Seeking ‘Warmth and Personality’ in the World of High-Priced Pens | New York Times
Nice write-up about the London Pen Show in the New York Times:
The consensus among these attendees was that putting pen to paper is more meaningful than typing on gadgets. “I feel more disconnected from the information that I’m trying to capture when I’m typing it versus when I’m writing it,” Ms. Staton said.
The pen dealer Roy van den Brink-Budgen, 40, said there is “real warmth and personality” to writing by hand. “I think even if you don’t submerge yourself in it from a collecting point of view, I think writing with a fountain pen adds maybe that extra few percent to even the most mundane writing.”
Agreed. Wholeheartedly. However, I do have to disagree with the following:
Mr. Minhas, 53, has been collecting pens for more than 25 years and owns so many he is known by some in the international pen community as “the one-man pen show.” He believes that some pens are meant to stay on display, preserved as heirlooms for the next generation. “Pens of this quality you don’t really write with,” he said. “This is art of the highest quality.”
I love Sarj Minhas’s collection (and I came this close to buying a couple Montblancs from him at the California Pen Show earlier this year—and plan on actually doing so next year, because, seriously, his collection is beautiful), but I have to respectfully disagree with him here. All pens are for writing. Even the most beautiful, artistic, expensive, hand-crafted ones are still tools for writing. Pens are for writing.
