A Pen From Madrid

[alexander_k]

Last October I was for a couple of days in Madrid, a city I hadn't visited for a long time. Even though it was a work trip, I had some free hours, which I spent mostly revisiting places with fond memories. One new thing I did was visit Julia Gusano's store. Late one morning, with a Spanish-speaking friend in tow, we entered the quiet streets of a rather pleasant residential neighbourhood. It wasn't difficult to find the address but once there, we encountered a closed door and our knocking it or ringing bells seemed to elicit no response from inside. Thankfully, a tradesperson came to the same door and somehow a doorman opened it for him. While my friend was explaining to the doorman the purpose of our visit, I walked on: I had caught a glimpse of Julia's store in the courtyard of the apartment block and it was exactly as in the photograph on her site.

 

 

From the outside, the store looks like a cheerful shed; from the inside, it was a veritable treasure cave, filled with vintage fountain pens and related items that brought the broadest of grins to my face. Soon I was talking to Julia (in English) and browsing through her stock. She gave me a few tips and a piece of abrasive sheet for my nib smoothing but I hadn't come for a chat; it was an opportunity to find something special. But what does one with so many pens miss? Well, I asked her for something really tough: a larger pen with a smooth, flexible nib, preferably not too fine. The search for the pen took some time, with Julia producing one pen after another and me dipping it in ink and trying it. In the end, we narrowed it down to a shortlist of three great pens, out of which I chose a pretty, green Diamond Point with a 14K nib marked with an <8>.

 

 

Since then, the pen has seen almost daily use. The combination of the right size for my hands, a really flexible nib and good ink flow is hard to resist.

 

 

The moral of the story: Madrid is a great city, with lots to see and enjoy, but a visit to Julia's store is probably worth the time for a fountain pen enthousiast.

[Toll]

That is a wonderful story and the pen is beautiful! Congratulations!!

[OCArt]

She looks like a very warm person and your pen is very beautiful.

[sanjinp]

Great story and a beautiful pen! Thank you for sharing!

[Bo Bo Olson]

Mauricio, often has Diamond Point pens in his section.

From my understanding it was a very good price worthy pen for 5 or 10 years before it went down hill. On Mauricio's com was the first time I ever heard of it or saw them.

Very nice looking pen....

[da vinci]

Madrid is a great city - and has an excellent pen show in November!

 

Thanks for recounting the story of your visit - very interesting.

[zaddick]

Thank you for sharing your journey!

[Wahl]

I recommend a visit to Julia´s store for all pen lovers who visit our city.

 

She has supplied me with most of my pens during the last 25 years or so...

[alexander_k]

Madrid is a great city - and has an excellent pen show in November!

 

Yes, I was told about the Madrid pen show by Julia and others. It seemed so interesting that I sneakily tried to make my visit to Madrid coincide with the show but unfortunately the dates didn't suit my business there.

[inkstainedruth]

Hmmm. I have a friend that has dual citizenship with the US and Spain. Every few years she goes back to visit family -- and IIRC she has one cousin in Madrid, although a lot of her relatives on that side of the family are up in Galicia, in the northwest corner of the country (her father is apparently from the next town over from where the actor Martin Sheen's father is from).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[adamselene]

my wife and daughter are going through Granada, Cordoba and Jerez next two weeks. Any one know pen intereting locations in these areas please?