplicity. Beautiful.

 

I love the lettering, too, both kanji and romanji.

 

Jeez, if Danitrio ever sent me two pens instead of one, I'd be like the donkey equidistant between two bales of hale, starving to death not knowing which to eat first.

 

What nib size(s)?

[AltecGreen]

Would you give us a better photo of the stand? Any idea what kind of wood it is? Looks like rosewood, but it is hard to tell.

 

Also, I noticed that one of your photos showed a number of 5/12 on it. Were 12 pens made? I assume the artist had to ask for permission to use the corporate logo so perhaps extras were made for people at the Shindo company?

 

 

I'll take more pictures tonight. I was running low on batteries on the camera.

 

 

I don't think they made twelve pens. If they did , I didn't have to pay for them. :roflmho:

I suspect the number is a date.

[raging.dragon]

Congratulations on a beautiful pair of pens. It's a leap of faith to put your vision in the hands of the artist, and it looks like Kosetsu came through admirably. I love the raden work.

 

Would you give us a better photo of the stand? Any idea what kind of wood it is? Looks like rosewood, but it is hard to tell.

 

Also, I noticed that one of your photos showed a number of 5/12 on it. Were 12 pens made? I assume the artist had to ask for permission to use the corporate logo so perhaps extras were made for people at the Shindo company?

 

It could also indicate that the pen was made in May 2012 (or at least that work started in May).

[AltecGreen]

WOW!

 

I love the workmanship of those pens, Ricky! The raden work is exquisite.

 

Beauty and simplicity -- that's what I want, when I was thinking of a custom Danitrio (then my design elements got out of hand, and when my head exploded, the idea went with it). Yes... simplicity. Beautiful.

 

I love the lettering, too, both kanji and romanji.

 

Jeez, if Danitrio ever sent me two pens instead of one, I'd be like the donkey equidistant between two bales of hale, starving to death not knowing which to eat first.

 

What nib size(s)?

 

 

It's way too easy to get carried away with maki-e. There are so many techniques. Wait till you see what else I'm bringing to the Pen Posse besides these pens.

 

Remember, you have two hands. A pen in each.

 

 

 

The nib selection is a bit more limited on the somewhat enormous #8 nib. So I choose an F for one and a stub for the other.

[AltecGreen]

Yes, I will ink the pens, eventually. They are too large to be a daily carry so they will be mainly for use at the desk. When the pen I currently use for that is empty I'll rotate one of these in. One issue with these pens is that they hold way too much ink.

 

 

I'm sure we'll ink them at Pen Posse on Sunday.

[Kelly G]

Nice...

 

Twice...

[winedoc]

Congratulations on a beautiful pair of pens. It's a leap of faith to put your vision in the hands of the artist, and it looks like Kosetsu came through admirably. I love the raden work.

 

Would you give us a better photo of the stand? Any idea what kind of wood it is? Looks like rosewood, but it is hard to tell.

 

Also, I noticed that one of your photos showed a number of 5/12 on it. Were 12 pens made? I assume the artist had to ask for permission to use the corporate logo so perhaps extras were made for people at the Shindo company?

 

 

The number is actually date May 2012. Date when pens were in final stage. Only 2 pens were made for Ricky.

To create custom pens, a customer can be as involved as he/she wants, but I generally recommend let the artist "go free" sort to speak. These two pens took much longer due to interpretations. Like Ricky said, I too initially thought a swan theme play on the logo would be approriate. But then a swan maybe beautiful to look at, ultimately it has nothing to do with Shindo, or "Music" or "Simplicity". Kosetsu san did his homework by finding out what Shindo is all about, went to the website to find more information etc. The simple "mundane" background was "amplified" by the raden to symbolize how sound/music are amplified. I thought it was a clever way to maki-e "Sound" or "Music" without maki-e a bunch of musical notes.

 

The pens were not made for public, but Ricky did obtain permission from Shindo's US distributor. Of course, most importantly, I am really glad they are to Rick's liking.

 

Kevin