Venvstas Carbon T Fountain Pen
The Venvstas company came into being when Filippo Carmignani Tirelli and Lucio Rossi met at the Bauhaus in Dessau in 2009. Lucio began producing the first mechanical pencil and fountain pen prototypes in 2014. In November of 2018, the two designers met in Amsterdam and officially gave life to the first Venvstas Paris product. The name Venvstas comes from the treaty on architecture written by Vitruvius which describes the qualities of a building, “Venvstas” - a building has to be beautiful, “Firmitas”- a building must be solid, and “Vtilitas”- a building must serve a purpose. It is also the Latin word which describes the beauty of Venus the goddess of beauty. Each piece is handcrafted with care and must honor all three of the Vitruvian principles striving to achieve harmony of nature. One of my favorite aspects is that the packaging is made to be recycled if you choose not to keep it. I have been following Venvstas for the past few years and they have a unique design and approach to their pens. I am a fan of minimalist designs and I think they really nail their designs. I reached out to Venvstas and they generously sent me a Carbon T to review. Thanks again to them for sending this my way, if you are interested in learning more about their other products or buying one for your own collection, please check them out at www.venvstas.com
Packaging: The pen arrives in a black box with a black outer sleeve. The outer sleeve has the Venvstas double V logo imprinted in silver in the center. The inside box has “Venvstas Italy” printed in silver as well as an instruction and use guide. The lid lifts off to reveal the pen inside resting on two thin stands at each end of the pen. Printed on the inside of the lid is “Write your history, design your future” as well as the website, printed in silver as well. I love the minimalistic design and that fact that the box can be recycled if I choose not to keep it.
First Thoughts: The design of the pen is almost seamless; it looks beautifully engineered. It looks just like a carbon tube in the box, I have not written with anything like this before.
Design: The pen is a cylinder made from linear carbon fiber. The cap finial is a flat brushed steel insert with the company double V logo engraved. There is no clip, and the cap is cut at an angle which is friction fit and seats into the body. The steel cap liner has “Made in Italy” engraved on it, which is a nice touch. Halfway down the body, there is a seam similar to the cap which is friction fit as well and hides the converter. There are two small steel rivets in the body which appear to hold the section and end finial in place. The bottom finial is an island (has a cutout around it) and has an angled cut into the body which allows the cap to be posted securely with friction fit. There is no stepdown as the cap fits into the body and the nib sits partially back into the body.
Nib Performance: The nib is a stainless steel #5 size and is engraved with the double V company logo as well as the letter “M” for the medium nib. The nib wrote nicely if a little bit dry and laid down a slightly fine line instead of a normal medium. I have noticed that Pilot Blue/Black ink tends to be drier in finer nibs so it might just be the ink choice.
Filling System: The pen uses a standard international converter. Venvstas suggests removing the converter and filling it directly from the bottle then inserting it back into the pen. Since the pen is made from linear carbon fiber, the material could absorb ink from the bottle and be messy. I removed the converter, filled it, and inserted it back into the pen with no issues. While this could be an inconvenience for some, it was no bother to me and was just another step in filling this awesome pen.
Value: The pen retails for €149, which at the time of writing is about $182 USD.
Overall: I think this is an interesting and unique design. The angled cuts for the cap and body add a pleasing visual break to the cylindrical body. It fits comfortably in my hand posted and unposted and it is very light, so it is perfect for longer writing sessions. The design stands out from every other pen in my collection. I look forward to seeing what will come next from Venvstas.
Specs:
Name: Venvstas Carbon T
Design: Linear carbon fiber and stainless steel
Length: 150mm
Diameter: 10mm
Weight: 13g
Nib: #5 Stainless Steel
Filling System: International Cartridge/Converter
Pros: Sleek design, interesting material, unique cap closure
Cons: Pen rolls easily, need to disconnect the converter to fill the pen
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