It is a niche, but as we proposed before let us try to collect cool brands for fountain pens.
I’ll add alle the brands from this two articles https://www.peytonstreetpens.com/pen-makers-europe/ and https://www.jetpens.com/blog/The-Best-Luxury-European-Fountain-Pens/pt/925 as soon as I can. In the meantime, feel free to add your personal pick in the comments. I’ll add them.
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Republic of Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- https://www.lamy.com/
- https://www.pelikan.com/
- https://www.faber-castell.de/
- https://www.diplomat-pen.com/en/
- https://www.kaweco-pen.com/
- https://www.porsche-design.com/en/porsche-design-shop/shop/accessories/writing-tools/fountain-pens/
- https://www.diplomat-pen.com/en/
- https://schneiderpen.com/us
- https://www.heritagecollectables.com/reform/ collectables
- Greece
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Honorable Mentions
- https://www.carandache.com/ Swiss
- https://onoto.com/world-of-onoto/heritage/ UK collectables
- Burnham London, collectables which ceased selling in mid 1960s
- https://www.fountainpen.it/Stephens UK collectables
- https://tibaldipen.co.uk/ UK
- https://www.yard-o-led.com/ UK
- Lessons learned
- rotring is American now
- people are organized and even trade collectible pens
Esterbrook is probably the most prominent, but not comparable to the big boys. Pelikan dominates the entry level school market (I think Germany is one of the very few places where a fountain pen is prescribed at school?), but higher end is a totally different range. Lamy is more consistent with options at all price levels.
FYI: Lamy has recently been bought by Uniball if I’m not mistaken