Kuala Lumpur - Caran d’Ache, Maison de Haute Ecriture, a name associated with only the finest designs and devotes its expertise to designing and producing lines of accessories, including fountain pens.

With its priceless wealth of technical capability, the company has carefully protected the art of handwriting.

Managing Director Olivier Walthert during an interview with Malaysian Mirror at the launching of the glamorous Islamic Fashion Festival at hotel in Bukit Bintang, said emphasis is given to craft and practicality and sets the luxurious accessories apart.

In the great tradition of Swiss manufacturing, it designs and produces exceptional products, all manufactured in Geneva and carrying the famous “Swiss made” quality product.

Although in the era of computers, hand phones and other technical advancement, he believes the art of writing will never fade away, and the fountain pen is the best instrument to convey the thoughts and emotions of the writer.

“Writing with a fountain pen is an exquisite art compared with typing on the keyboard or even using a ballpoint. It is very expressive way of writing with every stroke of the pen, how you press the paper, the flow of the writing and even how you jot a dot is parallel to your emotion.”

For Oliver, writing with a fountain pen is akin to writing off with your emotion.

Fountain pens have also always been prized as works of art and the Caran d’Ache writing instrument namely the fountain pen is perceived as a luxury in the modern niche worldwide.

The pens made by Caran d’Ache craftsmen, selected for their aesthetic qualities complimented by the ebony, mother-of pearl and white gold delicately emphasizes the dazzling impact of the composition.

Fountain pens retain a sense of timeless elegance, personalization and sentimentality that computers and ballpoint pens seem to lack, and often state that once they start using fountain pens, ballpoints become awkward to use due to the extra motor effort needed and lack of expressiveness.

“The good quality , effortless writing and comfort (some sufferers of arthritis are unable to use ballpoint pens, but can use fountain pens), expressive penmanship and calligraphy, longevity, professional art/design, a wider range of available ink colours, recreational collecting (history and heritage), and academic benefits are some of the payback one gets .”

There is also an avid community of pen enthusiasts collectors who use antique and modern pens and also collect and exchange information about old and modern inks, ink bottles, and inkwells.

Collectors often tend to prize being able to actually use the antiques, instead of merely placing them under glass for show.

Caran d’Ache is also one of the main sponsors for the Islamic Fashion Festival.

History of the fountain pen

The earliest historical record of a reservoir pen dates back to the 10th century.

In 953 AD, Ma'ād al-Mu'izz, the caliph of Egypt, demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes, and was provided with a pen which held ink in a reservoir and delivered it to the nib via gravity and capillary action.

As recorded by Qadi al-Nu'man al-Tamimi (d. 974) in his Kitdb al-Majalis wa 'l-musayardt, al-Mu’izz commissioned the construction of the pen instructing:

‘We wish to construct a pen which can be used for writing without having recourse to an ink-holder and whose ink will be contained inside it. A person can fill it with ink and write whatever he likes. The writer can put it in his sleeve or anywhere he wishes and it will not stain nor will any drop of ink leak out of it. The ink will flow only when there is an intention to write. We are unaware of anyone previously ever constructing (a pen such as this) and an indication of ‘penetrating wisdom’ to whoever contemplates it and realises its exact significance and purpose’. I exclaimed, ‘Is this possible?’ He replied, ‘It is possible if God so wills’.

In his Deliciae Physico-Mathematicae (1636), German inventor Daniel Schwenter described a pen made from two quills.

One quill served as a reservoir for ink inside the other quill. The ink was sealed inside the quill with cork.

Ink was squeezed through a small hole to the writing point. Noted Maryland historian Hester Dorsey Richardson (1862-1933) documented a reference to "three silver fountain pens, worth 15 shillings" in England during the reign of Charles II, ca. 1649-1685.

She also found a 1734 notation made by Robert Morris the elder in the ledger of the expenses of Robert Morris the younger, who was at the time in Philadelphia, for "one fountain pen".

Progress in developing a reliable pen was slow, however, into the mid-19th century. That slow pace of progress was due to a very imperfect understanding of the role that air pressure played in the operation of the pens and because most inks were highly corrosive and full of sedimentary inclusions.

The Romanian inventor Petrache Poenaru received a French patent for the invention of the first fountain pen with a replaceable ink cartridge on May 25, 1827.
The design of the pen allowed for smooth writing without unwanted dripping or scratching.

Pen patents sprouted

Starting in the 1850s there was a steadily accelerating stream of fountain pen patents and pens in production.

It was only after three key inventions were in place, however, that the fountain pen became a widely popular writing instrument.

Those inventions were the iridium-tipped gold nib, hard rubber, and free-flowing ink.

By the 1960s, refinements in ballpoint pen production gradually ensured its dominance over the fountain pen for casual use.

Although cartridge-filler fountain pens are still in common use in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, and are widely used by young students in most private schools in England and at least one private school in Scotland, a few modern manufacturers (especially Montblanc and Pelikan) now depict the fountain pen as a collectible item or a status symbol, rather than an everyday writing tool.

Despite this, a majority of modern fountain pen users use fountain pens as their primary writing instruments over ballpoint and rollerball pens for reasons related to writing comfort, expressive penmanship, aesthetics, history and heritage.