A fountain pen that never dries out? The answer lies in this pen’s redesigned cap

May 14, 2019

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The fountain pen hasn’t seen much innovation in the past decade aside from garnering a lot of interest on Instagram and Facebook with those therapeutic calligraphy videos. There’s something quite literally old-school about the fountain pen. It’s elegant, classy, has a user experience that’s definitely dated, but hasn’t grown old. People still use fountain pens today, because they’re elite, graceful, and deliver a line quality that’s beyond compare, thanks to the fountain pen’s ability to use different kinds of ink. The fountain pen, however, has two flaws that haven’t gone away with time. A. Sometimes they leak. In your hand, in your pocket, on paper. They’re delicate, and any unwanted pressure on the ink-flow mechanism and the ink gets everywhere. B. When they’re not leaking, they’re busy drying up. All inks are water-based, and since the fountain pen isn’t like a ball-point or gel pen, with an air-tight refill, ink within the fountain pen’s tip is almost always in contact with air, being affected by temperature, etc. This causes the ink around the tip to dry out. A dry tip is a headache because it stops the ink-flow, and you need to manually clean out the tip before you can use the pen again.

With a marvelous bit of problem solving, done through re-engineering a product that hasn’t seen much innovation in over half a century, Indigraph eliminates the pen’s drying out problem. How does it do this? By constantly keeping the pen’s tip in contact with water! The answer seems almost child-like, but with some design and engineering skill, Indigraph manages to pull it off. The pen’s cap is redesigned to house a mini-water-reservoir. When you secure the cap on top of the pen’s nib, the nib makes contact against a specially engineered membrane that keeps it moist. The water doesn’t drip onto the pen’s nib… it just keeps it lubricated, thanks to the special membrane. A clear window on the cap allows you to see if the water in the reservoir has run out, and a simple screw-to-open inlet lets you fill the cap right up.

The pen’s disruptive cap design gives the Indigraph superpowers. You can now use pretty much any sort of ink with the fountain pen, without worrying about it drying or spoiling the pen’s intricate ink-flow mechanism. The Indigraph works with all sorts of ink, including Chinese and Indian inks, making it ideal for calligraphers, artists, designers, drafters, and hobbyists. This ability to constantly maintain (and even clean) itself practically makes the Indigraph for both experienced and amateur fountain pen users. The Indigraph requires no upkeep apart from the periodic refilling of ink into its body… an activity that’s therapeutic and exciting. The pen comes with a detachable pocket clip too, giving it the flair of a Lamy, with its distinctly minimal body design. Armed with three nibs for different applications ranging from line-work to calligraphy to fine penmanship, the Indigraph successfully makes an old, high-maintenance writing instrument new, innovative, and easy-to-use again!

Designers: Iñigo Echeverria, Unai Rollan, Izar Carazo & Sergio Errandonea

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The IndiGraph fountain pen does not dry out and allows the use of Indian/Chinese ink.

How does it achieve this? Using the advanced IndiGraph technology, a water reservoir is provided in the upper part of the pen cap, separated by a custom-designed membrane, which allows the passage of moisture – but not water – and stops the nib from ever drying out.

Unlike other fountain pens, IndiGraph allows the use of Indian inks. What’s special about this? While using this type of ink, when the ink dries, a waterproof film of shellac is created which protects the drawing from water, making it ideal for working with watercolors or inking comics, among other graphic arts. This means that, if you become a true Indigrapher, you won’t have to worry about ruining your work – with Indigraph that won’t happen.

The origin of the idea goes back to the need to be able to draw in the open air with Indian ink without a dip pen. In the 1980s, the English company ‘Osmiroid ’ produced a special pen for this purpose. The pen consisted of a normal fountain pen but with a nib that could be disassembled to clean it. The problem was that whenever you wanted to use it, it was always dry. For this reason, a couple of years ago they started to think about the problem, and it occurred to them that the important thing was to keep the nib moist and prevent the ink from drying.