Pineider La Grande Bellezza Arco Oak

[Raskolnikov]

Pineider La Grande Bellezza Arco Oak Review

As I already stated in my "La Grande Bellezza Forged Carbon Review", recently I have developed a fascination with the Pineider pens, being Dante Del Vecchio their art director and designer at their pens department (I used to love his creations in Visconti and his genius can definitely be seen in his new workplace).

 

I have been using the pen for some weeks now and I have to say that, like the other Pineider I own and reviewed, it rarely leaves my pen pouch (actually, it rarely leaves my hand ).

 

I have always been fascinated by the vintage Arco celluloid, though I've never owned any such pen as I've never found the good occasion.

 

The pen I'm talking about here, let's shoo aside any doubt, is not made with the same celluloid, it's made of a particular kind of resin that makes it ultra-resistant (at least that's what they say in Pineider, so far I've never dropped it and I won't willingly make that kind of test ). But what I can witness with my own eyes (and I've tried to convey it with my pictures) is the visual effect of this resin. It is absolutely deep and three-dimensional, it even has some sparkle to it. The arcs are quite elongated, in my pen almost vertical (of course every pen is slightly different, as you can't predict exactly how it will look like in the end) but the arco inspiration is clear. Dark brown alternates with light brown, with some sort of "golden dust" effect in between. It almost looks as if some little gold stripes were merged in the resin.

 

 

Once you start writing with it, it's very easy to be captivated and mesmerized by the "twinkling" effect of the pen's body.

 

A vintage look

What I love the most of this pen is its vintage look. The Arco design is definitely a timeless one so... why try to change what has gone through the merciless tests of time, survived and still thrives? I've tried to juxtapose it with some items at my place that I felt the pen could be paired with (due to their age, color etc).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Touch and feel

The resin is super smooth to the touch. The smoothness doesn't make it slippery though, it's a "celluloid-like" kind of smooth, and I think that the resin that was used also served to reproduce the tactile feeling of the celluloid. In the hand, the pen feels balanced both writing posted and unposted (personally, I never write with the pen posted, I just try when I have to write down some impressions or a review). The metal section shifts a tiny bit the weight slightly toward the writing end, which I guess was intended so the nib "automatically" tends to reach the paper, with little to no movement on the hand and it writes without putting any weight or pressure on it (but about the writing qualities and the Quill Nib later).

 

 

 

 

Details

Even though I might have already mentioned such details in my previous Pineider review, I'll repeat the defining traits of the pen.
The clip resembles a feather as thee intention of Pineider is to focus on the pen as a writing instrument, so this is a tribute to writing culture and history. On the cap's trim we can see the engraved pantogram "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"... there you go, another writing culture reference. As I often say, I like my pens to be meaningful con to convey a message. Here the message is crystal clear and is dedicated to everyone who likes using the pen as a daily writing companion. Oh, and the pen's closing system is a magnetic one. On this high-end Pineider line, the magnetic closure is ... ingenious! You uncap the pen by turning it holding the cap still (or the other way around) for a half circle and, due to the way both cap and barrel are polarized, it smoothly uncaps. It's like they both have two magnets inside. The final result is that it looks like you are unscrewing the pen but in fact you are actually changing polarity and therefore smoothly and softly parting them. I know I might have explained it like a caveman, but I can assure the result is very pleasant. If you try to uncap without rotating, there's no way you'll make it. Result: pen won't uncap itself by mistake or by wobbling or by sheer random opposing forces. This is Del Vecchio at his best.

 

 

Filling

 

Like my previous Pineider, this also came in a box which recalls, due to its shape, a writing desk. Again, I won't delve into it as I've already covered the packaging here .

The pen has a piston-filler mechanism and you can always check the rough ink level by looking through the oval-shaped classic style ink windows. This is another detail I love, as they designed the ink window to perfectly merge with the classic style of the pen. I've gone to the extent to see a similarities with ancient roman aqueducts, but yeah, that might be overthinking

 

 

Writing Experience

 

I know I'm repeating myself a bit here, as the Arco Oak sports the 14 kt Quill Nib. It is soft, has some springiness to it and has a flex that makes writing a very personal experience, the line variation is nice (though the nib on this pen is an EF and I am not a calligrapher, as you can see ). What's very important for me though it's smoothness (I don't accept nothing less than butter-smooth and this nib definitely is) and "responsiveness". I write pretty quickly, I need a daily writer to take notes with as much as a personal somewhat flexible nib to write down my thoughts or just random stuff I use as an excuse to use the pen (come on, I'm sure I'm not the only one).

The Pineider Quill Nib is to this date my favorite writer. So far I haven't experienced a hard start, skipping etc.

 

 

Here's some writing samples.

 

 

 

So far, no cons (and I've been extensively using it).

Elegant to display, great for a daily writing.

Oh I was about to forget: this is a limited edition of 888 pieces, mine is 680 and if they're selling progressively, you might want to get one before they get sold out

 

 

Goma says hi

 

 

The book below is dear to me, as it was sent by a fellow FPNer years ago, YurijYuV, with whom I've had many pen conversations... this is a tribute to his kindness, as one day we were talking about Dostoevskij and not long after I found this in my mailbox (it's "Humiliated and Insulted"). Dear friend, I hope you're in great health

[TheDutchGuy]

Wonderful review and stunning photography! Thank you!

[jchch1950]

Nice photos and pen.

[Raskolnikov]

Wonderful review and stunning photography! Thank you!

 

 

Nice photos and pen.

 

Thank you both very much, your feedback is appreciated

[Honeybadgers]

I wish they would just give us ONE version of this damn pen that doesn't have a polished metal section, so I can buy one.

[chalkdust]

This is one of me favorite pens. In fact it is one of two that are currently in use. Mine has a medium nib that required a bit of adjustment. It is smooth as butter now and a joy to use. I purchased mine while on vacation a little over a year ago at the Pineider store in Florence. Besides being a beautiful pen, it also brings back great memories. I notice that the Arco's filling design has not been repeated among Pineider's other pens. I suspect that internally it is about the same as the Mystery Filler, but the style of the knob on the back is unlike any other Pineider pen.

 

Thanks for your review and those beautiful photos!

[langere]

Oh, wow! What a beautiful pen! I can tell by your loving photos how much you like it...

 

Erick

[Uncial]

Nice pen. Does it have an added premium because they used the word 'arco'?

[como]

It would be great to see this pen in a cigar or facetted version with section made of the same material and a normal screw cap. That would be my personal preference. The material is quite attractive and intense.

 

Added: Raskolnikov, many thanks for this detailed review. Reviews like this take time to do. Members here often use such reviews as a valuable chance of assessment, when we dont always have the opportunities to handle the pens in person. I feel a bit embarrassed that I forgot to say thank you first in the above comments. Much appreciated.

Edited October 13, 2020 by como

[picautomaton]

Excellent review, nice pen

[sansenri]

thank you for the lovely review and particularly for the carefully set photos, which convey the atmosphere you reserve to this pen so well.

[steve50]

Thanks for the thorough review and amazing photos.

[bmorison]

I have just bought this pen with a Fine nib. It is as nice as has been described.

I did find that it produces a much broader line than I expected. I had to swap the nib for an Extra Fine which is also nice to write with. I am thinking of getting another Pineider with a much broader quill nib, possibly a stub as I like line variation. I don’t place a lot of pressure on the nib while writing. I was using J’Herbin blue azure ink. Now I have Edelstein Moonstone it.

[basterma]

I like the review and the photography. That is an amazing pen.

[Raskolnikov]

On 9/14/2020 at 11:34 AM, Honeybadgers said:

I wish they would just give us ONE version of this damn pen that doesn't have a polished metal section, so I can buy one.

 

Good point. I'm not a great fan of polished metal sections either, but in this case the "ovals" that serve as ink windows lessen the impact of possible fingerprints, depending of course on how you hold your pen (in my case, the grip is pretty high on the body so this doesn't bother me much). Said that, I understand the feeling.

 

On 9/29/2020 at 2:22 AM, chalkdust said:

This is one of me favorite pens. In fact it is one of two that are currently in use. Mine has a medium nib that required a bit of adjustment. It is smooth as butter now and a joy to use. I purchased mine while on vacation a little over a year ago at the Pineider store in Florence. Besides being a beautiful pen, it also brings back great memories. I notice that the Arco's filling design has not been repeated among Pineider's other pens. I suspect that internally it is about the same as the Mystery Filler, but the style of the knob on the back is unlike any other Pineider pen.

 

Thanks for your review and those beautiful photos!

 

That's great to hear, I'm happy you bought it in Florence ... I guess you have some nice memories linked to the pen :) 

About the filling system, I don't think it's the mystery filler. I remember a conversation I had with Dante Del Vecchio, we were talking about different filling systems and he mentioned Arco doesn't issue the mystery filler, but I haven't delved deeper than that.
And thanks for your words :)

 

On 10/13/2020 at 3:57 AM, langere said:

Oh, wow! What a beautiful pen! I can tell by your loving photos how much you like it...

 

Erick

 

Yes, I love it :) I love talking about things I like 

On 10/13/2020 at 11:59 AM, Uncial said:

Nice pen. Does it have an added premium because they used the word 'arco'?

 

Good point. In my opinion, it doesn't. And sometimes I even told myself it could (should?) have had another name, as when I think of "arco" I think of old celluloid ones. This is more like "tribute to", but the pen definitely stands out for itself, it wouldn't have needed that name in my opinion.

 

On 10/13/2020 at 12:16 PM, como said:

It would be great to see this pen in a cigar or facetted version with section made of the same material and a normal screw cap. That would be my personal preference. The material is quite attractive and intense.

 

Added: Raskolnikov, many thanks for this detailed review. Reviews like this take time to do. Members here often use such reviews as a valuable chance of assessment, when we dont always have the opportunities to handle the pens in person. I feel a bit embarrassed that I forgot to say thank you first in the above comments. Much appreciated.

 

Thank you very much for acknowledging the work behind the review ("experiencing" the pen for weeks, taking pics, writing down feelings and sensations), I really appreciated that. :D A faceted version btw would be great but seeing the trend in Pineider's recent production, I don't see it happening soon. 

On 10/13/2020 at 2:29 PM, picautomaton said:

Excellent review, nice pen

Thank you for your kind words :)

On 10/13/2020 at 6:34 PM, sansenri said:

thank you for the lovely review and particularly for the carefully set photos, which convey the atmosphere you reserve to this pen so well.

Thank you :) It really gives me some vintage vibes!

On 10/18/2020 at 9:07 PM, steve50 said:

Thanks for the thorough review and amazing photos.

Thank you for your words :) 

On 10/27/2020 at 11:37 AM, bmorison said:

I have just bought this pen with a Fine nib. It is as nice as has been described.

I did find that it produces a much broader line than I expected. I had to swap the nib for an Extra Fine which is also nice to write with. I am thinking of getting another Pineider with a much broader quill nib, possibly a stub as I like line variation. I don’t place a lot of pressure on the nib while writing. I was using J’Herbin blue azure ink. Now I have Edelstein Moonstone it.

 

I agree with you about the broader line. I think it's a trend in Pineider's production, they preferred to make the line broader and wetter to try and avoid all costs risks of drying and skipping. I'm also trying a medium quill nib these days and yes, it's pretty wide (using Aurora sepia, which is kinda "dense", to avoid risks of tearing).

 

On 10/27/2020 at 11:57 AM, basterma said:

I like the review and the photography. That is an amazing pen.

 

Thank you very much for your words :)

[amberleadavis]

Now that you have had it awhile, how do you like it?

 

I love my other Pineiders - the Flex stub is awesome - but the nibs use so much ink that a Piston filler seems like a better idea.

 

BTW, your photos are amazing!

[doriath19]

That is a truly lovely pen! And your pictures really do it justice.

 

I couldn't go for a pen like this only because I really don't like metal grip sections. Just my preference.

[galangerz]

Currently saving up for a Pineider Mystery Filler. This is getting me hyped up! beautiful pictures it is much appreciated

[mhphoto]

Thanks for the wonderful review and great pictures! 
 

As much as I want to love the material (as I’m one of the more… devoted, we’ll say… Arconauts…), I think Pineider’s “arco” material is way too thick in its layers to pull off the arco look. It’s too chunky. Too chonky. Much chungus. 
 

I think PenBBS did a better job with their “Cedar” acrylic. It’s a little boring, but it pulls off the look. 
 

I’m not trying to throw bags of sour milk on your parade, I’ve just needed to vent that since they first released these “arco” models. 

[georges zaslavsky]

interesting pen and nib,maybe I should try one thanks for the review