Arden Pen Co  /  Materials

Where it comes from

The material is the story

I don’t buy blanks off a shelf if I can help it. Most of what I turn was salvaged, rescued, gifted, or carried home in hand luggage. Not sure what to choose? Start with the material guides.

Detroit, Michigan

Fordite

Sixty years of overspray, baked hard in the paint ovens of American car plants and scrapped as waste. Slice into it and you get every car that came down that line.

British, est. 1905

Conway Stewart heritage resin

Original stock from one of Britain’s great pen houses, secured out of the liquidation. Not a tribute or an imitation — the real material, and there is only so much of it left.

Cannaregio, Venice

Gondola forcola walnut

Offcut walnut from a remèr’s workshop — the craftsmen who carve the oarlock every gondolier leans on. Six visits to Venice before I finally thought to ask.

Damaraland, Namibia

Camelthorn

Where the whole thing started, by accident. A carpenter, a grain I’d never seen, and a table that was never fitting in the suitcase. Pens did.

Commission

Build the spec, and I’ll quote it

Pick the pen, the fittings, the plating and the material — including your own timber if you’ve got something with meaning to it. Takes about two minutes, and there’s no obligation at the end of it.

Start the configurator

  1. 01 Pen type and model
  2. 02 Plating and accents
  3. 03 Material and species
  4. 04 Presentation case
  5. 05 Your notes and details