Récife Special Edition Artis Traveler Fountain Pen: 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.)

Récife is a specialty shop in Paris that carries leather goods, accessories, and writing instruments. Today I’m reviewing a soon-to-be released fountain pen in the Récife Special Edition Artis collection. These pens are meant to evoke the works of Claude Monet. My pen utilizes the colors found in Monet’s work, “Le Jardin de l'artiste à Giverny”: purple and pink (Récife calls the color Violene). Récife craftsmen make each pen by hand, so each pen is unique.

I’m not sure if the pen is made of resin or acrylic, but it is extremely lightweight, regardless. It is 5.5 inches (140mm) capped, 4.75 inches (121mm) uncapped, and 6.25 inches (159mm) posted. I found the pen to be unbalanced posted, but I do not usually post pens, so your experience may vary.

The cap’s final and clip are one piece of metal with an art deco motif. The cap band is inscribed with “Modèle Recife déposé Paris,” which means “registered Recife model, Paris.” The cap screws onto the barrel with a few twists.

The grip is made of metal, but it doesn’t add much heft to the pen.

My pen came with a standard international-sized black ink cartridge but no converter. I didn’t see any converters advertised on the Récife website, but it’s likely that a standard international converter would work with the pen.

The nib is a steel medium with scrollwork, “Récife Paris,” a logo (I can’t tell what it is), and the nib size inscribed on it.

The tines are perfectly aligned and the writing is smooth. However, I experienced hard starts whenever I uncapped the pen to write a new page.

The Récife Special Edition Artis Traveler Fountain Pen is an interesting pen with a palette based on Monet paintings. It sort of reminds me of the Visconti Van Gogh pens, but the Récife is definitely not in the same class as the Visconti pens which are made of resin, have magnetic closure caps, and sport much thicker metal trims (they are also more expensive). The violene color is not my cup of tea, but there are other marbled colors in shades of black, gray, green, blue, and red in the collection. I also think the pen is much too small and light, but that is because I prefer heavier, large pens.

You can purchase Récife fountain pens from Récife Paris. The Traveler model is ordinarily 50 euros (= $57.00), but the Special Edition Artis models will be more expensive (around $90.00).

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

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Récife Waldorf Fountain Pen Review

The Récife Waldorf fountain pen is a charming and well-made fountain pen from a company located in Paris, France. The body design has lovely lines and grooves that elevate the aesthetic to something that is reminiscent of Art Deco. In fact, Récife cites New York as the inspiration for this design, and I definitely think of the Empire State Building when I use this pen.

The pen is a solid metal and lacquer construction, and it feels great in the hand. The cap screws on securely, and there are also threads on the back of the pen so that you can securely post it when writing. I found the pen to be too long and unbalanced when posted, so I haven't used it that way very much.

The grip section is a polished chrome look and is very comfortable to hold. Despite the polished metal, there are plenty of ridges surrounding the grip section to provide ample finger holds when writing.

The body of the pen is a rippling wave of sparkly purple lacquer. You can pick your color, of course, but the purple version look amazing under light when accompanied by the shiny accents.

The clip is quite strong and is integrated into the finial. The finial itself is decorated tastefully to continue the Art Deco aesthetic.

The only branding on this pen is found in two small places: the cap band and the nib. The nib has a small "Récife" logo along with the nib size, while the band says "Récife" and "PARIS" on opposite sides. I love the minimal branding on this pen. The overall look of the pen is ostentatious, and I'm glad they didn't take it too far with vivid branding.

Uncapping and capping the pen is a smooth process for the most part. I've had a little bit of trouble with the unit I have when trying to cap it sometimes. Every now and then, the threads don't want to line up straight and I have to try several times to find the right path for the threads. It isn't a big deal, but I do think it should be smoother for the price.

Writing with the pen is a delight. The nib was perfect out of the box and I've enjoyed every minute with it. The fine nib is true to the size I expect, and it's a true performer. The flow is perfect, the steel nib is stiff but comfortable, and I can find no flaws in the tip. Writing is smooth, reliable, and pleasant.

Along with the pen, Récife include one international short cartridge. There's no cartridge converter included, and that's disappointing to me because the size of the pen makes it impossible to fit a standard converter. I haven't found a cartridge converter that fits yet, but I only looked through my own collection, which is not extensive. In order to use my own ink, I opted to use a Kaweco bulb converter. It works fine, but it's difficult to fill and doesn't hold much ink. It would be great if Récife included their own converter as part of the purchase so that buyers could use their own ink to match these brightly colored and beautiful pens.

I've really enjoyed using this pen. It has a bold design, but I think it works well. It definitely attracts attention and comments, and people can't wait to get their hands on it. Even better, it's an excellent writer.

My only concern with this pen is the same concern I share with many other luxury pens in this same price bracket: it has so much competition. On the Récife website, it lists the retail price for this pen as €125. In current prices today, that translates to just over $140 USD. In my opinion, that's a bit high for this pen, but it's also the full retail price. If you look at other pen offerings in the $140 price range, you are easily overwhelmed with high-quality pens that feature gold nibs, piston filler ink reservoirs, fancy click mechanisms, and more. At full retail, I can't recommend the Waldorf unless you're absolutely in love with the design. If you just want a good pen for your money, there's a long list of readily available pens that I would recommend first.

This price conundrum will always exist, but it's always so great to see new players and new products in the stationery space! If the Récife Waldorf speaks to you, I encourage you to pick one up. It's an excellent writer and a well made pen that won't let you down.

(Artistic Paper, the US distributor for Récife, loaned this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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