I admit I’m a bit of a ystudio fanboy. I fell instantly in love with their design when I first saw them (from Patrick Ng on Instagram I’m certain) and found a shop called Kohezi in Amsterdam in 2016 to get the Brassing Ballpoint from. To use the great stationery cliché, it was love at first write.
As great as it was, the release of the fountain pen in late 2016 really set me off. It was an instant hit - for me anyway - and became one of my most used pens of 2017. I still get complete enjoyment every time I ink it up and use it.
Since I’m committed to that ystudio life now, you know I was going to get the Brassing Desk Fountain Pen from JetPens the minute I could. And - spoiler alert - it’s everything I hoped it would be.
For starters, it is a big pen, as a desk pen should be. The base is heavy, and the brass barrel with #6 nib fits in perfectly and securely. If there was any question I had about using a desk pen, it was if the nib would dry out being left in the base for weeks or months at a time. I haven’t hit the months mark yet, but weeks have been no issue. The nib writes the second it hits the page, with no priming or startup scribbling required. It is instantly good when I am ready to write.
The size and brass construction also had me wondering if it was going to be too heavy to write for any length of time. It’s not. In fact, the barrel weight is only slightly more than the much smaller standard ystudio fountain pen, 1.25 oz vs. 1.00 oz. The concave section fits my grip perfectly, and it is well balanced in the hand, so I don’t even notice the weight that much. Sure, it’s more than an acrylic or ebonite barrel, but still within a reasonable range.
As I mentioned earlier, the desk pen comes with a larger #6 Schmidt nib. It was smooth and wet right out of the box, although for my specific needs, I’ll be looking to swap in something finer than the stock Fine nib for every day use. Any Jowo nib or nib unit will swap in easily.
While my love for the brand knows no bounds, there is one issue with the lineup overall: The price. These are expensive pens. The standard fountain pen is $160 at JetPens, and the Desk Pen is $180. They are beautifully made, highly functional, and fit my personal aesthetic to a tee, but I understand they will not fall into the great value category. The steel nib alone is enough to make buyers balk at this price point, and rightfully so.
It comes down to style and use case, especially when considering the desk pen. If I could only choose one ystudio product it would be the standard fountain pen without question. The desk pen is a much more particular category. It looks amazing and functions perfectly, but will you use it enough to justify the high price? Right now, it is a great fit on my desk, but I’ll see if it stays there long term. I’m guessing it will.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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Epinard, not Grenade. Dummy.
