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STYLE
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FASHION
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DESIGN
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DECORATING
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ADVENTURE
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
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TRAVEL
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GEAR
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GADGETS
Saturday/Sunday, December 17 - 18, 2016 | D1
“In the main, people have universal tools [for communicating] that
are really quite bland,” said Tom
Dixon, whose London-based furniture, lighting and interior-design
firm added sharply crafted pens and
pencils to its collection in 2014. “It’s
very hard to distinguish one mobile
phone from another.”
Mr. Dixon’s firm joins a host of
luxury brands—including French silversmith house Puiforcat and fashion players Hermès and Louis Vuitton—that have begun producing
modern but defiantly analog objects
for the desk. Like fine mechanical
watches, they serve a need their
customers could probably satisfy
with some digital gadget, but they
do so with considerably more style.
Mr. Dixon, as both a businessman and a stylish guy, thinks design and fashion have a place in a
market once dominated by specialized brands such as Parker, in
America, and Montblanc, in Germany: “For gentleman particularly,
there’s always been a dearth of
decorative items he can wear—just
the belt buckle and watch. It’s nice
to have something to hand that
gives you the opportunity for selfexpression.”
Or bragging rights. In 2014, AusPlease turn to page D8
BY CATHERINE ROMANO
AND MIKE AYERS
H
OW DO YOU enhance the aesthetic
of an email or make
an instant message
chic? Neither eloquence nor carefully curated emoji
can really lift a digital communication beyond the banality of an Amazon receipt. To make a real impression, pull out a pen.
“A handwritten note is elegance
incarnate,” said John Z. Komurki,
author of “Stationery Fever” (Prestel), a new book detailing the renaissance of writing-related paraphernalia such as pens, pencils,
paper and desk sets—not to mention the specialty shops that have
popped up globally to serve people
who seek the new status of script.
These objects and the act of writing, said Mr. Komurki, are “an affordable luxury in a time of crushing vulgarity.”
There’s no doubt that the yen for
distinction in the digital world has
elevated the value of the written
word. And those who care about appearances know they can convey
polish and even a certain power
through well-chosen writing gear.
[ INSIDE ]
A NO-RUSH BRUNCH
Build one around this Yemenite bread that
bakes while you sleep D7
LIGHT SENTENCES
Experts judge the best (and
worst) LED bulbs D12
IT’S REALLY THE DOT THAT COUNTS
A guide to fashion’s hottest spots
D4
AN INSIDER’S TOUR OF BANGKOK
Four high-profile locals let travelers
in on their secrets D10
F. MARTIN RAMIN/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL; TYPOGRAPHY BY ANGELA SOUTHERN
POINT OF
DISTINCTION
Carrying a nice pen
’provides an opportunity for
self-expression,’ said British
designer Tom Dixon, who has
added writing instruments
to his collection. Cog
Pen Ball Brass, $75,
tomdixon.net
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D8 | Saturday/Sunday, December 17 - 18, 2016
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
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DESIGN & DECORATING
ON THE WRITE TRACK
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1. Notecards, $45 for twenty, wmscoink.com 2. Mario Botta Fixpencils by Caran d’Ache, $53 each, cwpencils.com
3. Rodrigo Torres Kastor Pencil Sharpener, $67, alessi.com 4. Shibui Pen Holder/Tray, $65, monc13.com 5. Tombow
Mono 100 Pencils, $3 each, cwpencils.com 6. Marc Newson Pens by Hermès, $1,670 each, hermes.com 7. El Casco
Stapler, $400, onekingslane.com 8. Notebook, about $145, Louis Vuitton, 866-884-8866 9. Neri Pen, about $40,
internoitaliano.com 10. Stationery, $17 for ten cards and envelopes, papier.com 11. HAY Paperclips, $11 for ten,
momastore.org 12. Joseph Dirand Tape Dispenser by Puiforcat, $4,600, Cristina Grajales Gallery, 212-219-9941
strip-mall Staples. But the product
on display will steer clear of fatcat, gold-overlaid fountain pens in
favor of custom-welded artisanal
versions from Tetzbo in Tokyo,
Bauhaus-influenced Lamy pens and
imported ink in containers that
“look like perfume bottles,” said
proprietor Sandeep Salter.
Milanese industrial designer
Giulio Iacchetti, who introduced
the subdued Neri pen in 2015,
billed his creation as “an exercise
in absolute minimalism for design
junkies and aficionados of writing.” Near the point, a brass
thumbscrew adjusts the pencil
lead or ink cartridge; otherwise,
the tool is an uninterrupted rod
‘A crystal Bic looks
like rubbish when
you’re in a meeting.’
of sandblasted aluminum. Equally
restrained, Mr. Dixon’s “Cog” collection, with its tool-like cross
hatching and gear-like details,
pays homage to British mechanical engineering more than William Morris decoration.
Despite this shift toward lowkey design, the pens still command attention. The owner of
London stationery store Choosing
Keeping, Julia (who goes by her
first name only), said of those
who seek out her wares: “[These
people] don’t want to go around
with a crystal Bic in their pocket.
It looks rubbish when you’re in a
meeting, you know?”
Colleagues do take note. A
Choosing Keeping customer who
F. MARTIN RAMIN/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (TOP); LIZ SEABROOK (STORE)
Continued from page D1
tralian industrial designer Marc
Newson collaborated with Hermès
of Paris to introduce its first-ever
pen, the $1,670 Nautilus. (Mr.
Newson’s three-legged 1990 Lockheed Lounge Chair sold for $3.7
million at a Phillips auction last
year.) The smooth stainless-steel
and aluminum pen sheathes a softclose mechanism (like that of highend kitchen drawers) that retracts
the white-gold nib or ballpoint
with a twist of the barrel. More recently, Mr. Newson, a member of
Apple’s design team, partnered
with Montblanc to create another
collection of writing tools.
For those who prefer their status symbols more logo-laden, luxury brand Louis Vuitton this January will launch LV Back to Work,
its first foray into “office supplies,” producing leather-bound
notebooks, lidded boxes, pencil
cases and pencils (average price:
$350), all identified by the brand’s
famous initials.
French silversmith house Puiforcat tapped Joseph Dirand, the
architect behind shops for Balmain, Givenchy and Emilio Pucci,
to design its “Bureau d’Architecte.” His nine-piece desk collection made of silver- and goldplated brass (starting at $580) is
a minimalist riff, albeit a posh
one, on art deco style.
Most of the new generation of
writing accouterments highlights
quiet style over ostentation. Manhattan stationer Goods for the
Study outgrew its 400-square-foot
shop in three years, and its new
1,400-square-foot digs in the West
Village will include an antique
glass case for pens that looks more
Madison Avenue tobacconist than
CASE STUDY A display at Choosing Keeping, a London stationer
bought a raw-aluminum Kaweco
AL Sport Ballpoint Pen (about
$68) returned to buy another because his tax lawyer had admired
it. The finish on the chunky, hexagonal ballpoint, originally designed in 1930s Germany, patinates with use. The store has seen
this sort of compliment-driven
sale played out numerous times.
Even businesses in a position to
exploit the demise of paper and
pen are branching out to analog
methods. Online invitation and
greeting-card service Paperless
Post launched a physical stationery collection in 2012, a response
to customer demand to print the
company’s designs. It sold
$500,000 worth of paper products
in the first three weeks, and
though the private company chose
not to reveal any more sales data,
co-founder James Hirschfeld admits he was encouraged. “We realized no one lives entirely online or
entirely offline,” he said. The company started offering Kate Spade
paper stationery in 2012 and Oscar de la Renta paper stationery in
2013.
“Now that [writing] is a choice,
I do think there’s something luxurious about opting for the slower,
richer format,” Mr. Hirschfeld
said.
Companies positioning themselves to stand out know this. As
many European fashion brands do,
Hermès sends invitations to product previews in envelopes addressed in a near-calligraphic
script. New York interior designer
Thomas Jayne and his staff recently hand-addressed 300 invitations to his studio’s annual holiday
get-together. “If our studio is about
personality then nothing conveys
personality better than something
handwritten,” he said.
British furniture and interior
designer Tim Gosling carries a Namiki fountain pen with which Lord
Browne Madingley thanked him
for outfitting the lord’s new London home. Mr. Gosling gives special attention to penmanship—using purple ink because “it’s the
color of Imperial Rome and creates another layer of refinement”—but he didn’t realize the
impact his handwriting had until
he overheard his housekeeper
commenting that reading one of
his notes was rather like “receiving a formal decree from Elizabeth the First.”
Perhaps we all channel royalty to
some degree when we choose to
Positive Slant
Forensic graphologist Sheila Lowe on what makes
these five historic signatures impressive
Frederick Douglass
The handwriting is striking in its rhythm, illustrating this slave-turned-statesman’s inner strength and confidence. The signature is also clear, open and legible, indicating he’s not putting up a curtain: What you see is what you get.
Amelia Earhart
The horizontal expansion reflects the aviatrix’s need for freedom
and her ability to behave in an extroverted manner when she needed to,
despite being a basic introvert.
Mata Hari
The narrow letters in the Dutch spy’s signature indicate she’s holding something back, but the flourishes command others to look at her—like a magician
who misdirects attention so he can pull off a trick. Heavy blobs of ink tell us
she was not afraid to be tough—brutal if the situation called for it.
Jack Kevorkian
With a strong degree of connectedness, the assisted-suicide advocate’s writing symbolically mows down anything in its path. A combination of rounded
and angular forms reveal both compassion and a refusal to back down from his
position. The slashed “i” dots are a sign of his rapier wit.
Vivian Leigh
The formlessness of the letters, the way they look like a ball of yarn that’s
been thrown, indicate someone who can quickly adapt to new people and situations. And the paraph, the slash underneath, puts the writer on a pedestal,
saying “Look at me” and “I’m strong.”
put pen to paper: As handwriting
becomes less common, we are subtly reminded of the status and class
that being able to sign a document
with more than an X once signified.
In the course of our interviews
with Mr. Dixon, he sent us an
email that began “I don’t honk...”
When asked if this was an arcane
Britishism, he replied, “No. It’s autocorrect gone mad.” He added, in
reference to those who opt to
handwrite: “Maybe superior communication is a more thoughtfully,
artfully and carefully constructed
message. Clearly the above mistake would not have happened
with a good pen and nice paper!”