Review Custom Nakaya Chinkin Palmet

[sheehmi]

If you have no plans to return it or seek other redress from Nakaya, which seems to be the case, I don't understand the whole point of this thread other than to paint Nakaya in a negative light.

 

I disagree. I would like to order from Nakaya someday and this review gave me a great deal of useful information to consider when ordering to make sure I get the pen I want.

What exactly did you learn? I'd be interested to hear.

[sheehmi]

The most important message that I got from this review is to be very clear about what you want and expect. I've made similar mistakes -- receiving what I've ordered because I didn't order with complete knowledge. Ricky gave a very detailed account addressing this.

 

Even so, I would have contacted Nakaya immediately. Even if I were told, "It's what you ordered," at least I would have understood why what I received was not what I expected.

 

All of this is a moot point, as Richard said that he would live with it. I know that the Edison-Hakunin shouldn't be considered compensation or consolation (you know, "the Nakaya was a disappointment, but at least I got what I wanted elsewhere"), but that ordering process obviously was much clearer, and the Edison-Hakunin pen is gorgeous (and I don't even like a stippled finish in general, but it really works on Richard's pen).

He was clear with his specs. They just didn't deliver on it and he has no plans to do anything about it. Sorry I stumbled onto this thread.

[ethernautrix]

He was clear with his specs. They just didn't deliver on it and he has no plans to do anything about it. Sorry I stumbled onto this thread.

 

Going by Altec_Green's detailed response, I learned that while Richard was clear with his specs, he might not have quite understood what those specs meant to Nakaya. He expected the shu to be a bright red, for example, and it is not.

Edited October 6, 2011 by ethernautrix

[raging.dragon]

He was clear with his specs. They just didn't deliver on it and he has no plans to do anything about it. Sorry I stumbled onto this thread.

 

Going by Altec_Green's detailed response, I learned that while Richard was clear with his specs, he might not have quite understood what those specs meant to Nakaya. He expected the shu to be a bright red, for example, and it is not.

 

And conversly Nakaya didn't understand what those specs meant to Richard. I think the language barrier between Richard (English, I assume) and Nakaya (Japanese) played a large part in this.

[ethernautrix]

And conversly Nakaya didn't understand what those specs meant to Richard. I think the language barrier between Richard (English, I assume) and Nakaya (Japanese) played a large part in this.

 

 

Agreed that there was clearly miscommunication or misunderstanding.

 

Understandable and still disappointing.

[AltecGreen]

My advice for custom orders is research. This is true not only for pens and Japan but almost anything.

 

 

In the case of custom pens from Nakaya and also Danitrio, it is worth the time to do a little learning about various Japanese lacquer techniques. Just for maki-e alone there are many different forms. Then you have techniques like Chinkin, Raden, Sumiko, etc. It really does help to understand what each of these techniques are and ask questions about how different combinations of technique will look. Not all combinations will look good. Ernest has a good glossary of terms on his site and Winedoc has a pinned post that describes various form of maki-e.

[mineiro]

Also for me this review and conversation ranks in the top 5% of most useful topics I read on this forum.

Therefore I wish to thank Strang for his honest review and AltecGreen and others for the additional clarifications.

[Veda2013]

This whole discussion is basically not discussing a pen as a tool but the process of buying an art piece. Like any commissioned art piece which I've done quite a few in the past is full of unfulfilled expectations and delay. I've still got a paid commissioned painting which is late 8 months not to mention the first piece sent was highly disappointing. So unless you're buying something that you're seeing or holding in person then it's really a gamble.