The Journal of Writing Culture
David Oscarson,
Carl Milles, and the
Marriage of the Waters
Montblanc’s flexibility
Hervé Obligí’s mastery
Visconti’s golden age
plus: a feast for the eyes
Fall Preview
of Pens 2019
OCTOBER 2019
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Volume 32, Number 6
ON OUR COVER: David Oscarson Carl Milles
limited edition fountain pen.
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from St. Louis to Sweden
and back
David Oscarson celebrates 20 years of his
artisanal fountain pens and a new marriage in a
writing instrument series that honors Swedish
sculptor Carl Milles.
who? MYU, that’s who!
Richard Binder’s continuing series on Japanese
pocket pens enters the “Karat War” era.
nibs in 3D
Pjotr by Rein van der Mast shows what the
future of 3D-printed fountain pens will look like.
Master of Art
French artisan Hervé Obligí bridges the divide
between writing instrument and sculpture.
the thin/broad line
Germany’s Montblanc enters the flexible nib
market and pays homage to the art of calligraphy.
Tim Cullen’s next chapter
The artisan behind Hooligan Georgia finds new
purpose by pushing the boundaries of his brand.
a feast for the eyes
Get your fill of fountain pens in the 27th
annual Fall Preview of Pens.
bound in goodness
Musubi journals feature luxurious, traditional
fabrics with fair-trade practices in mind.
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second chapters
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Second Chapters
BY NICKY PESSAROFF
When I was studying fiction, my professor taught me
that every piece of literature needs a thematic arc.
Even short story collections, he stressed, need an
overarching shape—a thematic movement from front cover to
back. You can’t just throw a bunch of short stories together
and call it a day. You need to shape your collection so that one
story leads into another somehow.
I try to bear that lesson in mind when shaping each issue
of PW because what applies to literary fiction also applies to
journalism, and vice versa. Each issue of PW has an overt or a
covert theme, and this issue is no different. As so often happens,
that theme arose organically. As I see it, the theme of this
issue is “second chapters.”
It starts with our cover brand, David Oscarson, who celebrates
20 years of pen making this year. Still making waves
with his hot enamel and guilloche creations, Oscarson tells his
own story on the bodies of his writing instruments, honoring
his children and his Swedish heritage.
In the new Carl Milles collection, our cover pen, Oscarson celebrates his one-year marriage anniversary and the union of his
and his wife’s families. He also celebrates the two places he’s called home: St. Louis, Missouri and Stockholm, Sweden. Finally, the
pen honors another fellow Swede who also called St. Louis home: the sculptor Carl Milles.
In other words, David Oscarson has entered another chapter in his life—one that greatly resembles the first chapter, but
with more experience, more wisdom, and more mastery. (Read more about Oscarson’s life and work on page 60.)
The same is true of Tim Cullen, the artisan behind the Hooligan moniker. I believe that Cullen’s recent move from his lifelong
home in southern California to northern Georgia and his new marriage have empowered this maker to reach new levels
of creativity both in subject matter and style. See if you agree by turning to page 56 and reading all about it.
Meantime, two venerated pen brands return to their roots. Legendary German maker Montblanc presents new “Calligraphic
Flex” nibs, reminiscent of some of the brand’s iconic italic and calligraphic nibs of the past (p. 52). Visconti, for its part, is
returning to 18 karat gold nibs and is relaunching its beloved Voyager series in honor of the company’s 30th anniversary (p. 28).
Then we have two more artisans on opposite sides of the spectrum: French Master of Art Hervé Obligí has made a career of
creating pens that are singular art objects (p. 48), while Dutch artist/industrial engineer Rein van der Mast uses cutting edge 3D
printing to create writing instruments in a new way—up to and including fully 3D-printed titanium nibs (p. 44).
There are second chapters all over the place, including this year’s Fall Preview of Pens (p. 65). This most special of sections
has entered its 27th year, meaning that it is reaching an entirely new generation of readers. Think about that for a second:
during a time when the viability of print magazines is being called into question, the Fall Preview this year features a slew of
brands who are making their section premiere. GW Pens, Atelier Lusso, Eagle Pens, and Benu Pens have joined such regulars as
Pilot, Franklin-Christoph, S.T. Dupont, Visconti, and Sailor in this year’s Fall Preview, “A Feast for the Eyes.”
And what a feast it is! Seeing small, artisan brands next to the towering monoliths of the pen industry is a gratifying thing
for this editor. After all, most global accessories corporations began as a kernel of an idea in a small workshop. Who is to say
which of these brands will become a large multi-national? Who knows what the Fall Preview will look like five years from now, let
alone 50?
editor@penworld.com
Ruth Korch
6
Where Waters Meet
BY SUZANNE C. LEE
David Oscarson celebrates home, family, and another
of his Swedish heroes: the sculptor Carl Milles.
From left—David Oscarson Carl Milles Marriage of the Waters
fountain pen in sapphire and teal blended enamel with gold vermeil
accents; the cap features a solid silver, gold-vermeil replica of the
Marriage of the Waters fountain in St. Louis, Missouri (above, with
David and Veronica Oscarson in foreground).
In 1940, a magnificent installation was unveiled in St. Louis, Missouri. Commissioned by Mrs. Louis
Aloe to honor her late husband and created by distinguished Swedish artist Carl Milles, the piece was
named Meeting of the Waters and was meant to represent the coming together of a figuratively
female Missouri River with her male mate, the Mississippi River.
The landmark fountain that was revealed contains a basin filled with myriad sculptural figures.
Complementary but distinct companions, male and female, are surrounded by water sprites, fish, and
mermaids who all seem to dance in mist issuing from the carefully constructed jets and sprays. Each
creature is meant to symbolize the main tributaries from the two aforementioned major bodies of water,
of which there are 17. Triumphant and vivacious, Meeting of the Waters (or Marriage of the Waters, as
Milles intended for its name) was made to play just so with the combination of the sun and water, and
the result is a prismatic dance that sparkles in the wider atmosphere.
David Oscarson, with similar brilliance, has crafted a fountain pen whose profundity springs from its
intimacy. It is among the most personal pieces he has offered and operates as a paean to his life’s experience,
the lands he has known, and the completion that he feels now.
60
Above—Veronica and David pose at Millesgarden sculpture
garden outside Stockholm, Sweden. Right—Marriage of the
Waters fountain pen in mossy black and gray blended
enamel with sterling silver accents and bicolor 18 karat gold
nib with engraved David Oscarson logo.
Such completion is like a finished braid—a successful blend of distinct elements into a unified and pleasing
whole. Oscarson’s Carl Milles Marriage of the Waters writing instrument collection is just such a composition.
Integration and comingling, the circuitous and the fluid, are all prominent themes. For instance, Milles is
Swedish, and it’s where much of his canon resides. Oscarson was born in the United States but spent many of
his formative years in Stockholm. Oscarson’s other home is in St. Louis, Missouri, which is, of course, the location
of Milles’s Meeting of the Waters.
Oscarson recalls, “As a boy, I passed by many Milles figures as I wandered around the streets of
Stockholm after school. I would stare for a while, wondering what it was that made my feet stand still as I
gazed upward at some of his massive structures, like the Orpheus sculpture group at Konserhuset
Hotorget. My favorite prank and practical joke store, Buttericks, was just around the corner. I also benefitted
from my father and grandfather pointing many of Milles’s works out to me as a boy; both had spent
years in Stockholm, where Grandpa’s parents were born.”
Born Carl Wilhelm Andersson in 1875 near Uppsala, Carl Milles was the son of Lieutenant Emil “Mille”
Andersson and his wife, Walborg Tisell. On his way to Chile in 1897 to run a school for gymnastics, he
stopped in Paris, France and spontaneously decided to stay, wanting instruction in his own artistic pursuits.
As he labored in Auguste Rodin’s studio, his reputation as a prominent sculptor soared. In 1904, he
and his wife Olga relocated to Munich, Germany, but only briefly, for Sweden became their final home.
Near Stockholm, a large island seemingly perfect for their idyll was waiting. From 1906 to 1908, Milles
built Millesgarden on Lidingo, where the two lived and where he toiled, perfecting his work. Milles would
go on to be Sculptor-in-Residence at the Cranbrook Educational Institute in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan,
invited by U.S. publisher George Gough Booth, with the caveat that Milles would craft big commissions
outside of the particular educational setting. Thus, the American canon of Milles’s brilliant artwork was
born to the country’s benefit, bridging places and people that maps simply can’t engender.
Oscarson says, “Milles’s creations are captivating, and it doesn’t seem to matter where they are. The pieces
at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis seem as natural to their environment as does the Hand of God in
Stockholm. Maybe it’s the size and grandeur of his pieces.”
61
Far left—Milles fountain pens in dark and light
blue enamel with gold vermeil accents and in
azure blue and white enamel with sterling
silver accents.
Left—the barrel end features engraving
representing the city flag of Stockholm.
Above—the cap doubles as its own standing
sculpture, with a cap crown depicting the St.
Louis city flag in white enamel.
Not unlike Oscarson, Milles’s fate was riddled with themes of coalescence and connection.
Among Sweden’s most famed and distinguished sculptors, his work nevertheless dots
the American landscape as well—a transcendence of place and yet an embrace of it. For
example, Milles’s the Hand of God was initially a tribute to Swedish innovator C.E.
Johansson, who engineered precise measurements for tools that made viable the assembly
line. While this initial sculpture resides in Eskilstuna, Sweden, Johansson’s original home,
funding from the United Auto Workers allowed for the work to be recast and given to
the city of Detroit, Michigan, where it is displayed outside the Frank Murphy Hall of
Justice. The Hand of God is equally meaningful in both cities; it is local and universal.
Another type of incorporation is, of course, marriage, and, as Oscarson’s first wedding
anniversary with Veronica approached, he wanted to commemorate the union, the
beauty of synthesis between the two family branches. Just as the Missouri and Mississippi
Rivers are joined where they intersect and their many tributaries become the product of
both, Oscarson’s children (and grandchild!) merge to become one, an exquisite unit.
Veronica, in fact, plays a part in the design, as it is her line art on the body of the pen.
Even in its creation, the fountain pen was collaborative, a comingling, a coming together.
Indeed, as the 20th anniversary of Oscarson’s presence in the industry arrives, the distinction
of length seems both an arrival and a departure—an accomplishment, but not an end. It
is, in fact, a new beginning with the groundbreaking David Oscarson Carl Milles Marriage of
the Waters collection.
62
“I drive our craftsmen crazy in our workshop; each new creation is an attempt to
redefine our craft, and the Milles collection is no exception. As beautiful as the Henrik
Wigstrom, Winter, and Crystal collection pieces still are, I believe a transformation can
be seen from our earlier work to these newer concepts—not only in design, but in
the level of difficulty required to actually produce them,” Oscarson says.
The Milles fountain pen collection dissolves the delineation between form and
function. That is, the thematic associations found in the piece are not just metaphorically
but physically manifested in the creation, as this fountain pen is the first to blend
two colors of hot enamel over the total surface of the pen without separating them
with silver outlines. In this delicate and difficult procedure, Oscarson actively battles the
fact that, ordinarily, the metal oxides employed to achieve an array of colors each
require particular temperatures for firing.
Oscarson says, “In this instance, we are intentionally blending two colors together
to re-create the merging of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers here in St. Louis, just as
it was interpreted in Milles’s fountain.”
Above—the David Oscarson Raoul Walleberg collection
premiered in 2018 and is limited to 100 editions with either a
blue barrel with silver cap (uncapped) or a blue barrel and cap;
the Sankta Lucia fountain pen commemorates St. Lucia and the
annual Christmas-time Sankta Lucia celebration in Sweden.
Left—Carl Linnaeus fountain pen with red enamel cap and gold
barrel; Alfred Nobel fountain pen with black enamel cap and
white barrel.
63
Colors on the body of the David Oscarson Carl Milles Marriage of the Waters collection include sapphire and
teal enamel with gold vermeil accents, azure blue and white enamel with sterling silver accents, light blue and
dark blue enamel with gold vermeil accents, and mossy black and gray enamel with sterling silver accents. The
cap of the fountain pen is overlaid with a man and woman on the verge of embrace, as in the original Milles
sculpture, in solid sterling silver. Seventeen tributaries are symbolized on the writing instrument with all manner
of sea creatures that dance around their sparkling human companions in high and low relief, meant to swim in
the guilloche double-wave water pattern beneath them.
“The lovely lady in white at the top of the barrel holding the fish in her hands, that’s Veronixa. The scary, demonic
fish muncher on the bottom—that’s me,” says Oscarson.
Further symbols abound: the engraved name “Carl Milles” wraps around the gripping section. The cap top features
an enamel depiction of the St. Louis city flag, while the barrel end is decorated with engraving of the Stockholm city
flag—the two homes of both Milles and Oscarson.
Left—Oscarson honored the
Norse god Odin with this
blue iteration of his Valhalla
collection.
Right—the Henrik Wigstrom
Trophy collection was
Oscarson’s first collection,
premiering in 2000 and
honoring the Swedish head
workmaster for Fabergé,
shown here in red.
In celebration of Carl Milles’s 80 years on Earth producing magnificent art, each distinct color
combination on the pen will be limited in production to 80 pieces as either a rollerball or cartridge/converter/eyedropper-filling
fountain pen with an 18 karat gold nib in fine, medium, or
broad engraved with the David Oscarson logo.
A plethora of Swedish-themed pens precede the Milles collection (pages 64 and 65),
thanks to Oscarson’s identification with the country as one of two formative nations in his
life, and each line features his signature blend of artistry, signifying both history’s magnificence
and his more personal stories. The deft combination, a merging of all that makes meaning,
seems not unlike the union of the couple as they ready to embrace, or the Mississippi and
Missouri Rivers that do likewise.
As Veronica and David Oscarson have blended in their first year of blissful matrimony,
they have also weaved their families into a beautiful tapestry. Just as rivers meet and connect
their many tributaries, places across the Earth from one another come together in art, a synthesis
memorialized not only by Milles but now also by Oscarson in a writing instrument that
itself is an amalgam of various hot enamels. If the Milles collection has a thesis, it is one of
marriage, of success in mergence, of working toward a wholeness beyond words.
Visit davidoscarson.com.
64
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RCA presentations
Top row—Graf von Faber Castell’s Rachel Lee, Sheila Hopkins, and Beth Epstein and Armando Simoni Club’s CEO Emmanuel Caltagirone received
their awards at the Washington D.C. Fountain Pen Supershow, Aug. 1 to 4. Middle row—Franklin-Christoph CEO Scott Franklin with the company’s
two awards; Ryan Krusac of Krusac Studios and John and Mark Hu of Laban Pen also accepted their respective awards at the D.C. show.
Bottom row—at the San Francisco International Pen Show (August 23 to 25), PW Editor-in-Chief Nicky Pessaroff presented RCAs to Sailor’s U.S.
distributor, Don Takemura, and to Karol and Hugh Scher of Kanilea Pen Co.
96
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