Pens, Writing and Friendships

I remember when I met Dante del Vecchio, a number of years ago on a visit to the Visconti headquarters and factor in Florence, he talked about what inspired him on the design the the Visconti pen clip. The Visconti clip signified a bridge, a unifying structure that brings people together. That thought has stayed with me, as that also true for the pen itself. A tool to create the written message. A written message written with a pen has such a personal aspect, and it can bring together people.

In June 2016, when I was in Paris, I made sure I had time to visit with Brigitte Courson at the Plume et Bille store. It is a pen store that I have been visiting on each of my trips to Paris and I always enjoy her enthusiam and knowledge about pens and how her store so nicely links pens and writing accessories to support the experience of personal writing with a pen of choice.

In her store she has a table in the back area when customers can sit down and write with a pen they are considering. And she also maintains a beautiful book with a brown leather cover and high quality paper, where customers write with the new pens.

I am always pleased then Brigitte tells me of various people who have come into the store based on the information I have provided on my pen site. I always thing the store is a success as it is linking people with great pen stores. Sometimes she tells me I just missed someone by a day or so. I always think how close the the possibilities were that I would meet some of the readers of my site.

On my June visit to Paris I visited Brigitte twice. Once to select my Namiki fountain pen. A decision to get the pen after looking at the pens for a number of years, and a second visit before I left Paris to thank her for her help in selecting my pen and to tell her how impressed I was with how smooth the pen writes.

Brigitte tells me, "you have just missed some who came specifically to the store based on you pen site. She was her yesterday." I thought oh how close. Then she asks me to sit at the writing table, passes her brown leather book, opens it and says, read this. There, below the words I had written with my new Namiki fountain pen, another person wrote a note to me, to say she has enjoyed reading my pen store and pen and ink reviews. I felt an instant connection, and there were the words, written on the page, with a Namiki fountain pen (she also purchased one) in a beautiful blue ink.

Pens and personal writing. It means much more than an e-mail. So what else... I wrote a note to the person to say how I enjoyed reading her comments, that I too enjoyed my Namiki pen, and who knows, maybe we will meet one day in a pen store in some city! I think they make movies with story lines like this!

A hand written note, very powerful.

So I told Brigitte that for my next visit to Paris, and they are annual, I would let her know the dates, I would put up an announcement on my pen site, and we would plan a pen event, a meeting at Plume et Bille where not only can I meet people who are in Paris at the same time that visit Plume et Bille, but we can meet other!

Sounds kind of interesting. So check back from time to time, and well in advance of our next trip to Paris, hopefully in May or June of 2017, we will plan the pen event!