Taking a look at the Lamy Accent

The Lamy Accent series is one of the hidden gems of the Lamy brand.  It offers a greater range of writing systems, including 4 multipens, than any any other series, and comes in a number of different finishes.  A mid priced pen, from about £45.00 to £130.00 at the time of writing, it has a great deal to offer the serious pen lover. 

The Lamy Accent was designed by the Phoenix design Partnership.  It's shape is cylindrical, with the slightest of bulges around the grip section. The fountain pen weighs in at 28 grams, is 14.3cm long closed, and 16cm open with cap posted - substantial, but not a heavyweight. It has a unique opening mechanism - the barrel of the pen is held, the grip section rotated, and the nib section unscrews to either replace the cartridge, or fill the converter, which is supplied with the pen.  This also enables the grip section to be replaced.  Lamy currently offer a choice of anodised blue or indiarubber black for the palladium model, or palladium coated for the black model.

On the top left we have a picture of the matt black finish, and to the right the palladium coated version.  Lamy  offer a range of nibs from extra fine to broad, with the oblique medium and broad options as well.  Thanks to Lamy's redoubtable steel nibs being interchangeable (see our video on how to do this) you can also fit one of the Joy calligraphy nibs.

In common with all of Lamy's pens, the writing experience is outstandingly good.  It is a fairly long pen, especially with the cap posted, and is beautifully balanced.  The nib delivers a good line, and works well on all sorts of paper. 

Top of the range is the Accent Brilliant  This is a very classy looking pen, with a superb lacquer finish.  The fountain pen features Lamy's splendid 14 carat bi colour gold nib in sizes from EF to B, with a couple of obliques as well.  There is a choice between the briarwood grip and the LD diamond lacquer grip.  It's a little heavier at 31 grams - this is noticeable, and in my view adds to the pleasure of using the pen.


There's more on the Accent range on our website - just click here.

Trip to the Visconti Factory

Visit to Visconti

We sent out our intrepid reporter Isobel Hall over to the Visconti Factory in Florence, this is what she found...

"Visconti; if this is business, I like it. Recently my mother and I were lucky enough to visit the Visconti palazzo in Florence. This is no ordinary factory, being housed in a section of an ex-Medici villa, it in itself reflects the regality of the pens it manufactures. We were greeted by Dante and his wife Carla, and taken on a tour of the factory. Each part of the production line is housed in a different section of the villa, but all are palpably connected. The process has a real artisan feel, and the staff are clearly very highly skilled. I was particularly interested by the storage room where all parts of each pen were housed for assembly, purely for the fact you could have hours of fun opening and closing draws. Simple pleasures. The company has a real family feel which I'm sure has had an impact on its success, and I am already looking forward to the arrival of the new Van Gogh colour, which in the flesh really is striking. Watch this space!"

The pictures emphasis the almost unique combination of art, artistry and industry that goes into the manufacture of fine pens. It does look a little as though the the there is an "upstairs / downstairs" split between the offices and the manufacturing area, but Isobel tells me that the it is actually quite pleasant in the workshops - possibly more pleasant in a Florentian summer!

The Pictures show:
- The room of parts
- Dante Del Vecchio holds court
- the Manufactory - carftsman at work
- Pens in the making
- A palatial office
- Lunch break for the guests
- Family Photo