The Avant-Garde Video, My Everyday Piston Pen For A Long Time.

[VENVSTAS]

Hello pen friends, this time a very original pen,

Originally designed to be used on the airplane and fitted into an specific type of notebook, as I was flying up to 3 times a month from Paris to Berlin and sometimes other places to teach some design and architectural design somewhere in Germany, I did this pen for my personal use, after a while, some of my students got the like of the pen as seeing me using it, and I did a few for them. I had lots of questions about it on the email. so I did a video on Youtube. I don't like doing videos but I feel these designs need to have some explanations, more information for you to see them better.

Note that this is not a pen for the plane, its the pen I did for me for the plane, so comments of the like of "this pen would not be suited for a plane trip because the clip and this and this and that" do not apply, it was a bespoke pen I did for my use, as I do my own stuff.

I was not expecting anybody else to like the pen, due to fact that is a "strange pen" I wanted to make a pen with a cap so big that I wouldn't loose it and add grip for the pen is needed I dont know of any cap designed for that.... , a piston, as I dont like cartridges, it had to post and no clip whatsoever as I don't like clips. I never use them, the image of a pocket with a clip was never my thing.

But, seems people like the pen so I give more information on it. As the piston was another thing I wanted the one on the pen to be way over a poor 1.0ml, so this one has almost 2ml in a very streamlined body, as I like very thin pens. This has to do with the fact that Im more of a pencil guy when drawing, but I use fountain pens exclusively when on the ink business. I have thicker designs, like the "Magna" but I prefer constant thin cylindrical pens. anyway, I'll made a video on "hefty pens" as I have pilled quite a number of designs now in a kingdom that was mostly streamlined high ink capacity, when not cc pens.

Although one may think that a traveling pen should be a cc pen,the fact is that converters have really little ink, I dont like to use cartridges as I feel a bit bad about just adding more plastic to the trash for a few drops of ink, and I think that most piston fillers out there are struggling to be 1.0 to 1.2ml of ink (this has to do to the fact that some makers do not want to make telescopic pistons anymore, even when some of them are charging around 1000 for a mass produced pen, and their designs were, well, made originally for the very nice telescopic pistons, that as far as I know, nobody is making them) I don't make them either, but I managed to put the almost 2.0ml on the small pen to just have enough ink to do my job and get back home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01zwRbKHUp8

https://www.venvstas.com/avant-garde

thanks!

[visvamitra]

It looks unusual but interesting.

[ink-syringe]

It's interesting but looks like and, uh, ergonomically challenging pen. Also, 2ml of ink for a travel pen sounds nice but I sure would feel better about it if it had a shut-off valve of some sort. I wonder if it burps ink.

 

Not to my test but admire the effort.

 

Next you should make a travelling ink well to go with it.

[VENVSTAS]

It looks unusual but interesting.

I need to talk with you about your email, I had quite a busy time...so I have delayed the reviews.

[VENVSTAS]

It's interesting but looks like and, uh, ergonomically challenging pen. Also, 2ml of ink for a travel pen sounds nice but I sure would feel better about it if it had a shut-off valve of some sort. I wonder if it burps ink.

 

Not to my test but admire the effort.

 

Next you should make a travelling ink well to go with it.

I have tried tons of things to avoid what you say, a locking piston would be the thing. I was just traveling with a bunch of paper napkins, but I got used to with other pens. The pen was basically designed for drawing, as I draw rather than write. When drawing actually is like inverting the laws of nature of the pen, what's good in a writing pen tends to be (at least for me) bad for drawing. Most architects when reaching a certain point in their careers ( I haven't) buy (or they get) a Montblanc M149. Don't ask me why, just happens. Even the most modern guys I've ever met (star architects) have one,which, amazed me a bit, as the architecture and designs they do have little to nothing to do with the style of the M149. But I have only one that was drawing with them, as, its very uncomfortable for drawing. That's when the ergonomics are asking you for something different with the measurements closer to those of a pencil.....

[ink-syringe]

My favorite pen for drawing is the Sheaffer Snorkel with triumph nib (any Statesman, Valiant, Sentinal, Crest, etc). For some of the very reasons you outline. I personally like to see the point as the end of a long unbroken line from the barrel just like a pencil. If I am writing a letter I am happy to pick up a fat OS Sheaffer Balance and enjoy that, but if I am drawing I like the longer unbroken line of the Snorkel. I have a F Statesman that especially precise and I rely a lot on that.

 

I don't (personally) like thin writing instruments or super thin drawing instruments either. I actually avoid german made pencils (FC, Staedtler) for this reason and if iI am working with a wood pencil (as I often do) I prefer the Japanese made ones.

 

Nice looking design. Congrats.

[VENVSTAS]

My favorite pen for drawing is the Sheaffer Snorkel with triumph nib (any Statesman, Valiant, Sentinal, Crest, etc). For some of the very reasons you outline. I personally like to see the point as the end of a long unbroken line from the barrel just like a pencil. If I am writing a letter I am happy to pick up a fat OS Sheaffer Balance and enjoy that, but if I am drawing I like the longer unbroken line of the Snorkel. I have a F Statesman that especially precise and I rely a lot on that.

 

I don't (personally) like thin writing instruments or super thin drawing instruments either. I actually avoid german made pencils (FC, Staedtler) for this reason and if iI am working with a wood pencil (as I often do) I prefer the Japanese made ones.

 

Nice looking design. Congrats.

thank you, I have some designs of pencils too, they are on the site, they are on, lets say, the german side as you describe. I have a custom made very thick (14mm I think) for 4mm leads, I find it impossible to use...its really at the end a matter of taste, your hands, etc. I would say that what you call the continuous line is to me what makes the difference between writing and drawing,

[amk]

That is really a superb design. Plenty of pens *look* different but this one really *is* different. I particularly like the filling by simple push, rather than involving lots of twisting/rotating as both piston and cartridge converter pens usually do.

 

Probably too thin in the hand for me. Perhaps you would be so kind as to design an extra grip for the rheumatically challenged? (Then again, perhaps I should do that myself!)

[VENVSTAS]

That is really a superb design. Plenty of pens *look* different but this one really *is* different. I particularly like the filling by simple push, rather than involving lots of twisting/rotating as both piston and cartridge converter pens usually do.

 

Probably too thin in the hand for me. Perhaps you would be so kind as to design an extra grip for the rheumatically challenged? (Then again, perhaps I should do that myself!)

Thank you a lot, this sort of "push" mechanisms are actually the first ever introduced in a fountain pen (1893). They make a lot of sense. As somebody that is basically designing stuff, no matter what, I have a fresh look on the subject, When I first did this pen, and the others with the syringe like mechanisms, from this one is the one that looks more fresh, as the piston is there, you can actually see it in its metallic cage, I was thinking, what's the advantage of turning the knob? I started to look on very old fountain pen models, because I though that something so simple had to be around since a long time. That's how I got to Mr Binders website (I know he's very famous in the FPN, but I got to his site not knowing who this person is, as again, Im quite a), that I think its a must read for whoever wants to design this things, its the most complete source of information I know. I have books, but, honestly, I think this person should make a book out of all this information, because I haven't found, nor written, nor video, nothing that gets even close. The thing is that pistons with knobs, with screws, made a lot of sense in the times of the piston fillers of the 30s when telescopic pistons were common, Im sure Im wrong on the dates, but nowadays I don't know of anybody that's doing that. I think the Meisterstuck, had one of those pistons, but was eliminated in the 70s, the crisis on the fountain pen I guess made them be cheaper, and for some reason this trend has gone a long time. So there are a lot of innovative solutions out there as the one in the Conid, but its always around a syringe type.........to make it short, just by seeing a converter I thought, all the argumetns against the syringe, are actually false, as they aply to a piston, but a telescopic one, that nobody is producing. I think that by making now pistons that are smaller (thats obvious in the conid and some viscontis, and in my pens) some of the usual critics that were to the syringe have no base now.

 

I did another similar to this one called "Avance" it has a similar piston, its all in carbon and its thicker by 2mm more, so maybe it will work better for persons with problems in their hands, bigger hands, or people who just want something thicker. It gets up to 2.5ml of ink, the other the Magna with 12mm rounded body, also with an ink capacity between 2.0 to 2.5,

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Crisco]

This is a stunningly beautiful pen!

 

I am not expert enough to understand the difficulties in fountain pen physics you describe above, but this pen has suddenly entered my "to buy" list. Congratulations on your abilities to see past traditional design barriers and give us something truly unique.

 

I am looking forward to adding a pen of yours in the near future and seeing what else comes through your shop!

[VENVSTAS]

This is a stunningly beautiful pen!

 

I am not expert enough to understand the difficulties in fountain pen physics you describe above, but this pen has suddenly entered my "to buy" list. Congratulations on your abilities to see past traditional design barriers and give us something truly unique.

 

I am looking forward to adding a pen of yours in the near future and seeing what else comes through your shop!

Thank you a lot for the comment, this pen was so much made for my use that I was never considering that somebody else would be interested. I'm happy to see that the pen may be of the like and use of other people ! !! )))

[sanjinp]

Nice and unique design, as are your other pens...

[VENVSTAS]

Nice and unique design, as are your other pens...

Thank you Groucho.

[neptun]

Very interesting design! I like the choice of materials and such, but it seems a bit long for my personal taste.

 

Anyways, refreshing to see this in a world where all pens look essentially the same.