Musings about the Shakespeare limited edition pen and what it might look like.

As it was announced yesterday, this year being the 450th anniversary of his observed birthday, Omas have dedicated their latest limited edition pen to the life and work of William Shakespeare. This pen has been designed with The Shakespeare Birthplace trust and our very own John has been visiting them in Stratford upon Avon with the Omas team this week unveiling this new pen which will be released officially on the anniversary of Shakespeare’s death the 23^rd of April this year. As of yet, we are yet to see a picture of the latest limited edition, so I will now speculate about what it might look like…

Omas limited editions are always special, designs not only aesthetically stunning and distinctive but also layered with well-researched meaning and significance. Perhaps the only other Omas pen offered at the moment with a parallel source of inspiration is the Aleksandr Pushkin limited edition. Also inspired by a national cultural icon, the Pushkin was released in 2007 to celebrate the life and work of the great Russian writer.

About the design thought process behind the Aleksandr Pushkin pen, we know:

“The drawings on this limited edition pen are simple, incisive and full of pathos. The design is inspired by the evocative language but simple construction in the apparently uncomplicated works of Alexsandr S.Pushkin. 

The … enamel, reminiscent of the paper used for manuscripts, acts as a background to the images. These depict the head of the poet on the top of the cap, a page from Eugene Onegin created using diamond engraving techniques and a symbolic goose feather on the clip.

Pushkin's face, based on a self-portrait, can also be found in the middle of the ink reservoir with clouds above and the generous human earth below. Pushkin's name can be found twice: in the Cyrillic alphabet at one end of the fountain pen and in signature form on the body.”

So based on this design process, what might we expect from the William Shakespeare pen? Considerations will be representative materials, symbolic details and the writer's work. As also a celebration predominately of the man himself, like the Pushkin pen, the Shakespeare pen is likely to feature a representation of his self. The first assumption would be for a picture of him - however the Droeshot engraving that we associate with Shakespeare, though said by his contemporaries to be a good likeness, is still questioned by some. Though the national portrait gallery believe it to be authentic, and it is included in the banner they have announced the news with, it will be interesting to see whether Omas incorporate it into the pen design. 

The Pushkin pen is multi-textured, but of a minimalist style to symbolise the ‘uncomplicated” written works of Aleksandr Pushkin. In contrast, Shakespeare’s work was largely watched, not read, by his audience. The works of Shakespeare were performed on stage, and this could come across in the use of material. In another of their limited editions, The I Think, Omas used oak to represent the HMS Beagle that Darwin sailed the world with. Also, because of the visual nature of Shakespeare’s plays, might his pen be more colourful and visual than the Pushkin pen? In the past Omas have not shied away from this challenge; The Gentleman Seaman limited edition depicts a specific scene that represents the figure it’s inspired by. 

The Gentleman Seaman

As a dramatist Shakespeare was bold, his plays and poetry immensely colourful and diverse - and numerous, inspired by tragedy, comedy, history, war, death, magic and love. Though the pen is dedicated to the man, the work we know him so well for will surely feature in the design. To symbolise all of Shakespeare’s work, much of it so iconic to us, would be nigh-on-impossible with the surface of a fountain pen being limited but I think that we might see a design that subtly symbolises and acknowledges the diversity of Shakespeare's work. Engraving is a possibility for including some of Shakespeare's written words; Omas have proven their technical ambition and ability with the I Think limited edition, engraving by hand and in incredible detail a map from 1800 and tracing the route that Darwin took on his journey of discovery.  This is also a technique used similarly for the Piri Reis limited edition, and the diamond engraving techniques were used to transcribe a page of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin on the barrel of that limited edition. The ability to engrave Shakespeare's words is certainly there, but which? Like so many aspects of this pen, I think it will have been a challenge for Omas to pick a direction and a focus when it would be easy to create a limited edition for a single one of the masterpieces we know him for. 

We'll wait and see!