Lamy Studio Black review

A few years back, on my way to Bloomsbury Auctions to check out a few pens, I dropped into the Pen Shop on Regent Street. I was looking for a stub or italic pen. I tried a Parker Sonnet with a factory stub - I quite fancied the Laque black, but I could barely see any variation in line width. Next up was the Lamy italic nibs, and I was sold. I wanted something a bit more up-market for work rather than a Safari or Al-Star so plumped for the Studio.

I was intending to use an expressive nib after all and I felt the Studio a little more in keeping with that. At just £38 it wasn't too hard a decision.

Design The Lamy Studio is reminiscent of the Lamy 2000 fountain pen, a true design classic that has stood the test of time (another pen that I've wanted for a while!). The Studio mimics the 2000 with a relatively simple, functional form but this is combined with a few elements that feel designed for the sake of being unusual rather than functional. For example, the twist in the clip.

Overall though, I like it, it has a pleasing, quite understated feel, and looks a lot more expensive than it is. Design – 7\10

Feel

At first touch the pen is heavy. It has a good solid feel to it. Maybe a little too heavy - it depends what you like. The balance is reasonable, but not fantastic. It is a metal body, that has had a rubberised coating applied. I was quite concerned that this might peel away and 'chip' but four or so years on and it is holding up quite well. There is just a couple of pinpricks through to the metal where it becamce entangled in my house keys. I'm quite careful with my pens though. They are pretty much always in a pen case. But, if you throw your pens around a bit - bottom of a briefcase or bag, always in your pocket etc - then I wouldn't be too sure about the black version. The section is chrome. This is okay, but not great. It makes the pen quite slippery to hold. And its heavy weight doesn't make this any easier. So it is not a pen for writing and writing and writing. It can become uncomfortable. But, for the couple of hours I use it a day, combined with this particular nib, I'm happy. This might be a reason to choose the silver version. The cap is a push fit and pretty secure. It clicks into place when posting, and will stay there and rotate until you pull it off. The clip is good and solid and springy.

Dimensions: 139mm (5 1/2")capped, 156mm (6 1/5") posted

Feel – 7/10

Nib The Studio uses the same nibs as the Safari and Al-Star. This means you have a good nib range to choose from, and they're interchangeable. Don't like the width you've bought? £3 will get you a new one, and you can just pull them off and swap them round to your hearts content. The nibs are nothing special, but very usable. Stiff, steel and medium smooth.

The 1.1mm italic fitted in this Studio is a nice nib. It does have a tendency to clog with paper fibres from time to time, but very pleasing results can be had with the right ink and paper combination. This one is filled with Caran d'Ache Storm at the moment. An ink that I don't normally like the properties of (unlike Blue Sky which I love). It can be quite a dry unresponsive ink. But with this nib it is perfect, flowing well and helping the smoothness. Its a pleasure to write with. (17 Jan 09 - I have revised the nib score down by a point, I think I was being a little generous at the time) Nib – 7\10

Filling

The Studio is a catridge / convertor, and comes complete with a luxury convertor (slighty better than the normal Safari one, but only just). Using a screw mechanism, it holds a reasonable amount of ink. Lamy use a propriety ink cartridge so unfortunately you're limited in this form. Filling – 8\10

Cost

I paid £38 for this pen. That's a lot of pen for very little money. The nib is fairly standard, but its a well-built pen for the price.

Cost – 9\10

Overall verdict – 38\50

A fun, good quality pen at a good price - though not advised for copious amounts of consistent writing.

Great shop for pens in Clerkenwell

There's an arts and craft shop not far from where I work that's a little gem and well worth a visit: Stuart R Stevenson 68 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1M 5QA Telephone: 020 7253 1693

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As you'd expect they have a vast range of artist's supplies, craft materials and other such eye-candy but they also have a great range of fountain pens, inks and notebooks. When I last popped in their range included:

• Caran d'Ache pens, 'Colours of the Earth' ink range and their standard inks
• Faber Castell pens
• Moleskine notebooks
• Parker pens and inks
• Pelikan Future and Pelikano fountain pens
• Pelikan inks (including some of the more obscure bottles)
• Pilot pens - including the Vanishing Point, Pluminix, Birdie
• Porsche Design pens
• Rotring pens
• Sheaffer Javelin fountain pens - I'd not see these before
• Sheaffer Skrip ink
• Waterman pens and inks

They don't stock the whole range from each manufacturer, but they do have an interesting and varied line up. A few things that you don't always see elsewhere - such as the Pelikan Future and the Pilot Pluminix.

I just hope I don't turn into the nutter who wanders in every lunch hour and simply stares at the displays.

Maybe, for once, I'll get there?

For the past few years I've always had the London Writing Equiment Show and its predecessors on my calendar. But, for the past few years I've never made it (holiday, holiday, ill, busy...) Maybe this year I'll make it.... London Writing Equipment Show 12 October 2008 Kensington Town Hall, London Website: www.londonwritingequipmentshow.org.uk

Finding ways to use a fountain pen

Once I started collecting fountain pens, I sought ways to use them, ways to add writing into to my everyday life. It didn't take me that long to consider writing a journal. In August 2006 I finally purchased a large Moleskine and put pen to paper. I picked the perfect time too. The coming months provided plenty of subject matter. I renovated a 1920s house, moved in, got married, had a fantastic honeymoon in the Maldives, got made redundant, got a new job, we became expectant parents and then in December 2007 became actual parents. The first book took just over a year to fill the 240 pages, and even though it is only recent history we have found ourselves looking back at "what did we do this day last year?" Some entries were only short, others are pages and pages of writing. The memory of writing itself is a pleasurable one too. I remember clearly sitting by a pool in the Maldives before dinner, watching the sun go down, sipping a cool beer after a hard day scuba diving then pulling out my Lamy Studio and putting memories of the experience to paper. The colours of the fish, the different species, the beauty of the flight of eagle rays. If you collect fountain pens and don't keep a journal, you should try it. Your journal might become a fond friend like mine.