Welcome, Pelis and Lamys

To most people here and abroad, “fountain pen” means a basic Parker or Sheaffer — or, when you go up the corporate ladder, a fancy Montblanc. (And remember when — back in the ’70s and ’80s — Christmas meant you got three or four silver Cross ballpens from friends and sponsors?)

I don’t mean to knock these brands — I specialize in vintage Parkers myself, and keep a few very nice Sheaffers as well, including a modern Targa with a buttery-smooth broad nib; two Montblancs are in my daily rotation, and as for Cross, well, they made President Obama’s inaugural pens.

But the fact is — for both personal use and corporate giveaways — there are many other top-notch pen makers out there, based in Europe, Japan, and the US — whose products promise not only a pleasant writing experience but also great looks worthy of a pocket or a purse.

Two of those brands have now come to the Philippines, thanks to young Filipino entrepreneurs who have combined their interest in fine writing instruments with their business acumen. Sensing that Filipino professionals now want more and better choices for their personal accessories, these two ladies — Marian Ong of Scribe Writing Essentials and Charlene Ngo of Times Trading — have brought Pelikan and Lamy pens to Manila.

“Pelis” are no newcomers to the writing scene. The first Pelikan fountain pen was made in 1929 in Hanover in Germany, and — thanks to a sturdy and efficient piston-filling system, smooth nibs, and classic styling — the brand has risen to the very top of premier pen makes, along with Parker, Sheaffer, Waterman, and Montblanc. I use a gloriously deep-red-barreled Pelikan M800 myself more than any of my other pens, and when someone asks me to recommend a pen other than the most popular brands, I unhesitatingly suggest trying out a Pelikan.

Last Dec. 18, at the Christmas party of the Fountain Pen Net-work-Philippines — our local pen lovers’ group which now has over 130 members online (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fpn-p) — we were joined by Marian, who brought a preview of what she now has for sale at Scribe Writing Essentials at Eastwood Mall.

An engineer by training, Marian set up Scribe in 2002 out of her love for reading and writing. (Her brother Warren Yu is an FPN-P member with, as far as I know, the only titanium pen in town.) “We first started with the Personal Sealing Wax sets which were then very hard to find,” Marion told me. “It all started when I was gifted with my very own Sealing Set which I really loved using when I wrote cards and letters to friends. But since this was not popular in the Philippines, purchasing sealing wax was really hard. I eventually sourced the supplier and from there we decided to bring in the products. We became popular for this product and eventually moved on to bringing in calligraphy sets as well.

“Aside from writing stuff, we are also known for unique reading accessories such as metal bookmarks with etchings and quotations as well as imported journals and notebooks. In 2009, we opened our very first store in Eastwood Mall. We offer imported journals, reading accessories, personal seals, calligraphy sets and other gift items.

“Our customers requested writing instruments and fountain pen accessories. This brought us to the idea of bringing in J. Herbin Inks and accessories, as this was one of the best ink brands in the industry. To complete the whole writing experience, of course it was only sensible that we also have a good writing pen brand. Our search eventually led us to Pelikan. Scribe Writing Essentials in now the official and exclusive distributor of Pelikans in the Philippines. We will be concentrating on the flagship line, Souveran, as well as entry-level models such as the M200. Special and limited-edition pieces will also be available for special order.”

Lamy is another under-appreciated pen brand, but one that has developed a fanatic following worldwide. Generally very affordable, Lamy pens are known for their sleek, modern contours, snappy colors, dependable nibs, and trademark “paperclip” clips such as you find on the Safari, its best-known model. (It should tell you something that given all the possible pens she could ask from me for Christmas a couple of years ago, my daughter Demi specified and got a pink Safari, which I had to order from a dealer in Malaysia.)

Like Pelikan (which now happens to be Malaysian-owned, but still German-based), Lamy pens are still made in Germany, in Heidelberg, where the company has existed since 1930. It was this German passion for quality that prompted Charlene Ngo and Times Trading to bring Lamys to the Philippines.

She says: “We appreciated the brand and its quality, and we wanted to share it with Filipino consumers — for them to experience the quality that Europe is used to and to give them another option versus what’s available mainstream. It is also a way for us to learn from other cultures — especially German design and engineering — their fastidious attention to every detail, making Lamy No. 1 in Germany.”

“I was never really a pen enthusiast,” Charlene confesses, “but ever since we started to carry the brand, I had to study each model and discovered the beauty of the pen and the money and effort that Lamy invests in each model. We are so used to how a Parker or a Cross looks, that at first glance, I didn’t give any notice to Lamy pens due to its utilitarian feel and design. But I fell in love with it after using them. Aside from the fact that Lamy writes so well, each pen has a distinct personality of its own. Each pen is guaranteed for quality — if your Lamy pen is defective, let us know, and we will replace it as long as it was not tampered with or intentionally destroyed.

Charlene also attended a recent FPN-P meeting and was impressed if not overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of our members for these ink-spitting artifacts that seem to belong to a bygone age but clearly have undergone a modern revival, as people seek a more personal writing experience away from the laptop keyboard. “During my first pen meet, I got to understand why people get attached to a pen and develop an emotional bond to it, she says. “Hopefully, I can start my own pen collection soon starting with Lamys!”

Lamy pens are now available at National Book Store in Shangri-La, Rockwell, TriNoma, Quezon Ave, and Alabang ACC, as well as in Scribe in Eastwood, Luis Pen Store in Escolta, and Times Trading in Binondo. They start at P600 but can go up to P16,000 for the most special models, which use gold or platinum-coated nibs; the entire pen itself could be platinum-coated. Lamy also produced Swift rollerballs and Pico ballpoints. (They package a Pico with every Aston Martin — thankfully you can now buy the pen without the car.)

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E-mail me at penmanila@yahoo.com and visit my blog at www.penmanila.net.