Youung Juhu resident is championing the cause of indigenous fountain pens

Sanay Shah

A Handmade Fountain Pen made of Rosewood

While some appreciate it for the distinct, earthy scent of ink, for others, it's the sheer joy of owning an antiquated piece of accessory. But for Sanay Shah, a fountain pen is all that and more. "As a kid, I always saw my grandfather and uncle writing with fountain pens. The old fashioned way of living fascinated me," says the 20-year-old. Today, Shah makes fountain pens under the name The Penman Co, an enterprise that sprung from the fact that several engineers in his family collect fountain pens.

The Juhu resident, who is currently studying mechanical engineering in Pune, has been actively collaborating with local fountain pen manufacturers all over the country, championing the cause of indigenous fountain pens.

"Three years ago, while doing research on Indian pen manufacturers, I realised there are several small Indian fountain pen makers, like me, hidden in small corners all across the country who don't have access to marketing," he says. Shah first got in touch with the Mumbai-based brands Airmail Pen Company, established in 1951 by Late Mohan L. Mirchandani, one of the oldest companies in the field of manufacturing writing instrument. "Here, they have been using the same machine for the last 60 years.

Sanay Shah

The pens are like eye-droppers, have huge ink capacity and write extremely smooth. While interacting with them, I found out a lot about pen makers in Andhra Pradesh, Pune and Chennai," he says.

Shah admits nagging dealers, pen collectors and manufacturers in Mumbai for leads.

Armed with contact details, but hampered by the lack of adequate connectivity in remote areas, Shah decided to travel to Andhra Pradesh, the heart of the fountain pen industry in the country, all for the love of learning the craft and enhancing his knowledge about creating pens. "I visited Ratnam Sons based in Rajahmundry, who have a fascinating history. Influenced by the Swadeshi movement KV Ratnam, the company's founder made a pen using ebonite.

He gave one of them to Gandhiji in 1935. Gandhiji responded with a letter of appreciation which the family has proudly preserved. The Ratnam family continues to make high quality handmade pens and they are still much in demand," he says, adding that the first time he ordered about 10 pens from them, they also sent a copy of Gandhi's letter along with the product.

The letter read, 'Dear Ratnam, I must thank you for the fountain pen… I have used it and it seems to be a good substitute for the foreign pens seen in the bazaars.'

In fact, he says, Andhra Pradesh has plenty of pen makers including the Deccan Pen Store in Hyderabad. "I order raw material from them in bulk and then make the pen from scratch using rosewood, teakwood, burlwood, ebonite, acrylic material and resin. I start on a piece of wood, and turn it on a lathe machine. Then, after shaping a pen, there are various stages of polishing. The nibs are imported from Germany. But, these days, I polish and grind the nibs on Indian fountain pens on a jeweller's dremel. I also soak the rosewood in walnut oil for about 30-40 hours for a smooth finish," he explains.

These bespoke pens take about four days to make from the time you place an order, and sell for a starting price of Rs 7,000 and goes up to Rs 10,000. Interestingly, Shah's clientele goes from 30 to 70 plus.

"My only source of advertising is Twitter and word of mouth. I create the pens as per orders," he tells us. Patrons, he feels, don't mind spending a bomb on these pens because they last for a lifetime. "There's something about a fountain pen that inspires you to take care of it. The hefty price tag may have something to do with it. But the fountain pen's storied tradition provides an aura of timelessness and elegance," he smiles.