San Francisco Pen and Show

 The San Francisco Pen Show has devolved in a cute way. My first show in San Francisco was about twenty years ago when it was under different management from today. At that time, it was a real pen show with lots and lots of vintage and new pens. Today there are pens however there is a predominance of paper sellers, paraphernalia venders, and ink peddlers. A good number of tables are taken my sellers of new pens. Vintage? I counted about ten tables with some sellers having more than one.

Is this a good thing? You decide for yourself.

Was it a bust? Hell, no! Got to schmooze with old friends and made a few new ones. Will I return next year? Two days later, unlikely.

Traveling to San Francisco allowed me to visit with a very old client who desired to unload some of his collection. I've had a Yen (more later) for Durabilt and some noname and mininame name brands and he allowed some to come home with me. With the box included, I could not resist.

Most of the lot

The Durabilt case being shared by the old and new models

Note the two combos.

The Yen!

Am back. After a long hiatus am also returning to Japanese pens. Not your ordinary Pilot, Platinum, and Sailor stuff. And, not makie. All will special in a special way. 

There is forthcoming article in PENnant, the magazine of the Pen Collectors of America that in part describes my epiphany. It follows a dinner meeting with the owner of seY pens, a new maker of high quality makie pens. Here goes:

Afterthoughts after dinner after the Portland pen show with Satoru by Stan Klemanowicz

 

Despite two new beautiful pens on his table I kept my money in my pocket, questioning whether four pens were enough. On his table was a similar Mt. Fuji and two similarly designed dragon and peacock motif pens. Somehow my two pens appeared richer and better made – maybe this was my feeling of satisfaction owning some great pens. Satoru mentioned that one of the new attractive pens on his table was by a female artist. The only other female maki-e artists I am aware of have done work for Danitrio.

Our discussion of the distinction between a craftsman and an artist made me regret selling most of my Japanese carved and silver pens. There is a subtle yet profound difference between a craftsman and an artist although there is overlap as both create and share artistic space.

A craftsman makes utilitarian objects that can be enhanced or made unique by decoration. The decoration is where the art exists. Urushi has been used to protect surfaces for almost 4,000 years. It is natural to do more than slosh it on kitchen ware. Customers themselves, wanted more too, and artisans began developing distinctive specialties and styles.

Driving home I was sad that my carved, decorated, and vintage silver pens are not here any longer. Some were with me for fifteen years. I once asked myself if I appreciated them and the answer was maybe. They were not appreciated well enough. I’m keeping the seY pens I have and my few silver ones and started looking for more. I am thinking about the immense time and effort craftsmen put into their creations.

The world is moving away from traditional crafts. The crafts and the skilled craftsman that create them are being lost. There is hope. We see young people in Japan and here in America (not many, though) experimenting and learning crafts that would otherwise be lost.