Assorted Afflatuses

The other day, I left a fountain pen laying on a table at school. When I realized that I had failed to properly stash my stylish stylo, I figured that whoever happened upon it would probably take it for his or her betterment. And, as I discovered the next day, I was right. But I could always go online and buy another one. Or so I thought.

Apparently, MUJI, the Japanese company who manufactured the purloined pen, stopped making my model months ago. I visited MUJI's website, at mujionline.com, only to discover that they did not so much as list the pen as "sold out." Then I visited the MoMA Design Store's online storefront, at momastore.com, which also lacked the writing instrument I wanted to replace. Even eBay — where it's usually possible to locate anything — didn't have it.

All of this left me in an uncomfortable siutation. Of course, many manufacturers still produce fountain pens, however, those companies also have a strange tendency to charge upwards of $100 per pen. And while those pens might dash more fluidly across the page or better resist nib corrosion, I would prefer not to risk losing a $100 pen. By contrast, my MUJI model cost just $16, and it wrote at least half as well as my high-priced Waterman Carène. The MUJI's slick anodized aluminum finish also complemented my computing ensemble quite nicely.

I may buy something from Lamy, but I doubt that, dollar for dollar, it will work as well as the MUJI pen I lost. Frankly, I cannot see why MUJI stopped making the pen. It was an exemplary pen for the money and it looked slick too.