it’s electric:David Oscarson’s Tesla collection

Pininfarina’s pace,

Diplomat’s mettle,

YSTUDIO’s weight,

and Brooks’ mix

plus:

a very stellar Fall Preview

The Journal of Writing Culture

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$6.95US $7.95CAN

OCTOBER 2021

it’s electric:David Oscarson’s Tesla collection

Pininfarina’s pace,

Diplomat’s mettle,

YSTUDIO’s weight,

and Brooks’ mix

plus:

a very stellar Fall Preview

Volume 34, Number 6

ON OUR COVER: David Oscarson Nikola Tesla

fountain pen in purple enamel.

OCTOBER

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electric impulseDavid Oscarson’s Nikola Tesla collection

ingeniously blends opaque and translucent

enamels in a tribute to one of the greatest

scientific minds in history.

PM’s dawnJonathon Brooks’ Primary Manipulation

resin material is making the pen world a

more colorful place.

write with feelingThere’s only one thing Taiwan’s YSTUDIO

prizes more than its stunning writing

instruments: the weight of words.

Diplomat’s centennialGermany’s Diplomat celebrates its 100th

anniversary with a number of new metal-

bodied writing instruments.

vroom!Think Italy’s Pininfarina only designs

Ferraris? Test drive these Ferraris for your

fingers.

29th Annual Fall PreviewIt’s a clear night sky, perfect for viewing

constellations of stellar pens and paper.

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6

The Synesthetic ExperienceBY NICKY PESSAROFF

The great 20th century inventor Nikola Tesla was synesthetic. Dictionary definition of “synesthesia”: “a perceptual phenomenonin which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitivepathway.”

Tesla was a genius; his IQ is believed to have been in the 180s. He also described synesthetic sensations in which the speaking of aword created for Tesla a mind’s eye vision of the object bathed in strong flashes of light. According to Suzanne C. Lee, author of thisissue’s cover story on the new David Oscarson Nikola Tesla collection, when Tesla’s beloved pigeon visited him for the last time—yes,it’s true, Tesla was unusually attached to pigeons—the pigeon “told” Tesla that she was dying, and Tesla saw a brilliant white lightemanating from the pigeon’s body.

The interesting thing is that the pigeon really did die. Further, due to his synesthesia, it’s possible that Tesla perceived lightin a way we simply can’t: that he saw a radiance and light in people and objects that were actually electrical impulses. This ispure conjecture on my part, but perhaps, just perhaps, Tesla sensed the final outburst of the pigeon’s electrical activity, the finalgreat spark before its ultimate expiration. And perhaps those unusual synesthetic leaps were the reason that Tesla had so manyinsights in the fields of engineering and electricity.

The David Oscarson Nikola Tesla collection pays homage to Tesla’s genius while also displaying the extraordinary talents Oscarsonhas developed in his decades of creating hot enamel writing instruments. In this collection, Oscarson and his artisans break newground in a proprietary process that blends opaque and translucent enamels. It’s an extraordinary chemical achievement, one thatinvolves hyperconsciousness of kiln temperature with instinct based on years of experience.

Jonathon Brooks of Carolina Pen Company describes a similar creative process when he mixes his Primary Manipulation resinblanks. Knowledge of the way acrylics work chemically combines with muscle memory when Brooks mixes his trend-setting resins.The result is on display in the pages of this issue.

After 90 years, the Italian design firm Pininfarina knows its artistic sensibility so well that it seems to marry Italian style withcutting-edge aerodynamics in a way that seems unconscious. The same applies to its line of Pininfarina Segno writing instruments,which blend Pininfarina industrial design aesthetics with high-performance engineering to create writing instruments that are greatwriters and great lookers.

And Taiwan’s YSTUDIO understands its sensibilities and sensitivities so well that one need only look at a YSTUDIO pen to feelhow infused it is with the stories and passions of its founders. Writing with a YSTUDIO pen practically imbues a user with thatsynesthetic experience in which sense and insight unite.

Another example: nib grinding. John Mottishaw, the recently retired nibmaster and founder of nibs.com, spent decades perfectinghis craft. Anyone watching the seemingly effortless way in which Mottishaw tuned and ground nibs was witnessing the culminationof instinct and experience. While we’re sad to announce in this issue Mottishaw’s official retirement, we’re happy to report thatMottishaw has trained his next generation of nib grinders, and nibs.com will continue under the strong leadership of EmmanuelCaltagirone and his Pen Family writing instruments company.

I’ve always found the October issue’s Fall Preview special section to be a somewhat synesthetic experience. Each page in thebiggest Fall Preview we’ve had in years features gorgeous photos combined with a fulsome write-up of the object. Take those twosenses together—unconscious sight with conscious cognition—and you might find yourself carried away to your own memories, tothe sights and sounds and smells and feels of your own consciousness.

Finally: by now, we’ve all heard about the supply chain issues affecting production, and here at Pen World, we are not immune tosuch pressures. Third-party production delays and COVID-related shutdowns forced a later production schedule than we intended.While the circumstances were beyond or control, we apologize to you, Gentle Readers, but we hope this issue is worth the wait!

Prompts for synesthesia abound in this issue, and one doesn’t need to “smell” numbers or “see” electric impulses to experiencethem. Simply read on, open your mind, and let your subconscious do the work.editor@penworld.com

Pen connoisseurs immediately recognize the name David Oscarson and eagerly await his new collections. Known in particularfor his innovative and intricate hot enamel and guilloche techniques, Oscarson has guided us through a multitude ofsubjects: the heroism of Raoul Wallenberg, the cultural significance of koi, the pure aesthetic experience of Carl Milles’

original art (and its echoes in Oscarson’s own work). Fortunately for the fountain pen community, the arrival of his newest creation is imminent and its story equally compelling. This time, the pen honors the brilliant, chaotic mind of Nikola Tesla, thevisionary inventor and engineer. Nikola Tesla was the lauded Serbian-American immigrant whose genius helped to bequeath to our contemporary world thealternating current (AC) electricity supply system (among many other discoveries). Known for too long as the man who lived inthe shadow of Thomas Edison, Tesla’s contributions remain above measure. Inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer,and futurist: Tesla’s potential was endless. In 1856, Tesla was born during an electrical storm in the village of Smiljan in the Austrian Empire (now Croatia) to anEastern Orthodox Priest, Milutin Tesla, and his wife Duka. While the latter never received a formal education, it is Duka towhom Tesla would later attribute his own marvelous intellect, specifically crediting his eidetic memory (commonly referred toas a “photographic” memory) and creativity to her influence. Not only was she remarkably inventive, she could recite Serbianepic poems from memory. While Tesla had four siblings, tragically, his elder brother Dane died in a horse riding accident when

Alternating Currents: David Oscarson and Nikola Tesla

The pen community’s great hot enamel experimenter

honors one of the greatest scientific minds in history.

BY SUZANNE C. LEE

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Left—the great 20th centuryinventor Nikola Tesla (1856 –1943), at age 40.Above and right—the new DavidOscarson Nikola Tesla fountainpen in deep purple enamelmatched to opaque black andtranslucent white with silver-plated appointments.

Tesla was either five or seven years old. Some sources suggest that the accident wasTesla’s fault—that he spooked the horse and caused his brother’s death. After thetragedy, Tesla was afflicted with visions. These symptoms foreshadowed the mentalillness that would grip his mind firmly as an adult. As a child, Tesla’s apparent Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder manifested in severalways. He was bewitched by shine and jewels. He refused to touch anyone’s hair andcounted each of his steps in the world. Tesla also computed the cubic content of anyfood he ingested. His eidetic memory caused vivid synesthesia (“the production of asense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of anothersense or part of the body”). Particular words would cause visions which were so strikingTesla could not always deduce the truth of their reality. When young Tesla would pet his cat, Macak, the static shocks struck him as similarto lightning storms in summer. He mused on this later in his recollections; it was asthough “nature was like a giant cat.” When Tesla attended high school in Karlovac, hebecame further enamored with electricity, demonstrations of which led him to remarkthat these “mysterious phenomena” intrigued him, that he wanted “to know more ofthis wonderful force.” He was able to formulate and solve integral calculus in his head;the talent aroused his teachers’ suspicion. In 1873, one year early, Tesla graduated andreturned to Smiljan. Unfortunately, he almost immediately fell ill with cholera. Unable to leave his bed,hovering close to and brushing against death several times, Tesla was able to extractfrom his father permission to attend engineering school rather than pursue thepriesthood Milutin had expected. Tesla said later that Mark Twain’s writing had aidedhis recovery.

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Above—David Oscarson at the 2021 Dallas Pen Show accepting hisBest Fine Art PW Readers’ Choice Award for his Sea Turtles collection.Right—close-up of the guilloche and hot enamel work on the OscarsonTesla fountain pen in purple.

In 1877 Tesla entered the Joanneum in Gratz, Styria, to continue his studies. Indeed, he worked so assiduously that he earned highpraise from the dean, but eventually this speed caused Tesla extreme stress, so much so that he lost his scholarship. One manifestationof this anxiety was a gambling addiction; he would play cards for days without sleep. (Although he claimed that he recovered from thecompulsion afterward, he was later known to play billiards in the United States.) Unfortunately, he never graduated. Profoundly ashamed at his lack of accomplishment, Tesla broke off contact with his family and friends, the latter of whichwere convinced he had drowned in the Mur River. Tesla went to Maribor and became employed as a draftsman. His fatherbegged him to return, but he insisted on staying. It was around this period that Tesla experienced a nervous breakdown. Finally,Tesla was forcibly returned to Gospic by police for lacking a housing permit. When his father passed away, right after Tesla’s move home in 1879, young Tesla discovered letters from his instructors tohis father, where they conveyed their concerns that Tesla would work himself to death. In 1881 Tesla went to Budapest, Hungary for work with the telephone exchange. Initially, the company wasn’t functional, but itbecame so, and Tesla was promoted to the job of chief engineer. In 1882, Tesla became an employee of the Continental EdisonCompany located in Paris. It was the dawn of a new technology; Tesla installed indoor incandescent lighting across the city. His superiors perceived his deep knowledge of physics and engineering and ultimately had him create and construct generatingdynamos and motors. In order to work for the Edison Machine Works, located in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Tesla immigrated to the UnitedStates in 1884. The goal was to compose an arc lamp-based street lighting system; Tesla did so with success, but the voltage wastoo intense to be consonant with Edison’s relatively low voltage system. Arguments between Tesla and Edison began over the issueof paid bonuses for just these kinds of projects. Tesla quit after a mere six months. Hostility and competition between the two menwould continue to haunt Tesla throughout the rest of his life. A diary belonging to Tesla at the time of his employment summedup this period very briefly: “So good by to the Edison Machine Works [sic].” Prominent Tesla biographer Robert Lomas is quoted as saying, “Being an honest man himself, Tesla trusted nearly everyonehe met...and almost all of them ripped him off.”

Above left—Nikola Tesla signature in high relief on the barrel of the Tesla pen.Above middle, from top—barrel inlay of the symbol for the magnetic field.Above right, from top—illustration of the magnetic field and copy of Tesla’s signature.

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To list the history of Tesla’s career is a formidable task. So broad was the scope of his accomplishments that they can bedifficult to fathom even now. In the interest of journalistic brevity, this article must focus on the most prominent of his ventures,those illustrated so dynamically on Oscarson’s fountain pen. The David Oscarson Nikola Tesla fountain pen’s body is composed of solid sterling silver with guilloche engraving and hotenamel and an 18 karat gold nib in sizes of fine, medium, or broad. Internally, the pen includes a cartridge/converter/eyedrop-per-filling system. Both fountain pen and rollerball versions are available. The Nikola Tesla pen will be limited in production to86 aggregate pieces per color, one for each year of Tesla's life. On the subject of color for the Tesla collection, Oscarson elucidates: “We blended not only different colors of translucenthard (hot) enamel on the Tesla collection, but we also made our first attempt at blending translucent and opaque enamels onthis piece, from deep translucent purple to opaque black. Very cool...actually, very hot!” Currently, three color combinations are planned for the David Oscarson Nikola Tesla writing instrument collection: gradientblends of translucent white, lavender, and deep purple to opaque black matched to silver-plated accents; translucent white, gray,and mossy black that blend to opaque black matched to silver accents; and translucent white, orange, and red enamel that blendinto opaque black, matched to gold-plated appointments. The Tesla fountain pen pays homage to his discovery of alternating current. In contrast to the unidirectional (and aptly named)direct current, alternating current intermittently reverses direction and adjusts its magnitude constantly with time. The symbolfor alternating current is engraved beautifully in high relief on the barrel. Also on the fountain pen body is a reproduction ofTesla’s signature. Tesla was able to manufacture and deliver AC electricity because of his invention, the Tesla coil, a resonant transformer circuit.These circuits allowed Tesla to experiment with phosphorescence, X-ray production, lighting, electrotherapy, and wireless energytransmission. On Oscarson’s elegant new fountain pen, the Tesla coil appears in a guilloche pattern underneath the enamel on thebarrel. Located on the bottom end of the barrel is an image of rotating magnetic fields—the ultimate magnetic field, which iscreated using a symmetrically placed system of coils afforded with polyphase currents. The AC generator and induction motor was developed by Tesla in 1887. By employing polyphase current to initiate the rotating magnetic field, the motor was able to turn. Patented in May of 1888, the electric motor did not require a commutator,which cut down on sparking and the constant need for mechanical brush replacement and servicing. Tesla’s AC generator andinduction motor is represented on the gripping section where its striking image is engraved. Tesla’s machinations were not always successful. In perpetual pursuit of funding his experiments and innovations, Tesla finally secured from J.P. Morgan the amount of $150,000 (which would equate to more than $4.5 million today), and beganwork on planning Wardenclyffe—a facility on Long Island from which he desired to illustrate wireless transmission of electricenergy beyond the Atlantic Ocean. This venture was in direct competition with Guglielmo Marconi’s similar operation, whichwas a radio-based system.

From left—gripping section engraving of an AC generator and induction motor and copy ofthe engraving pattern used on the pen.

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In the final month of 1901, Marconi was able to transmit the letter “S” from England to Newfoundland, Canada. Thisspurred Tesla further; he redoubled his efforts, begging Morgan for more money in more than 50 letters sent across five yearsduring his attempt to complete Wardenclyffe. Tesla insisted that he could find a way to send messages and transmit power byharnessing “vibrations throughout the globe.” Investors spurned his proposal, believing the enterprise to be a hoax. The Teslabiographer Marc J. Seifer believes he suffered a nervous breakdown at this point. The property was foreclosed in 1915, and twoyears later Wardenclyffe was razed to make room for a more successful real estate investment. The magnificent Wardenclyffe(or Tesla) Tower appears on the clip of Oscarson’s brilliant new fountain pen. Having learned of Rontgen’s discovery of X-ray imaging, Tesla began experimenting with radiography on his own in 1896.He was able to design a high-energy single terminal vacuum tube with no target electrode, produced using the Tesla coil. Detailedon Oscarson’s fountain pen is an X-ray of a Tesla's hand, underneath enamel on the cap. The Nikola Tesla fountain pen’s cap crown is graced with opaque black enamel with the mathematical equation for a Teslaunit of measurement, which is meant to calculate magnetic flux density, in high relief. A single tesla is equal to one weber persquare meter. Also on the cap, a swarm of electricity seems to burst through in high relief.

Top row—symbols on the cap include a clip shaped like the planned Wardenclyffe electrical tower, a high relief swarm of electricity, anX-ray of Tesla’s hand in low relief, and a white enamel pigeon.Bottom row—illustrations of the corresponding symbols above.

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If Tesla can be said to have had a personal life, it was of a very narrow nature. Rather than marriage, which he was convincedwould ruin his scientific potential, Tesla had as his companion pigeons. While he fed and cared for many pigeons, there was aparticular one to whom he was deeply devoted. It is reported that Tesla confessed, “I loved that pigeon as a man loves a woman,and she loved me. As long as I had her, there was a purpose to my life.” In 1922, Tesla said he was visited by his beloved bird, who told him she was near death. Just before she passed, he said, hereyes had shone with a white light that was brighter than anything that he had ever produced. The pigeon that Tesla loved ismemorialized in high relief and white enamel on the cap of Oscarson’s new fountain pen. Oscarson says, “While Tesla’s solitude, eccentricity, and oddities—like his connection to his white pigeon—made him somewhatof a spectacle, his mind was brilliant. Like others we have honored with our designs, his ideas and concepts changed our countryand the world.” The David Oscarson Nikola Tesla collection is an homage to pure thought and awesome potential; an ode to the single,flawed human being who so broadened our conception of the real and the possible. The Nikola Tesla fountain pen is all aboutwhat is possible, too. What observations and dreams and stories are just waiting for the nib to touch the blank page?The David Oscrson Nikola Tesla colletion is currently available for pre-order with a planned December ship date.Visit davidoscarson.com.

Above and right—DavidOscarson Nikola Tesla fountainpen in translucent red, yellow,orange, and white that blendsinto opaque black, matched togold-plated appointments.Far right—David OscarsonNikola Tesla fountain pen inmossy black that blends totranslucent gray and whitematched to palladium-platedappointments.

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For those who have been to a pen show, the excitement ofbeing there is every bit as palpable as that of a kid enteringthe gate of an amusement park the first day after school is

out for the summer. The display tables assigned to each of the exhibitors serve asan interesting dichotomy of perspectives. On the outside/customerside of the table are potential buyers or returning customers.Some will be seeking direction on who can repair one of theircurrent pens. Others will scan the displayed wares at each table tosee if there is something special or attention grabbing. If there isinterest, a conversation might begin and if what is available iswhat the visitor wants, a sale takes place. Both vendor and cus-tomer are happy. On the inside/vendor side of the table, you can sometimeswitness something truly remarkable. That was my experience atthe Triangle Pen Show (June 10 –13, 2021) when a group of fourpeople approached Tom Baley’s tables (Pelikan and Platinumproducts) where I was assisting him. There was a middle-agedcouple with a well-dressed woman and her significant other. Withthem was a much younger couple probably in their late 20s orearly 30s. The woman in the younger couple was keenly interestedin an upscale Platinum fountain pen. While the younger woman sat down and began a series ofwriting exercises, I noticed that the older woman was wearing a necklace that held a military-style dog tag. It reminded me of mine.I asked if she had a family member in the military service. Tears began to well in her eyes, and her response was slow in coming. “It was my son’s, and he was killed in action earlier this year,” she responded. Immediately I offered condolences, which she graciously acknowledged. She composed herself and explained that the youngman accompanying them was her late son’s best friend since childhood, and the woman with him was his steady girlfriend. Unaware of the conversation I had with the older woman, the best friend’s girlfriend completed her writing exercise, put thepen down, and left saying that she would be back. She walked down the row to other exhibitors with her boyfriend. What followednext was clearly noble. The older woman declared, “I want to get that pen for her as a surprise.” Tom quoted a price, offered a show discount, and completed the sale. After, the younger woman returned to our table and theolder woman presented the pen to her. The young woman’s face registered surprise, joy, and gratitude all at the same time. Reading between the lines, it appeared that bringing happiness to the girlfriend of her son’s best friend somehow brought backthe spirit of her late son and reminded the mom of the many enjoyable times that her son and his friend enjoyed together. It was avery touching moment. It was a powerful reminder that even in the face of grief, a mother’s love never ends.Tom Baley, The Pen Man, can be reached at tom@thepenman.net and thepenman.net. Rich Lapin is a freelance writer, pen collec-tor, and occasional pen show attendee who lives in suburban Atlanta, Georgia. He can be reached at rlapin@gmail.com.

Pen Show Reflections

Share your pen experience, insight or memory with PW readers in approximately 500 words and mail to Pen World Editor,P.O. Box 2276, Cypress, TX 77410, or email to editor@penworld.com.

BY RICH LAPIN

Calligrapher Hong Nguyen and Tom Baley at the 2017 Los AngelesInternational Pen Show.

imho

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