Uncle Michael visits Manila!
Last week I had the honor of meeting up with Uncle Michael for an impromptu late night pen meet organized by Leigh. After seven years of being active in the fountain pen community, I finally got to see and touch not just one, but two Hakase pens, a brand that has long been on my grail pen wish list.
Uncle Michael, also known as Michael Chen, is an award winning photographer and also a well-loved member of the Taipei pen community. He was in town for Art Fair Philippines and had a bit of free time post-dinner on a Friday night to meet and talk over a pot of tea about his love for collecting handmade Japanese pens. He is active in the FPN community, see his post here on his journey to acquire Hakase pens, here to read more about Ohashido pens and here to read about his trip to the Omas factory before they shut down.
He had brought with him a few of his favorite pens, mostly recent acquisitions from the last 3-5 years or so. I was familiar with Hakase Pens from Tottori and Ohashido Pens from Sendai but this was the first time for me to hear of (and see) Ban-ei pens, particularly Ban-ei pens whose nibs bore the mark of “GK” or Kabutogi Ginjiro, known in Japan as one of the most famous nib makers in the postwar Japan era. Pretty intense stuff. Post-dinner meeting, a quick googling session led me to read more about Ban-ei and how later on they went to collaborate with Danitrio. Beautiful pens, beautiful lacquer work, stellar nibwork.
The Ohashido pen Uncle Michael brought had a unique teal-colored lacquer tone and 18K hardware adorning the cap section.
The Hakase pens were built using striated horn material personally selected by Uncle Michael and Mr Yamamoto. More about them on his post here. One of these days I too will make a trek to Tottori to pick out my Hakase pen. One day. <3
On a side note, I asked him about one of his pen wraps, which turns out was sewn by a lady known as Mrs. Pilot, the wife of Mr. Pilot, a retired Pilot Pen employee who frequents Tokyo pen shows selling NOS Pilot pens. I fell in love with its padded fluffy casing and simple but well made stitching, a wonderfully sewn piece that you could feel was made with love and care.
It was past 1AM when we parted ways, a delightful way to end a busy weekend that left us thinking about our next grail pen project.