The Little Black Pen

[mathogre]

The Little Black Pen. So understated. So hot. So sensual.

Today I mailed a thank you card to my sister-in-law and her family. It was a Japanese print card from The Met, written using my relatively new Lamy Safari Charcoal fountain pen with a black fine nib and a black Lamy ink cartridge. Think what you will. When I saw the envelope and the writing in the sunlight this morning, I was mesmerized. This is akin to the Little Black Dress. Women understand that. The price of an LBD doesn't really matter, as long as it is designed well and looks good on the woman wearing it. An LBD from the Michael Kors Michael line isn't the same as from the Michael Kors Collection, but you'll still be gorgeous in the former if you can't afford to be Drop Dead Gorgeous in the latter. The ink on the envelope this morning in the bright mid-morning sunshine was simple and elegant. It was beautiful.

Pre-pandemic, one of my hobbies was as a fashion photographer. I'm a guy and designed my avatar. I've worked with some very beautiful women. The best are elegant. I was privileged to work with very talented, intelligent, and beautiful women. I earned my work with them, they earned their work with me. It was all business, always business, but we created art, and that's what mattered.

The charcoal Safari with the black nib and black ink cartridge is on some level simple and, probably in some places, common. There are far more expensive and elegant instruments with the capability to seduce the writer and, ideally, to produce work that seduces the reader on appearance alone. Regardless, what I was able to do with my lovely little Safari made me hope that they'll actually notice the script, even if they don't know why.

Yes. It matters.