Hi!

My name is Nenne and I'm a 41 year old typographer from Uppsala, Sweden. I'm new to this forum, and also new, or rather re-born when it comes to FPs. I used to swear by them back in school, but something happened and I drifted away from them. A while back I heard them call out to me once again and I'm now saving up to buy a really nice one. Or two. Or ... whatever. Since Sweden might be one of the worst places in the world to have a craving for nice FPs (few brands available, hard to find decent ink, not to mention the total lack of blotting paper), I'm leaving the purchase for a visit to Firenze this fall. If the budget allows I'm hoping to return with a Stipula of some sort. Meanwhile I'm trying to get by by gathering information about different types of writing material and spending quite a lot of time on this wonderful forum I found. You might have heard of it ...

Welcome to FPN!! You will find all you want to know and more about pens, paper, ink and writing! Glad to have you join!

Welcome to FPN!
Greetings from Poland

Hello Nenne,

Welcome aboard the FPN! My friend Annalina said the same things you are. She grew up in Harnosand, and attended Stockholm University, graduating in the 1990s with a degree in Humanities. Anna as she likes to be called, said that finding good writing supplies in Sweden is next to impossible, and you would stand a better chance at finding a fortune under a rock in some cases. Thankfully, she had a cousin who married and lives in Paris, so she was able to have her send much needed supplies back to Stockholm. So I can just about imagine what you are going through.

Thanks to the FPN, we can help you find what you are looking for, albeit mail order, if its manufactured, you can order it.

Hi there Nenne! I was in Upssala many years ago (as the scientific company Pharmacia used to exit under that name). Nice university-city! If you're really looking for a good FP or two, then do visit France or Germany or the UK and try something on for size. Better than buying everthing unseen (and held in the hand and "driven") from eBay etc.

Lots o' luck

Mike

The more Swedes the better! Welcome!

Welcome to FPN Nenne!
Warmest greetings from northern California.

Welcome aboard!.

Welcome to FPN.

Hej och välkommen!

Hallå landsman!

Well it might actually be that Sweden is the worst of countries when it comes to fountain pens, if you count in countries that actually ever had a tradition of fountain pen writing. I guess we would be in the really black lake if we lived in, say, Ghana, but I'm not quite sure...

The worst thing about it is the loads of high range fountain pens that are getting thrown away in this country. The most heinous act I've ever heard of in this regard, was a man who got a Monblanc 146 for birthday present. He asked his local bookstore for ink or cartridge, but they said they didn't know what he was talking about. So... he threw it away. "It didn't work anyway..."

Anyway, this brings about something good as well. My colleague at work gave away his inherited 146 to me, (wohooo!) since he didn't know how to use it anyway! I guess the curse is a blessing sometimes, in Sweden anyway, where you willingly sign a million dollar contract with a rollerball found at the gas station.

Anyway... welcome to the forum.

The fountain pen scene of Sweden sounds very similar to ours here in Finland. Välkommen från andra sidan av Östersjön!

Hello and welcome to FPN.