The Bite Magazine

Cristina Lloyd

discovers Italy’s very first pen manufacturer

and their dynamic and exquisite collections of themed and

regular line pens.

MONTEGRAPPA ITALIA

Artistry

Writing

the

henever we put pen to paper,

we rarely think beyond the

craftsmanship of the writing

instrument we’re using, but there

is so much more to simply holding a pen in our

hand and writing with it. The process of creating a

quality pen is a lengthy and detailed one with many

attributes that includes ‘die-casting’, an ancient

technique dating back to the 5th century that

begins with a three-dimensional sculpture realised

by hand, ‘fretwork design’, a technique invented

to create pleasant colour contrasts between the

background material (usually resin and celluloid)

and precious metal covering, and ‘hand-etching’,

where the artist’s design is transferred onto

tracing paper and fixed onto the smooth body of

the pen.

Montegrappa (originally Elmo & Montegrappa)

is Italy’s very first pen manufacturer and today,

a luxury goods company of writing instruments,

watches, cufflinks, small leather goods and

fragrances. Since 1912, Montegrappa has been

manufacturing writing implements in the same

historic building on the bank of the River Brenta,

where the river wind gently blows through the

historic town of Bassano del Grappa, in the north-

eastern part of Italy. Founded as a manufacturer

of gold nibs and fountain pens, Montegrappa was

born during a turbulent period in Italy’s history

and at a time of transition from the 19th to the

20th century that saw them benefit from a pool of

local talents, a workforce that was able to produce

finely crafted objects, with style, with panache and

a drive to achieve excellence.

Not long after its establishment, the Bassano

factory found itself in a key position toward the end

of the FirstWorldWar. Among the many soldiers

who used Elmo pens to write letters home, there

were two celebrated American writers, Ernest

Hemingway and John Dos Passos, who were

acting as war correspondents as well as volunteer

ambulance drivers at the front. The eloquent and

evocative communiqués they sent from the front

were recorded with the finely produced writing

equipment manufactured in Bassano. During the

1930s, with the use of the fountain pen having

replaced dipping pens, the designs became more

sober yet graceful, enhanced and personalised

through the variety of their colours and materials.

Montegrappa were among the first to use celluloid

and galalith, which allowed the company’s skilled

craftsmen to perfect the manufacturing process

with original and precise technical solutions that

served as the platform for the artistry of the pen’s

designers.

Montegrappa pens have also played a huge part

in history, having been used to sign documents

during key moments in the 20th century by famed

Italian leaders such as Victor Emmanuel III and

Benito Mussolini. On 2nd January 2000, Russian

leader Boris Yeltsin gave his Dragon pen to

Vladimir Putin, and with this pen, he symbolically

handed over his power to him whilst Russia’s

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is said to sign

all official documents with the Montegrappa Extra

1930. Other proud owners of Montegrappa pens

(past and present) include Nicolas Sarkozy, Silvio

Berlusconi, Pope John Paul II, and King Hussein

of Jordan, Antonio Banderas, Al Pacino, Michael

Jackson, Michael Schumacher and Paul Coelho.

As a premier manufacturer of luxury pens,

Montegrappa have produced a continuous flow of

limited editions, commemorating events, locales

and individuals. The latest collections include

the Brain Pen, an extensive collaboration with

Dr Richard Restak, M.D., an expert on cerebral

matters and author of more than 20 books on the

subject.Drawing inspiration from the complexities

of the brain, Montegrappa designers illustrated

the direct intellectual and physical connection

between the brain and pen with the act and art

of writing serving as an extension of man’s ability

to express himself, while exercising the brain

itself.This artistry is presented by the pen’s most

basic structural elements where the top part of

the pen is rich and elaborated, while the body

is simple, acting as a parallel to a man’s body,

where all his riches are in the brain. At the top

of the cap, you’ll find a cross-section of the brain,

based on an ancient illustration, which features an

overlay made up of neurons, with the pocket clip

representing the spinal cord.

Images courtesy of Montgrappa Italia

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