Korean Fountain Pens

[beowulf]

Hello,

 

I am curious if there is a fountain pen tradition in Korea. My uneducated, quick response would be no because brushes are the more traditional writing instrument. However, maybe more educated people have a more in-depth explanation. ;-)

 

Furthermore, I am curious if there are any Korean fountain pen brands and if anybody can comment on them.

 

Nick

[ANM]

I don't know much about the subject. My ex is Korean. Her dad was the proud owner of a sterling Parker 75. I got the impression that Parkers were the most desirable, a sign of sophistication, if you will. I think he was referring to higher end ball points though. That is just something he mentioned once, through a translater (another of his daughters).

 

I recently recieved an ebay purchase of a Pilot Scholars pen. The seller said it was from around 1980. The nib is marked Made in Korea. It feels and sounds like really cheap plastic but the gold plated nib is a beautiful writer.. but a tiny bit dry.

Edited February 20, 2008 by ANM

[Ernst Bitterman]

I've got an Apis pen from the mid-1980s, which is apparently a still-current Hanguk pen maker. It's not a pen they could be proud of, but a 2007 Elantra is rather better than a 1986 Pony, so they could be making decent pens currently.

 

Here's a link to 'em, of sorts.

[dpmahon]

Hello,

 

I am curious if there is a fountain pen tradition in Korea. My uneducated, quick response would be no because brushes are the more traditional writing instrument. However, maybe more educated people have a more in-depth explanation. ;-)

 

Furthermore, I am curious if there are any Korean fountain pen brands and if anybody can comment on them.

 

Nick

When stationed in Korea 1982-83 I saw "Partner" pens. These were copies of Parker pens but of inferior quality.

[excarnate]

When I was posted to Korea I stopped by the Katusa PX and bought a couple Pilot Elite short/long fountain pens, the impression I got was that fountain pens were not unknown (these were not gift quality, rather they were inexpensive, not great writers). This was in 1987 and it wouldn't shock me if fountain pens there now are much like in the US - rare.

 

Korean (Hangul) has an alphabet, and it isn't dependent on thin/thick lines. You still have to know ~3000 Chinese characters to be fully fluent, but without any school experience but knowing the language I'd say the brush tradition is much less than in China.

 

I known nothing about Korean brands of fountain pens but my experience wouldn't lead me to have found out about such things :-)

 

Katusa = Korean Augmentation to the United States Army (KATUSA)

"The objective of the KATUSA Soldier Program is to augment U.S. forces with ROK Army soldiers in order to increase the ROK/U.S. combined defense capability on the Korean peninsula."

PX = Post Exchange, a store on post aimed at soldiers

Pilot Elite short/long <https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=42691&st=0&p=400209entry400209>

Edited February 21, 2008 by excarnate

[matthewk]

When I was posted to Korea I stopped by the Katusa PX and bought a couple Pilot Elite short/long fountain pens, the impression I got was that fountain pens were not unknown (these were not gift quality, rather they were inexpensive, not great writers). This was in 1987 and it wouldn't shock me if fountain pens there now are much like in the US - rare.

 

A had this conversation with a friend(lovely Korean woman) who lives in Changwon and she is about 28. She has never scene one and perhaps didn't know such things existed before I told her about my journal.

 

matthew

[WillAdams]

A while ago, I found a Korean company selling fountain pens on-line, but can't find the site again....

 

When I was in Korea, 1985--6 I didn't encounter any fountain pens, but wasn't looking for them either....

 

William

 

 

[yu_bh]

JAVA, APIS and Pilot Korea...

 

Apis even makes their own nibs. Java gets them from Germany.

 

Pilot Korea is not just division of Pilot Japan. they make their own FPs for Korean market.

Edited June 27, 2009 by yu_bh

[queenofpens]

Interesting thread, especially since a Google search for Korean fountain pens also turned up the other thread about counterfeits.

 

All I know is that sometime in the early 80's, a small batch of Korean fountain pens turned up in my local (rural) Walmart of all places - as far as I know, the only fountain pens they ever had!

 

I got a nice enough for the price little pen (for my small hands) in a lovely light blue patterned plastic - for less than $5 at a time when I could not afford much more and any everyday fountain pens were hard to find in the US, even the Shaeffer cartridge pens that had been my mainstay since childhood were hard to find then. I still have that pen in my collection, although I don't write with it much because it is an Asian fine point and a little scratchy.

[RNHC]

Wow. A zombie thread. :ltcapd:

 

My understanding is that Korea never really had a chance to get into fountain pen phase. Korea went through a rapid modernization or Westernization. Korean writing implements jumped straight from brushes to ballpoint pens, bypassing fountain pens.

[kychen]

Not sure if this would be the right place to post, but does anyone have any comments on the writing style, the use of fountain pens, and perhaps the history relating the two?

 

As an example, writing cursive (english) is an amazing experience when using a fountain pen. I think its because cursive is so fluid, and it matches that of a fountain pen.

 

On the other hand, most written language in asia is based on strokes, yet the Japanese seem to have quite a market in fountain pens.

 

Just curious what people think.

[aenjin]

Not sure if this would be the right place to post, but does anyone have any comments on the writing style, the use of fountain pens, and perhaps the history relating the two?

 

As an example, writing cursive (english) is an amazing experience when using a fountain pen. I think its because cursive is so fluid, and it matches that of a fountain pen.

 

On the other hand, most written language in asia is based on strokes, yet the Japanese seem to have quite a market in fountain pens.

 

Just curious what people think.

 

IMO for everyday writing, as long as the pen can write a fine-enough line and is smooth, there is no real difference, writing characters with a fountain pen is just as nice as writing cursive.

 

In Japan, Korea, and urban parts of China the main interface people use to 'write' and communicate is probably an alphanumeric keyboard, i.e. electronic, not analog, since for character-based languages like Chinese, an alphanumeric-based input system (pinyin) is rather efficient, and Japan and Korea are much more wired and techie than places like the US, so more people use smartphones and text etc. Calligraphy is still going strong, but then people are more likely to use brushes or brushpens for that.

 

Especially young people are more likely to type to write than handwrite (except to do school assignments and subjects like maths). That said there are certainly people who use fountain pens, but it's seen as an older generation, lux, or niche thing.

[Don.K]

I have been living and working in Korea for almost five years now and have never seen a fountain pen any were. My father in law has a large wall hanging in his living room of a Korean proverb written in Chinese no doubt it was done with a brush he took 1st place in a forum of calligraphy contest it is beautiful, I use a Lamy safari at work it turns a lot of heads from both Korean and Americans alike. This shows that in my opinion that we the fountain pen user are a rare breed know matter the country. I sign a lot papers at work and my Korean co-worker said that I have a great signature, I was shock I don't think I have good curisve writing he called my pen fancy, he is a older gentlemen, The younger Koreans that I work with pretty much give me a WOW cool pen what is it, so this opens the door for a quick lesson in fountain pens. Being only two months into fountain pens this shows that for the most part that fountain pens are rare indeed.

[legume]

Korea modernized basically overnight, jerked out of cultural and economic isolation just before Japanese colonization and later aided by money given by the US government for sending soldiers to fight in the Vietnam War. Koreans went from brushes to smartphones in only about a fifty year period. There never was a need for fountain pens so the industry never developed. There isn't a well-defined major player like there are Sailor, Pilot, and Platinum in Japan.

How are fountain pens viewed in Korea? They certainly aren't common and are definitely more niche than they are in the US or even Japan. They're more gifts for special occasions (graduations, first jobs, promotions, etc. I suppose), not expected to be used, and are a way of saying, "hey, you've reached a certain level of success" in whatever. If you ask who uses a fountain pen regularly these days, it invokes the image of a high-powered executive being driven around by a chauffeur. Unrelatable, out of touch, ridiculous. Think more Donald Trump than hordes of American 80s businessmen faking it until they made it.

 

But white-haired professors with suede elbow pads on their casual suits work too, and my first two fountain pens were actually my father's, probably from when he was a university student in the late 70s and early 80s. The way they were rolling around in the house suggests that they were bought by him rather than gifted. So regular people did and do have exposure and access, but they're probably viewed as impractical and ostentatious. So all in all not too different how they're viewed in the US.

 

The last time I visited Korea, I visited a large bookstore in Seoul which I believe is fairly well-known (I mean it was huge). It had a large fountain pen department stocking pretty much every major brand. The salesgirls were polite enough when I asked to handle a Pelikan M800, but they obviously knew nothing about fountain pens and looked at me like I was a crazy person when I asked if I might dip a Lamy 2000 for a test drive. Partly my fault for not reading the atmosphere, the place was very boutique sterile, they were probably caught off-guard by the request. They did offer to let me try out a Lamy Safari which was already inked and chained (yep, chained) to a tablet. I suspect the pens and ink there don't have much turnaround.

 

On a side note, since there is a slight cursive/calligraphy current in this thread, traditional Chinese and Korean calligraphy is still going strong. My aunt is very skilled in Chinese calligraphy, and I think she recently got some recognition for her copy of a Buddhist text on folding screens. I remember her talking about how she was contacted by a novice calligrapher asking her for advice and thanking her for inspiration or whatnot.

Edited September 6, 2013 by legume

[kauloltran]

Rapid industrialization isn't the sole explanation, since it does not explain why fountain pens are well known in Taiwan . What explains the popularity of fountain pens in China and Vietnam? In Vietnam, school children are required to write with fountain pens and are not allowed to touch the ballpoints until they enter high schools. I believe Germany is also the same way. There are many other industrialized countries such as Canada that see no fountain pen usage.

Edited September 5, 2013 by kauloltran

[Plume145]

I shop for Korean stationery a lot, in part because it often has great paper (not always, but more often than the western stuff, especially of a similar price). And for some reason, Korean brands tend to be super-thorough about photographing their products: there are always lots of pictures from every angle, with and without props and extras to suggest ways to use the product, AND separate photos for each of the colors or styles if a particular product comes in several colors. All of which means I've had probably hundreds of pictures of stationery produced by and/or for Koreans passing before my eyes. In all of those, there's been fewer than five FPs that I remember. That doesn't mean they don't get more use than the pictures suggest, but they're probably not the most every day item either, or I reckon they would turn up in the product photography a bit more often :-)

[kauloltran]

It's strange that fountain pens haven't become popular in Korea despite its largest trading partners, China and Japan, are both major fountain pen manufacturers.

[legume]

I shop for Korean stationery a lot, in part because it often has great paper (not always, but more often than the western stuff, especially of a similar price). And for some reason, Korean brands tend to be super-thorough about photographing their products: there are always lots of pictures from every angle, with and without props and extras to suggest ways to use the product, AND separate photos for each of the colors or styles if a particular product comes in several colors. All of which means I've had probably hundreds of pictures of stationery produced by and/or for Koreans passing before my eyes. In all of those, there's been fewer than five FPs that I remember. That doesn't mean they don't get more use than the pictures suggest, but they're probably not the most every day item either, or I reckon they would turn up in the product photography a bit more often :-)

 

I'd say the most traumatizing aspect of moving to the US as a child was the sudden dearth of good stationary. Not the cultural shock, or the language barrier, but that there weren't five neighborhood school supply stores stocking every writing-related supply imaginable. I remember as a child my classmates and I all collected stationary to some degree, and our parents were only too happy to oblige because everything was so cheap.

 

In my experience, part of the reason why Korean stationary is always so well-photographed is that Koreans are extremely image-conscious. Everything you buy has to be considered with how it's going to go with your "look." Everyone is cultivating an image. It's not limited to pens and paper, but to all accessories. My relatives are always pointing out that I don't care enough about "being cute" and that I should focus more on my hair, or clothes, or whatever.

 

It's strange that fountain pens haven't become popular in Korea despite its largest trading partners, China and Japan, are both major fountain pen manufacturers.

 

I don't get your reasoning here. It's a very niche market.

 

Rapid industrialization isn't the sole explanation, since it does not explain why fountain pens are well known in Taiwan . What explains the popularity of fountain pens in China and Vietnam? In Vietnam, school children are required to write with fountain pens and are not allowed to touch the ballpoints until they enter high schools. I believe Germany is also the same way. There are many other industrialized countries such as Canada that see no fountain pen usage.

 

Take this with a grain of salt, I'm not a historian or anything: I think the keyword when it comes to explaining why fountain pens aren't popular in Korea is Westernization, not Industrialization. A lot of Asian countries were staunch isolationists for several centuries up until the 19th or 20th or so when they were forced to look out for y'know colonization, world wars, and all. Industrialized places like Western Europe and the US had much higher standards of living which China, Japan, Taiwan, etc. tried to catch up to and emulate, and fountain pens were a part of the Western image. Koreans got into all that much later in the game. Before that our primary concern for about oh, 5000 years up until the Korean War was not being swallowed up by China and later Japan. Culturally and economically, Korea hasn't been an worldwide player until very recently and that's the era the cultural influence comes from. Koreans are trying to emulate 21st century America and fountain pens are not a part of that.

 

As for why fountain pens aren't popular in Canada or the US, well that's obvious enough. We've moved on. Fountain pens weren't a sign of affluence until Montblanc marketing. There's nothing to be wistful about.

[RNHC]

On the other hand, most written language in asia is based on strokes, yet the Japanese seem to have quite a market in fountain pens.

 

Don't know about Chinese but I believe Japanese nibs are geared for stroke writing, i.e., finer and flexier(?) hence different feel from Western nibs.

[RNHC]

It's strange that fountain pens haven't become popular in Korea despite its largest trading partners, China and Japan, are both major fountain pen manufacturers.

 

That's probably why. Why develop your own fountain pen industry when you can get it cheaper and easier from your neighbors? If you look at Korean history, the fountain pen never really had time to take root. It was brushes then maybe a couple of decades of fountain pen and then pretty much ballpoint.

 

The nature of Korean literacy played a key part. Traditional Korean literati was versed in Chinese scholarship. Brushes would be the writing tool of choice. Only in the 60's the literacy increased and by then ballpoint was prevalent.

 

My guess is that Koreans look at brushes like how we look at fountain pens.

Edited September 6, 2013 by RNHC