Hey! Yes! It's a brand new year! It's a whole new year to gather new pens, write with new inks, and keep new memories in our favorite notebooks! It's going to be another year filled with fun and love for our favorite writing tools. As we all welcome this brand new year, I'm stepping back to write about two pens from the magical workshop in Napoli that were introduced last year. Leonardo Officina Italiana, one of 2021's most prolific pen makers, launched two new pens in their Furore Collection, the Aquapetra, and Zenzero (Ginger) in late November.
Launched in 2018 as Leonardo's second pen model after the outstanding Momento Zero line, the Furore is inspired by the form and design of vintage Italian pens. The collection also derives its colors from the Amalfi Coast, a magical place where land, sea, and Leonardo's origins meet. The Furore and all the pens from Leonardo's collections are passionately hand-turned by expert craftsmen using old loading systems, giving their unique pens soul and warmth.
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| Leonardo Officina Italiana's latest Furore fountain pens, the Aquapetra and Ginger. |
The Furore Aquapetra combines the charm of seawater and the uniqueness of gemstones like amethyst. Aquapetra is made from deep blue-green resin with pink and purple accents. Looking at the Aquapetra is like seeing through deep seawater and finding beautiful stones and sea glass. The rose gold trim is perfect with the Aquapetra's deep blue-green color which is translucent. This fountain pen also reminds me of the deep turquoise Smeraldo, an earlier Furore model.
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| Leonardo Furore Aquapetra with rose gold trims. |
The Furore Zenzero (Ginger) is a perfect combination of two classics, brown and gray. Ginger is made from resin with marbled effects that suit the classic cigar shape of the Furore. The brown and gray colors almost change in appearance depending on the intensity of light. In bright light, the brown and gray almost appear as reddish-brown, and the gray appears more pronounced. The pen's material is also translucent.
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| Leonardo Furore Ginger with gold trims. |
The Leonardo Furore Aquapetra and Ginger fountain pens have the following measurements and specifications:
- Length, capped: 5.75 in | 14.6 cm
- Length, uncapped, including nib: 5.2 in | 13.2 cm
- Length, cap posted: 6.5 in | 16.5 cm
- Length, barrel only: 3.6 in | 9.1 cm
- Length, section to nib: 1.6 in | 4 cm
- Length, cap: 2.5 inches | 6.35 cm
- Diameter: 0.6 in | 1.52 cm
- Full pen weight: 27 g | 0.95 oz
- Barrel only weight: 18.6 g | 0.65 oz
- Cap weight: 6.4 g | 0.22 oz
- Body material: Resin
- Trim: Rose Gold (Aquapetra); Gold (Ginger)
- Cap: Screw on, postable
- Clip material: Stainless steel
- Nib: Steel or gold in Extra Fine, Fine, Medium,
- Broad, or Stub (1.1mm); Steel nibs available in gold, rhodium, or rose gold finish
- Filling mechanism: Screw-on Leonardo converters (supplied with purchase)
Leonardo Furore fountain pens can be filled with ink using international standard cartridges or the supplied customized screw-on Leonardo converter with a metal knob. Unlike most converters, Leonardo's converters screw to the pen's section for a secure fit and avoid ink spills. The screw-on converter also allows for a piston-like filling mechanism by removing the cap at the end of the barrel.
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| Leonardo Furore fountain parts: cap, section including the nib, converter, barrel, blind cap. |
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| Leonardo has upgraded their converters and included a logo in the converter's knob. It's also very thoughtful that they included matching converters with rose gold and gold trims. |
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| Leonardo installed new clips for this set, they are thinner than those in previous pens. |
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| Previous Furore pens were engraved with Leonardo's branding and pen number in the barrel. This set has engraving on the cap, above the two cap rings. The Aquaptera and Ginger are regular, numbered Furores, but they are not limited edition pens. |
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| The Furore Aquapetra and Ginger fountain pen barrels are highly polished and smooth. |
When I received these two Furore fountain pens from Leonardo, I loved their beautiful material and polished steel nibs. The Furore is available with either steel or 14k gold #6 nibs in Extra Fine, Fine, Medium, Broad, or Stub (1.1mm) widths. The Aquapetra is fitted with a steel Fine nib in rose gold finish engraved with the Leonardo logo and it looks elegant. The Ginger's Medium nib in gold finish looks classy. Both nibs wrote smoothly out of the box without the need for priming or any modifications. Leonardo's nibs are one of the smoothest that I have tried, and writing with them is a wonderful experience.
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| Leonardo's nibs write smoothly out of the box. |
Leonardo Furore fountain pens are turned from solid bars of acrylic resin, and the weight and feel of these pens are well-balanced in one's hand. The tapered grip section is comfortable for long writing sessions. The pen is large enough to write unposted. However, for those who prefer to write with their pens posted, the Furore posts securely on the barrel end of the pen.
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| Leonardo Furore fountain pens: Arancio, Ginger, and Aquapetra. |
The Furore, a standard-sized fountain pen, shares approximately the same length with a Tibaldi N°60, Lamy Al-star, Laban 325, and OnAWhimWoodWorks pen. Uncapped, the Furore is still the same length as all four pens. The Furore is postable, but I love writing with it unposted. Posting makes this pen long and affects my writing speed and comfort. However, posting provides balance in writing to some people, so it helps that the Furore is a postable pen.
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| In happy company. The Aquapetra and Ginger share the same length as Tibaldi, Lamy, Laban, and OnAWhimWoodworks pen. |
I love matching my fountain pens with inks, so I chose J. Herbin Bleu Calanque for the Aquapetra. I then filled Ginger with the Leonardo Sepia Classico ink. Ink flow to the feed was very fast and both the fine and medium nibs wrote smoothly and wet out of the box. The steel nibs are springy and wrote so well without the need for any adjustments or tuning. I wrote a full page for each of the two pens and it's a wonderful experience!
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| Aquapetra pairs beautifully with J. Herbin Bleu Calanque. |
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| Ginger is perfect with Leonardo Sepia Classico. |
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| Leonardo Furore Aquapetra and Ginger fountain pens. |
Furore Aquapetra and Ginger are exceptional and well-designed fountain pens from Leonardo Officina Italiana. These fountain pens are fully handmade in Italy using high-quality, beautiful resin and include a full lifetime mechanical warranty. Like its pen cousins, the Aquapetra and Ginger are delightful to look at, wonderful to use, and great to keep. Get them into your collection!
These days, Leonardo Officina Italiana is one of the most active and talked about pen brands. Anyone into pens who is on Instagram knows this. Leonardo also has the fastest workshops with their current pen collection getting new additions almost every quarter. From the initial series of Momento Zero and Furore, they now have the Cuspide, Speranza, Messenger, Pura, Musis, and quite a number of limited edition pens in various materials in between. The Momento Zero and Furore have also gotten their size upgrades: the "Grande" with piston filling mechanism and ebonite feed. I'm always excited to see new pens coming from the Leonardo workshop, and I'm sure more exciting pens are coming in this year.
Rants of The Archer thanks Leonardo Officina Italiana for providing the Furore Aquapetra and Ginger fountain pens for review purposes. To learn more about these beautiful, colorful, well-crafted pens, visit the Leonardo Officina Italiana website (https://leonardopen.com/) or follow them on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/leonardopenss/) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/leonardo_pens/).
In Europe, Leonardo pens are widely available from retailers such as Fontoplumo, Appelboom, and Fontanna Penna.
In the Philippines, Leonardo pens are available exclusively at Pengrafik (https://www.facebook.com/PenGrafik).
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