India’s fountain pen history continues to be written by vintage shops, young fans seeking ‘a touch of elegance’
- India has a long tradition of fountain pen-making and vintage pen shops, where enthusiasts send their cherished items for repair
- The city of Kolkata, the birthplace of India’s fountain pen industry, hosts a pen festival drawing thousands of people each year
He gingerly unscrews a fountain pen, then removes a nib with two fingers and pulls it away from its body. Next, the 24-year-old takes out the cartridge and pours water into the feed and through the nib to flush out any hardened ink or sediment.
“We have to be extremely gentle with an ‘ailing’ fountain pen, as we would be with an ailing patient,” he said. “The older the pen, the more care it needs.”
Reyaz is a co-owner of Pen Hospital, a store that has sold and repaired fountain pens for more than 75 years.
He treats every ailment of fountain pens – skipping, intermittent ink flow, feathering, scratchy nib, leaking or dripping and ink stains. A common problem, he said, is the melting of the rubber tube in fountain pens because of the hot tropical climate in many parts of India.
Pen Hospital’s “patients” include every elite fountain pen, including Montblanc, Campo Marzio, Sheaffer, Waterman, Pelican and Pierre Cardin.
