John Mottishaw at nibs.com now retired

[junglejim]

Just been confirmed that John Mottishaw is now retired and no longer running nibs.com

Article link: http://thepenfamily.com/blogs/news/n...jfrg%3D.NxCsYX

[mark320i]

I am glad for John but unfortunately the pen family has no concept of after sale support and they clearly don't care! They are plain terrible. I try my best not to buy from them and have sold almost all of my ASC collection. Shame I was looking at the DF2 a few days ago.

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[Silverbreeze]

We will miss him, between Richard and John they trained many of the current Nibsters, I wouldn’t be shocked to find Masuyama will retire soon

I will probably be using Nibs by these three for the rest of my life

Doubt I am alone

Hope John retired soon enough to enjoy it


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[Jon Szanto]

Above and beyond his legacy in the world of pens and nibs, John Mottishaw was a remarkably fine person. From the first time I met him I knew that he was an individual of distinction, not the least in his dedication to his craft and care for his patrons. A marvelous person to hang with, as well, and I wish him the very best in his golden years.

[guyy]

John did great work on my pens. I’ll miss him, but that’s just selfishness on my part.

There comes a time. Here’s hoping for his happiness in retirement.

[bwc1983]

What a shame for us but CONGRATS John! John did some fine work on my pens! The best set ups ever.


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[grainweevil]

There comes a time.

Misread that as "there comes a tine" and thought how appropriate. Hope he enjoys his retirement.

[BlkWhiteFilmPix]

Thanks for the link, Jim.

Grateful to John for tuning the Pelikan pens I bought from him, and I wish him the best in his well-deserved retirement.

[724Seney]

I am glad for John but unfortunately the pen family has no concept of after sale support and they clearly don't care! They are plain terrible. I try my best not to buy from them and have sold almost all of my ASC collection. Shame I was looking at the DF2 a few days ago.

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I agree 100%
RIP nibs.com, as we knew it.............

[724Seney]

Above and beyond his legacy in the world of pens and nibs, John Mottishaw was a remarkably fine person. From the first time I met him I knew that he was an individual of distinction, not the least in his dedication to his craft and care for his patrons. A marvelous person to hang with, as well, and I wish him the very best in his golden years.

Well said.
Yes, John was a true "class act."
Happy for him but sad for us. He is an irreplaceable icon in the world of fountain pens.

[TSherbs]

Some day I'd like to own a Mottishaw nib. Have to buy it in the wild, I guess.

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[724Seney]

Case In Point:
This (see below) was posted on FPN today.
Yes folks, John Mottishaw is gone and The Pen Family is now fully in charge of nibs.com.

"wa2rjm Today 7:56
Have a huge problem with Nibs.com - It seems that their voice mail is always full and they do not reply to email messages. I ordered two Pilot Custom 912 pens with no modifications. Paid $512 for two, only received one and there is now way I can get this rectified. They seem to be totally unresponsive. But, they took me for $256 on the never received pen."

[ethernautrix]

Hm. I wonder if Nakaya will be available from more authorized dealers in the US.

[whorne]

I wish John all the best in his new life!!!!

[scud80]

They emailed me about a Nakaya I ordered coming in on Sep 30. I replied to change the shipping address and add an accessory, and haven't heard anything from them since then. I tried emailing several of their email addresses with no luck. So it's not just after-sale service, since I haven't paid for this one yet. I'm too recent to have gotten nib work by Mottishaw, but the nibs.com customer service now is severely lacking.

Case In Point:
This (see below) was posted on FPN today.
Yes folks, John Mottishaw is gone and The Pen Family is now fully in charge of nibs.com.

"wa2rjm Today 7:56
Have a huge problem with Nibs.com - It seems that their voice mail is always full and they do not reply to email messages. I ordered two Pilot Custom 912 pens with no modifications. Paid $512 for two, only received one and there is now way I can get this rectified. They seem to be totally unresponsive. But, they took me for $256 on the never received pen."

[mark320i]

Welcome to the Pen Family! This is normal for them

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[Farmboy]

From what I understand all the customer service requests are now centralized and run through the Miami office.

[MHBRU]

I absolutely love the Nakayas I purchased from him and wish John the very best in his retirement! Time will tell if I ever order from nibs.com again, tho. Service is everything.

[PenInvestigations]

Hm. I wonder if Nakaya will be available from more authorized dealers in the US.

That would be nice!

[junglejim]

Hm. I wonder if Nakaya will be available from more authorized dealers in the US.

I have been giving this a bit of thought. Nakayas are noted for their trademark "For Your Hand Only", which means each nib is ground to the customer's specifications, either by an American nibsmith or by Yoshida-san in Japan. So that would probably leave out such big notables as Goulet, Anderson, and Vanness. While there are several qualified nibsmiths in the US, very few would have the money up-front to pay in advance for future inventory, since Nakayas aren't exactly sitting in a warehouse waiting to be shipped out.

Dan Smith at the Nibsmith comes to mind, as does Ron Zorn at Main Street Pens, and Kirk Speer at Pen Realm. Linda Kennedy at Indy-Pen-Dance certainly has the expertise, having been trained by Richard Binder, but I don't know if she wants to put up the advance payment which would probably run around $8000+ (guesstimate.) Would Mark Bacas at Nibgrinder also want to put up the advance funds? Gena Salorino would be perfect for the job. She was an appentice to John Mottishaw for 4+ years and has worked on many Nakayas over the years. She has also traveled to Japan and visited the Nakaya office and had dinner with Yoshida-san and the staff.

I think in the end it would be who Yoshida-san would "personally" trust to keep up the reputation of Nakaya. This personal trust he had with John Mottishaw.

All the Best.