Fountain Pens In Korea

[BryanGomez]

Hi guys i am a college student who is planning to become a ESL teacher in Korea and was wondering how easy they are to find in Korea.(not sure if i should just go to japan instead if they are hard to find in Korea)

Edited December 13, 2017 by BryanGomez

[inkstainedruth]

I couldn't give you a definitive answer -- but I do have one pen from (probably, given the style) the 1970s or 1980s which (according to Pilot-USA) was made in Korea. Mind you, it has a Pilot nib and (apparently) a Pilot Con-20 filler. I posted pictures in another thread and was told that there was a pen factory in Seoul where my pen was likely made -- but I haven't been able to confirm whether it was made under Pilot's auspices or is some sort of frankenpen.

It's an attractive (if slim) pen, with cream color enamel stripes on the barrel and cap. But I had to have a crack in the section (just at the collar) repaired -- and I'm *still* getting ink on my index finger tip, even when I tried to wipe the nib and section this morning, and tried to hold it higher up on the section....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Mech-for-i]

AFAIK, Korea never develop a pen industry that do fountain pen, though their stationary market is actually very lively and the hype right now is on Gel Pen and all thing trendy like custom journals, colorful pen cases etc etc ... Korean fountain pen market was first dominated by Japanese ( pre war ) then US ( after the war ) and then again Japanese and more up to date Euro imports ( post Y2K ). You can probably find decent selection of some of the more common oneslike Lamy Safari, Kaweco Sport, Pilot(s) etc etc .. in many of the bigger stationary store over there. The few ( actual ) Korean fountain pen I've come by are either gift market OEM or mid range somewhat copies of other more famed models ( seen quite a few Parker 51 look alikes, plenty of Pilot and Sailor " made in Korea " ones )

[Tefolim]

I saw a south korean fountain pen on Taobao, which looked like Parker 75 but the nib did not.

 

Hero helped DPRK founded its fountain pen factory and the factory was keeping an co-operative relationship with Golden Dragon(Dandong Pen Factory aka. Dandong China-Korea Friendship Pen Factory). Parker 51-style

[ink-syringe]

Things are getting much better here but it is still miles and miles less FP happy than Japan or Tawian. Pens are insanely expensive here and there is almost zero vintage but you can buy from overseas and occasionally find a good local deal. Pen Box, Bohme, Besen have good stock but expect to pay more but the new game in town is Blue:Black, which is currently my new favorite place.

FPs are starting, just starting to finally catch on here. We even have a tiny pen show once a year. But you really just can't compare Japan to here. Korea is way less awful for pens than it used to be but it still is not good and local prices on Lamy, MB, Aurora, Waterman will make you gasp in horror. $60 for a Safari? Fancy paying $400 for a Carene or $320 for a L2k? but with eBay, Rakuten. Amazon, the fora, etc. you can make out okay if you go slow and smart. On the plus side, stuff that is long gone elsewhere occasionally shows up in stores here just sitting unwanted on a shelf.

Korea, on the other hand has many other wonderful things to recommend it. Just buy a bunch of pens before you get here.

[crosshatch]

In my experience, Korean stationery/paper products are not made with fountain pens in mind at all.

 

While a fancy premium Japanese notebook will almost always be fountain pen friendly, an expensive Korean notebook can be completely unsuitable for fountain pen ink.

 

I hope you check in with reports on the local stationery products. I would love to know what does work.

Edited December 14, 2017 by crosshatch

[ink-syringe]

In my experience, Korean stationery/paper products are not made with fountain pens in mind at all.

 

While a fancy premium Japanese notebook will almost always be fountain pen friendly, an expensive Korean notebook can be completely unsuitable for fountain pen ink.

 

I hope you check in with reports on the local stationery products. I would love to know what does work.

 

 

Life, Tsubame Fools notebooks, Conifer, Leuchtrum, MD, CR/Rhodia all are readily available here so no need to roll the dice but there are always samples in stationary shops so just keep a pen in your pocket for testing.

 

For plain white copypaper, I find Hansol 75gms paper takes ink pretty well and has a very pleasant texture.

 

The one local paper company that makes great FP friendly paper is Banditapple.

 

Tsubame Fools notebooks are plentiful and cheap. I use a ton of that.

 

 

[sugna]

Hi guys i am a college student who is planning to become a ESL teacher in Korea and was wondering how easy they are to find in Korea.(not sure if i should just go to japan instead if they are hard to find in Korea)

 

As others have pointed out, you're better off not buying pens in Korea due to the markup. Korean enthusiasts scour eBay, Yahoo.jp, and FPN classifieds, largely purchasing from overseas because it's so much more affordable. I'd say the interest in vintage pens is even bigger in Korea than it is in the US, but most of this manifests itself online through the blogs / cafes.

 

Better off saving funds and finding stuff in Japan if you end up taking a trip there!

 

There is a lively online fountain pen community in Korea, with two major blogs / cafes. These groups hold pen shows and meet-ups, make their own inks, and have online classifieds. However, if you do not speak or read Korean they will not be very accessible.

 

Enjoy your time in Korea!

[Mannyonpil]

I know this is a very old thread but I would sure like to know about the pen blogs in Korea/meet-ups, etc. I just moved here and would like to meet some pen people.

[shinryu]

I know this is a very old thread but I would sure like to know about the pen blogs in Korea/meet-ups, etc. I just moved here and would like to meet some pen people.

If you speak the language Cafecally (https://m.facebook.com/cafecally) is a pretty active community. They also sell pens and inks at their offline shop/cafe. If you are looking for an English-speaking community though... not sure if there is one.

[Mannyonpil]

Thank you for the suggestion. I would go but I live in Daegu. Are there any online communities that you know of?

 

Korean language groups/sites are fine. I speak enough to get something out of interacting with pen folk here.

[shinryu]

The thing with Korean online communities is that they usually require membership to view posts and verification processes can be quite slow/inconsistent/sketchy. If you are willing to go through all that https://m.cafe.naver.com/fountainpenfriends is probably the biggest one out there.

[Mannyonpil]

Thank you, Shinryu. This is what I am looking for!