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Rainbow, Rainbow, Rainbow*
BY NICKY PESSAROFF
Driving on I-10 with my family, we raced along the outer edge of a heavy monsoon. To the west, a scorching bright sun;
to our right, charcoal gray clouds pendulous with rain. As the highway curved around mountainous terrain, we drove in
and out of downpours.
We entered an open valley, verdant greenery and umber soil all around us. To our right, truly suddenly, was a rainbow, and
then another one—two full prismatic arches. They say you can’t get to the end of the rainbow, which is true. You’ll never actually
get that stupid leprechaun’s Lucky Charms®. But I could see where the rainbows ended, just to our east, bleeding into the
grassy field. They stayed with us, those rainbows, until we headed into the next mountainous pass and another deluge.
Creating ink is an attempt at bottling the purity of color.
Perhaps that’s why the names of ink colors are so fanciful. Perhaps you would have called the gray of the clouds I saw “charcoal”
or “smoke.” I call that color “ominous gray dappled with sun-speckled yellow that portends a rainbow,” which works well
enough for my artistic purposes, I suppose. What you call the color isn’t as important as what the color inspires.
If this issue has a thesis, it is that inspiration comes in Technicolor.
AP Limited Editions, Colorverse Inks, Benu Pens, Kanilea Pen Co., Graf von Faber-Castell, Point Plume—nearly every brand
shown in this issue has remarked on the inspiration they find in the colors of the natural world.
In addition, each one of these brands admits just how difficult a task it is to capture a landscape, a scene, a color. The look
of effortless creativity requires years of practice and exceptional discipline. You’re going to get drenched in the rain before you
capture that rainbow.
So as you look through the vibrant accessories on the following pages, consider the amount of effort it took to create those
objects. As you note that Pelikan has won “Pen of the Year” honors in the PW Readers’ Choice Awards for the second year in a
row, consider all the R&D that went into such a feat. As you note that Kanilea just won back-to-back “Best Artisan Pen” awards,
consider that Hugh and Karol Scher work on Kanilea on evenings and weekends, after their day jobs. As you note that, once
again, Retro 51 took top honors in “Best Non-Fountain Pen” and Sailor won in “Best Writing Experience,” consider the decades of
work it took for those companies to get to this pinnacle.
And as you look at the pens of other winners like Laban, Armando Simoni Club, Pilot, Ryan Krusac Studios, Franklin-
Christoph, Graf von Faber-Castell, and Point Plume, remember and appreciate the work that goes into creating such masterpieces.
It’s easy enough to be inspired; it’s a lot harder to do something about it.
*Title inspird by Elizabeth Bishop’s poem, “The Fish.” Send your letters to editor@penworld.com.