Posts filed under Aurora

The Aurora 88 70th Anniversary LE Fountain Pen with Flexible Nib: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

I was beyond excited when I first heard that Aurora was coming out with a flexible nib. I pre-ordered the blue 88 with flex nib as soon as I could. But then I started hearing some ambivalent feedback from pen shows, and my excitement waned. Fortunately, Kenro sent Pen Addict a test pen so I could try out the flex nib for myself.

First, a disclaimer: I am not an experienced flex nib user. I own two Omas pens with extra flessibile nibs and a few vintage pens with semi-flex nibs. I was not willing to push the Aurora test pen too hard (I have to return it, after all). So, keep this in mind as you read my review and look at the photos. It’s possible that users with more experience might get more flex out of the Aurora than I did.

This Aurora 88 70th Anniversary fountain pen is a gorgeous bright orange (a color that will be released later this year). It’s a typical Aurora 88 style, cigar-shaped, with the signature Aurora clip. The pen has a small ink window and is a piston filler.

Of course, what everyone wants to know is, “How is the flex nib?” Well . . .

The nib is solid 14k gold with super long tines. The test nib doesn’t have the usual Aurora scrollwork, but the photos I’ve seen of actual pens for sale show scrollwork on the nibs. The nib tip looks like a fine, though the size isn’t indicated anywhere on the nib itself.

I’ll be perfectly honest. When I inked up the test unit and started writing, I was immediately disappointed. The nib felt pretty stiff like a regular Aurora nib. And while I could get some line variation when I flexed the nib, it was slight.

I worked with the pen for several days, switched out the ink, practiced swirls hoping maybe the nib would loosen up a little, but the flex was still minimal.

I inked my Omas Ogiva Extra Flessibile fine with the same ink, Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo, to compare with the Aurora. What a difference. The Omas nib is springy and exhibits a great deal of flex without much effort. While neither pen flexes as much as a super-flex vintage nib, the Omas beat the Aurora hands down.

The examples below show how the two nibs compare:

Alphabet

Swirls

Sentence

I canceled my preorder after working with the Aurora. I really wanted to love the pen and the nib, I just wasn’t impressed. While it has some flex, it offers nowhere near the flex that the Omas extra flessibile does. At first I thought maybe I was being unfair comparing the Aurora to the Omas extra flessibile. But then I saw some websites advertising the Aurora as a “super flexible” nib. I think that, if people claim that the nib is super flexible, it should at least be as flexible as the Omas. Unfortunately, it’s not.

Does the nib flex? Yes. Does it flex as much as an Omas Extra flessibile nib? No. Does it flex as much as a vintage superflex nib? Definitely not.

And yet . . . after writing with the nib daily for a week, I have to say that, in spite of the fact that the nib does not flex as much as I’d hoped, it’s a wonderful writer. The long tines offer a different feel from a standard nib, and you can write without flex quite easily.

But here’s the deal. The Aurora 88 70th Anniversary LE fountain pen with a flex nib costs $650. These pens are made of resin. Yes, they are limited, numbered editions (only 188 of each color). Yes, they have special, long-tined, semi-flex nibs. Yes, they write beautifully. But $650 is a pretty steep price for a resin pen with a semi-flex nib. If these were auroloide pens with flex nibs, I wouldn’t hesitate to get one.

Vanness Pens will be stocking the Aurora 88 70th Anniversary Flex Nib Fountain Pen but you have to act fast. The first release in Blue is already sold out. Send them a message to inquire about future releases.

Pros

The Aurora 88 fountain pen is a terrific cigar-style pen. It’s a good size and weight for most users.
The flex nib is beautiful and has gorgeous long tines reminiscent of some vintage Aurora fountain pens.
The nib offers some flex and line variation, and when you write with it normally, it is smooth and the long tines provide a unique writing experience.
The anniversary pens will be released over the year in a variety of colors to suit many tastes.

Cons

The flex nib is certainly not a “superflex” nib. It isn’t even as flexible as an Omas extra flessibile. I would call it a semi-flex nib at best.
The anniversary pens are made of resin not auroloide, and, in my view, they are overpriced. If they were in the $350-$400 range I’d feel better about purchasing one.

(Kenro Industries provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on March 20, 2017 by Susan Pigott and filed under Aurora, Pen Reviews, Fountain Pens.

An Interview With Linda Di Fonzo Of Aurora Pens

“I brought people, not products.”

Aurora is a brand that only landed on my radar within the past year or two. That it was founded in Italy nearly 100 years ago is a testament to the brand and the three generations of family that have run it. So, why have I just discovered them, and their wonderful pens, only recently?

I had the chance to sit down with Linda Di Fonzo, Export Manager for Aurora Pens, at the 2017 Los Angeles Pen Show to discuss this topic, their famous nibs, why they don’t make orange ink, and more.

The core philosophy of Aurora lies in the quote above. If I got nothing else from our talk, I understood that Aurora puts people ahead of products. That explains why the company has stayed in the family. Why employees have decades of experience on the factory floor. Why they have worked with distributors like Kenro for 25 years, and over 40 in the case of their Japanese partner. And why Linda chose to bring the people who best represent Aurora to the United States, as opposed to simply a product lineup show and tell.

Don’t let that fool you though. Linda is very proud of the products Aurora makes. Extremely proud. In fact, she was flying out of Los Angeles that afternoon to Dubai to hand deliver a pen worth well over one million dollars. She had it in LA and offered to show it to me, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that. I did see pictures on her phone though, and wow.

While none of us will ever own a million dollar pen, I bring this up because Linda made the point of telling me that regardless of price, $25 or $250,000, all of the pens are made by the same people in the same factory with the same care. Even the jewelers placing the precious stones on pens being delivered to royal families are under the same roof. From A to Z, Aurora does all of the work.

This roof also houses one of the finest nib manufacturing lines on the planet. There are 17 different styles of nibs in production, each handled with the same care as the next. Traveling with the Aurora team on this trip was their Nibmeister Filippo Loghero. He works daily on their nib production process, and gave many of us at the show a manufacturing lesson on how many steps are required to make a single nib. I think it is fair to say we all walked away impressed.

Filippo was charged recently with the creation of Aurora’s new Flex Nib. According to Linda, the company attempted this once in 1970, but the market did not understand it at the time. Recent work with a frequent Aurora calligrapher and collaborator gave them the idea to try again, and after six months of design and testing, the Aurora 88 Flex will launch this year in eight barrel colors, limited to 188 pens per color.

The new Flex nib is getting all the press right now, and rightfully so, but a change Aurora made in early 2016 is how we got here today. In previous years, the US market for Aurora lagged behind Europe and Asia. Linda set out to change this, and because of the familial relationship the company has with Kenro, they were able to work together to come up with a plan to inject new blood into the brand.

At its core, the plan called for a price adjustment in the mid-range of their offerings. 30% lower in some cases, and in primary catalog items like the Optima. This positioned Aurora in a price bracket in the US where they were able to better match up with their competitors. It also allowed consumers like myself to get their first taste of this historic brand in a more cost-effective manner.

The plan worked, as Aurora experienced a 60% year over year increase in the US market alone. And they have Linda Di Fonzo to thank for that. She travels the world listening to what the market wants, and customizes a plan to make Aurora successful. Aurora doesn’t just make pens. They understand the value and benefits of writing, and want to share that love as far and wide as possible.

I wanted to have a little fun with Linda as we wrapped up our chat, so I asked her a question that many people are curious about, including myself. Why doesn’t Aurora make ink colors besides Black and Blue (and now Blue Black?) “The people want purple and pink and orange and green!” I pleaded with her. She just laughed and laughed, but gave a great answer, and one I certainly can’t argue with.

Aurora only manufacturers ink they guarantee will work with their pens, and they don’t take this lightly. They have to ensure this across their product lineup, and will not introduce an ink unless they have complete faith in it. It’s hard to argue with that philosophy, but she did let her guard down a bit right at the end of our talk: “It’s coming. It’s coming.”

We are going to hold you to that Linda!

My thanks go out to Linda Di Fonzo and Filippo Loghero of Aurora Pens for taking time out of their busy schedule to sit down with me. And of course big thanks to Kenro Industries for setting all of this up. Linda wanted to make sure that if you ever make it to Italy, Aurora is open to visits, and has built one of the finest fountain pen museums in the world.

I’ll start planning my trip now.

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Posted on March 6, 2017 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Aurora, Interview.

Aurora TU Fountain Pen Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

Before a few months ago, I really didn't know much about Aurora. Luckily, I had the opportunity to use a couple of top-notch pens that definitely ensured Aurora would stay on my radar going forward. There are several reviews already on the site for Aurora fountain pens that cost several hundred dollars, but the TU is more of an entry-level option.

The Aurora TU fountain pen from JetPens runs for around $125, and it does a great job of representing the brand at this price option. The model I have is the ivory resin with chrome trim, but you can also get a black resin model. The steel nibs come in a range from EF - B, so you're bound to find one that fits you well.

The TU is a small to medium size pen, but it feels great in the hand despite it's smaller size. The plastic grip section is comfortable to use, and the raised band close to the tip of the section is a nice tangible guide when writing with the pen. Depending on your grip style, this small bump may annoy you, but it's necessary as its job is to keep the cap on the pen when closed.

The cap is a snap cap mechanism that feels solid when opening and closing the pen. The snap also works when posting the pen, giving a satisfying "clunk" when it snaps in place. You definitely know when the pen is closed or posted due to this snap system. It's well done.

The pen is weighted evenly and feels very balanced. Some pens feel top or bottom heavy depending on the materials used, but the TU is a balanced pen even when posted.

The cap features several branding flares for the Aurora brand, and they might feel a bit gratuitous to some. The top of the cap has a prominent Aurora logo debossed into the chrome trim. The clip also has "Aurora" debossed along the side, and the band reads "Aurora Made in Italy." The nib is also branded with a very small Aurora mention along with the nib size. Apart from that, the nib is not decorated or flourished.

The pen as a whole is attractive. It's subtle, but has plenty of nice touches to set it apart from other pens. The flat ends are somewhat rare in my collection, so I have no problem telling it apart.

The nib is a crisp, well-tuned steel EF model. It did not require any tweaking since it wrote beautifully straight out of the case. It writes smoothly and has great ink flow, even for a small EF nib. Compared to other European EF nibs, it's on the small side, but I like that. The line looks like something between a 0.5mm and 0.38mm gel ink pen line.

Even though the nib works flawlessly, it does make some scratching noises. I'm not sure why it does this, as it feels very smooth when writing. I might do some nib smoothing at some point, but I really like how it writes at the moment. I don't want to risk changing that.

I haven't noticed any issues with dry starts or skipping, which is on-par with the other Auroras I've used. It's a great writer, and I've really enjoyed using it.

Is there anything not to like about this pen? Well, it turns out there are a couple of gripes. For one, this pen does not come with a cartridge-converter. You must purchase one separately, and it's on the more expensive side of the converter market. It costs $16.50, which isn't unheard of, but it looks like a slightly modified standard converter that you receive at no cost with pens that cost half as much. It would be awesome if Aurora would just include the converter with the pen. If you go in on the pen and converter combined, you're looking at almost $140. Strangely enough, Aurora includes a blank cartridge with this pen (along with a regular blue cartridge). My only assumption for this blank cartridge is that it's intended to be syringe-filled with an ink of your choosing, which is exactly what I did. I don't know if this was correct, but it worked! Still, syringe-filling isn't something everyone is comfortable with or able to do without purchasing a proper syringe.

Another problem that is a bit more difficult to pin down or support is that the price point feels awkward. This is definitely a well-made pen, but I'm not sure it fits in the $100 - $150 market. When you look at other pens that you can purchase in that price range, it doesn't look as attractive. And, I know that's a very subjective statement because this pen might be the most beautiful thing you've seen. Still, the point remains. When you're pricing a pen in the same ballpark as the Lamy 2000, Pilot Custom Heritage 92, the Pilot Decimo and Vanishing Point, and the Platinum 3776, there needs to be a clear distinguishing factor. For me, I can't distinguish it against this group. It's an easier task when dropped to the $75 - $125 range.

Pricing aside, it's a great pen that would make a great gift or first introduction to the Aurora brand. You get one blue cartridge with the pen, so be sure to either purchase more cartridges or a cartridge converter if you're not keen on syringe filling the provided empty cartridge.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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