When I was in primary school, 3rd year, I received my first fountain pen with my engraved name on it. I still remember it very vividly that it was a Pelikan bi-color (red and steel) fountain pen with a steel nib, and we all got royal blue ink with it. The time to start writing with ink was come. In all honesty, from that moment on, I have always associated Pelikan with school instruments and never with fine writing instruments. But this changed drastically as soon as I was old enough to get into higher end writing instruments, isn’t it? And there you learn a second lesson: INK matters.
Yes, let’s go a little bit back into the name of this very online magazine; INKstable. We often tend to put a lot of attention to the writing instrument itself. The materials, the finish, the shape and so on. But as it is the case for a very performant car, the liquids you put inside, affect the performance. If you drive a sports car in particular, you really need to take care to what kind of oil, fuel and other liquids you use. For example, fuel with a higher octane figure will keep your engine crisp and clean over many miles. And in the case of a fountain pen, the liquid matters as well. The quality of the ink you use will affect the writing experience immensely. And this is where one of the most impressive ink collections kicks in.
Inspired by nature
“Edelstein” (German for gem) Ink is a completely newly developed ink. The collection consists of 15 brilliant inks in gemstone colors, whose special formula provides a special writing experience. With Edelstein Ink, the nib glides extra smoothly over the paper because it is precisely matched to the filigree fountain pen components. But the experience begins much earlier. In fact, the heavy flacons made of thick-walled glass, styled in a soft design, are also very high-quality and unique. Even the packaging was mentioned at the red dot awards of 2012. So a lot of love for details even if we are talking “only” about ink. In addition Pelikan releases every year since 2012 a so called ‘Ink of the Year’: every year Pelikan introduces a fresh and modern gemstone ink – limited to just one calendar year.
Yearly limited
Radiant and heart-warming is the best way to describe the new Edelstein® Ink of the Year 2019 “Star Ruby”. A beautiful colour composition in burgundy-pink that convinces with its luminosity. The colour-matching gemstone “Star Ruby” from nature fascinates with an enclosed glittering star, which gives the gemstone its name. This colour has rightly been chosen as the winning selection from more than 1200 colour ideas for the Edelstein® Ink. The 2017 edition was one of my absolute favorites: Smoky Quartz. A beautiful, rich and warm shade of brown. So elegant. And as well the 2016 Edition, which was “Aquamarine” and the 2018 “Olivine” were nothing less than amazing colors. You will find the entire list of inks right at the bottom of this post. But now, let’s concentrate quickly to what seems to be the newest release from Pelikan for this years “Ink of the year”: Golden Beryl.
Ink of the year 2021
Beryl is a single mineral with many varieties that are distinguished by their color. Golden Beryl are the greenish-yellow to yellow varieties of Beryl. Beryl is best known for its famous gem varieties Emerald and Aquamarine, but other varieties such as Heliodor and Golden Beryl are also used as gemstones. So maybe not one of the most familiar gems for the majority but the result that Pelikan has achieved with this color is absolutely fantastic, at least from the pictures I have seen so far. What makes this years’ edition so significant ist that Pelikan has decided to break new ground by introducing its first ever shimmering ink to the Edelstein line. I’m very curious to see where the color shades actually will be on paper but for the moment all I can say is, that the color seem to be something between beige and a golden light brown. This is at least what it looks like on some pictures. Have you already found your favorite color?
All the Edelstein Inks at a glance
onyx (black)
tanzanite (blue-black)
sapphire (blue)
topaz (turqoise-blue)
jade (light green)
aventurine (green)
mandarin (orange)
ruby (dark red)
turmaline (plum) “Ink of the Year 2012”
amber “Ink of the Year 2013”
garnet “Ink of the Year 2014”
amethyst “Ink of the Year 2015”
aquamarine “Ink of the Year 2016”
smoky quartz “Ink of the Year 2017”
olivine “Ink of the Year 2018”
star ruby “Ink of the Year 2019”
moonstone “Ink of the Year 2020”
golden beryl “Ink of the Year 2021”