At the beginning of 2023, Samuel Naldi started coordinating a special project inspired by the emblem of Zug – the cherry, in collaboration with Montegrappa. Towards the end of the year, Montegrappa x Style of Zug Extra 1930 “Kirsch” – a pen built on the chassis of the famous 1930 model, distinguished by a wooden barrel and sterling silver elements – was launched, available in only 50 copies worldwide.
The edition was well received by the Swiss and collectors worldwide and marked the beginning of the first such collaboration. A year later, Samuel Naldi joins forces with the renowned Nino Marino of Delta Pens to launch a Style of Zug Exclusive edition. The launch was announced a few days ago, and the store is already running low on particular sizes of nibs. Let’s find out more about this limited edition and if you can still get your hands on it.
The inspiration
The inspiration behind this pen has a lot to do with the return of the Delta Dolce Vita Oversized – one of the most iconic writing instruments created in the last 40 years. Samuel ordered and sold plenty of Dolce Vita pens at Style of Zug, but when he wanted to order more, Nino Marino said over the phone: “The oversized fine nibs for Dolce Vita are delayed, but if you decide, I can insert an original vintage Delta oversized 14k gold nib.” Samuel was intrigued by his answer and asked for confirmation. While Nino confirmed Samuel was already looking for flights to Naples to discover himself the nibs.
Well, we’re talking here about a very small batch of nibs produced back in the early 2000s and found in the Delta archive: 9 extra-fine, 9 fine, 9 medium, and 9 stub. Samuel saw the opportunity and after brainstorming with the Delta team, they came up with the idea to use these last 36 vintage nibs to launch a Style of Zug Exclusive edition based on the charm of the Dolce Vita Oversized. It wasn’t, however, that easy to implement the idea.
“It was all about how are going to make that a Style of Zug edition because the editions we create always must have a story, there must be an idea behind it, something very emotional and strong that every time you pick that pen you enjoy it the most.” – Samuel Naldi
The Name
While it is pretty obvious for Samuel’s close friends, other may wonder what the name “Good Life” means. Well, it has something to do with Samuel’s fondness for the late Frank Sinatra.
“I was thinking of Dolce Vita but I wanted more from the name and then what came to my mind was a song that Ol’ Blue Eyes was singing called “The Good Life” and we all immediately got excited and said this is it “The Delta Good Life by Style of Zug” – Samuel Naldi
The making of
Barrel in the Style of Zug Grey Pantone color, piston filling mechanism instead of the classic cartridge/converter the Dolce Vita comes with and many other technical details have been discussed before moving on to the manufacturing process. Right after choosing the feed color for the nib, Samuel had a revelation: “I wanted more than just a pen, and wanted our Goodfellas to feel courage whenever they pick up this pen, and I was thinking of a sentence, of a quote to be recurring on other editions we’ll be producing in the future. So I think about it, and then I found it – ‘There is no fear in the heart of a writer’.”
The English sounded good, but Samuel felt that it lacked character, so he told himself it had to be in Italian. After sending the quote in Italian to the production, he had an even better idea.
“Then I was watching Toto – the most important Neapolitan comedian and another idea came to mind. So I said to myself, Delta is in Naples and Neapolitan is such an important, romantic, poetic and musical language: we’re not going to write it in English, not in Italian, we are going to write it in Neapolitan.” – Samuel Naldi
So he asked Nino for help and they got the quote translated to Neapolitan by a local poet. Therefore the quote “There is no fear in the hear of a writer” was turned into “Nunn’ esiste paura dint’ô core ‘e ‘nu scrittore.” From this point, everything was set and ready for production.
The Edition
Given the 36 vintage 14k Delta nibs, 9 for each size (extra-fine, fine, medium, stub) the edition is limited to 9 copies worldwide, all numbered right below the ‘Good Life’ engraving detail on the back of the cap. The edition comes on a Dolce Vita Oversized chassis and it’s made from precious resin in the Style of Zug Grey Pantone Color. There is a hidden ink window (specifically developed by Delta for this edition) to add to the mystery of this edition.
There is a Delta in-house ebonite feed in burgundy that contrasts nicely with the grey, and the pen comes equipped with a piston-filling system (a special request of Samuel Naldi for this edition). There is also a beautiful package, a special Delta ink as well as an authenticity certificate signed by Samuel Naldi and Nino Marino.
Availability
Since this is a Style of Zug exclusive edition, you have to contact the boutique or Samuel Naldi directly at [email protected] As far as I know, Samuel already announced on one of its latest Instagram posts that there are only 2x M and 3 x Stub versions available.
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