Fountain Pen Review: Otto Hutt design 06 Seashell Pink

Last year has been a remarkable time for everyone, including Rants of The Archer. It was a time for rebirth, and a time of discovery. While the pandemic wreaked havoc on every single country in the world, products from across the globe poured in. I got the opportunity to review amazingly excellent products through brand collaborations, and also made friends with wonderful people from different places. One brand that truly impressed me with the quality of their products is Otto Hutt. Their products are well-crafted and designed for functionality. They're beautiful pens, too!

When Otto Hutt was relaunched in 2016, they offered a modern collection of seven different design lines, design01 to design07. Each line has unique variations in shape, material, and pen type. design06 has a classic and modern design with a shape that fits perfectly into the hand. The series has rich color schemes in black and red; soft, calming pastels in summer colors of cashmere, lilac, sand, and pistachio; elegant rose and white with rose gold accents; and lacquered classics ash gray, seashell pink, lavender violet, and arctic blue.

Otto Hutt design06 series is available as a fountain pen, rollerball pen, and twist ballpoint. All pens are 100% made in Germany, and everything is produced on-site in the Otto Hutt factory in Pforzheim. This review is focused on the design06 Seashell Pink fountain pen with rose gold accents, a lovely, elegant, and well-built fountain pen.

 

Otto Hutt design 06 Seashell Pink with rose gold trims.

design06 Seashell Pink is one of the four popular colors from the Otto Hutt Configurator that was made available in their standard product range in early 2020 as a response to customer requests. Arctic Blue and Lavender Violet with platinum décor, Seashell Pink with rose-gold fittings, and Ash Grey with aubergine-coloured décor are now available as regular offerings. design06 Seashell Pink is made of solid aluminum with a special lacquer coat in matt finish, giving it a unique feel.

Otto Hutt writing instruments all carry the label "Made in Germany." Initiated by the German Federation of Jewelry and Watches, this label shows that the product came from Germany and is a unique distinction within the jewelry industry. To get the distinction of this label, a brand must fulfill an extensive range of requirements. To fulfill such requirements, Otto Hutt products are exclusively manufactured in Germany using high-quality materials and a sustainable manufacturing process.

Otto Hutt design06 fountain pens have the following measurements and specifications:

• Length, capped: 5.4 in | 13.9 cm
• Length, uncapped: 4.8 in | 12.2 cm
• Length, cap posted: 6.1 in | 15.5 cm
• Length, barrel only: 3.14 in | 8 cm
• Length, section to nib: 1.6 in | 4 cm 
• Length, cap: 2.4 inches | 6.1 cm
• Weight, capped/empty barrel: 44.9 g | 1.58 oz
• Weight, cap only: 13 g | 0.45 oz
• Weight, barrel only: 30 g | 1 oz
• Body material: Solid aluminum
• Clip material: Brass, coated with platinum
• Nib material: Steel or 18ct gold
• Nib widths: EF, F, M, or B
• Filling mechanism: Otto Hutt converter or cartridges (standard international long or short) 

This Otto Hutt design06 Seashell Pink fountain pen has a bicolor medium nib.

design6 fountain pens can be filled with ink using standard international short or long cartridges. It can also be inked using the Otto Hutt converter included in each fountain pen purchase. The Otto Hutt converter is branded with their logo and this helps me to prevent pen and converter mix-ups and to use the correct converter for each pen. A mismatched pen and converter could result in breakage or ink spills.

The design06 has Otto Hutt's unique mechanical spring clip that is handcrafted from solid brass with high-quality platinum coating. To ensure the quality of the clip's design and functionality, it is checked by hand several times. This clip is a special feature of Otto Hutt writing instruments. It is highly polished and constructed well. There are no sharp corners or uneven parts that could snag a shirt pocket or pen case slot. It feels solid, very sturdy, and the spring works perfectly all the time.

All design06 pens, including fountain pens, rollerball pens, and ballpoint pens have the Otto Hutt mechanical spring clip.

The pen's cap finial is engraved with the Otto Hutt logo, in the same rose gold color of all the pen's trims and accents. 

Otto Hutt logo on the cap finial.

Otto Hutt pens are unique writing instruments with individual numbering which make them valuable to those who collect them. A six-digit numerical code is engraved on the opposite side of the cap finial. This code is also noted on the warranty card, and it ensures that every writing device is a unique item and one of a kind.

Each Otto Hutt writing instrument is unique and has a six-digit code engraved on the cap. This code ensures that the Otto Hutt writing instrument belongs to its owner for a lifetime.

The cap ring is engraved with the Otto Hutt logo.

The other side of the cap ring is engraved with Germany, indicating that it is exclusively made in Germany using high-quality materials.

Otto Hutt's pen design and construction are truly impressive. These long brass threads in the barrel and section ensure stability and durability. These threads will always stay in place and prevent unnecessary loosening of pen parts.

Brass threads on Otto Hutt's pens ensure stability and durability.

Otto Hutt offers both steel and 18ct gold nibs for their fountain pens. The nib on this Seashell Pink fountain pen is a happy surprise for me because it is a lovely bicolor nib that is platinum- and rose gold-plated. The plating is neatly done, and it's very pretty. I also noticed that this nib has the Otto Hutt logo engraved onto it instead of the previous design of a stylized image of a half nib.

Nib widths for design06 are available in EF, F, M, or B. This nib has the Otto Hutt logo and width (M) engraved onto it. 

The nib on my design06 Seashell Pink fountain pen is very pretty. I love the platinum- and rose-gold-plating on this nib which matches the rose gold plating of the section, clip, cap ring, finial, and barrel end.

design06 is my second Otto Hutt fountain pen after the design04 I received in October last year. The cigar-shaped form of design06 makes it longer and chunkier than the slim design04. The two pens are both made from solid brass and have the Otto Hutt unique mechanical spring clips.

Otto Hutt design04 (top) and design06 (bottom) fountain pens. 

However, they have different nib design and width. design04 on the right has a bicolor platinum- and yellow gold-plated nib. It also has a different nib design than the platinum- and rose-gold nib of design06.

Otto Hutt design06 is a cigar-shaped standard-sized fountain pen. While capped, it is longer than design04, almost the same length as a Lamy AL-star or Stanford Wood Studio's Ghost's Breath, but shorter than a Leonardo Furore.

Uncapped, however, design06 is now the same length as the design04, and shorter than the other three pens in the batch.

I love matching pens and inks. To test how the design06's steel medium nib writes, I filled it with the latest Robert Oster Shake'N'Shimmy Rose Gold Antiqua ink with rose gold flecks/shimmer. The ink looked so beautiful pouring out of the rose gold medium nib which wrote so well out of the box. It's smooth, springy, and wet. This pen's steel nib is so good, it's perfect! Get one for your collection!

Otto Hutt's design06 fountain pen is an excellent pen. It's elegant, classy, and modern. This full-sized cigar-shaped pen is well-built, sturdy, and comfortable for writing. The barrel and cap are made from solid brass, fitted with the Otto Hutt mechanical spring clip. The pen's overall grainy texture has a unique feel to it. The design06 also comes with a 10-year availability and guarantees on all parts. Get one from Otto Hutt where it retails for €160.00, or from their authorized sellers in 23 countries worldwide. Find the one nearest you!

Last year, Otto Hutt celebrated 100 years of traditional craftsmanship, technical perfection, and timeless design. The company marked this important milestone with many unique products including Unique by Otto Hutt, a bilingual magazine, new pastel colors for design06, three new additions to design04, and the iconic and innovative designC fountain pen by award-winning international designer Mark Braun. 

Rants of The Archer thanks Otto Hutt for providing the design06 fountain pen for review purposes. Visit the Otto Hutt website or click the links below to learn more about their series 01 to 07:

• design01 - classic
• design02 - classical style with traditional artisanal craftsmanship
• design03 - modern
• design04 - pure elegance
• design05 - functional
• design06 
• design07 - perfection in form and functionality

Follow Otto Hutt in their new adventures!

• Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ottohuttgermany)
• Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/ottohutt/)

Fountain Pen Review: Kaweco Liliput

 

I have magician friends in Nürnberg, Germany, and they are hiding in a place called Kaweco House of Magic and Sorcery. They make small, tiny pens that become big pens as soon as you uncap them. My friends are led by wizards, and one of them is Sebastian Gutberlet. Yes, my friends, Sebastian is a wizard and he is running Kaweco's team of magicians in Nürnberg. Magicians!

That scenario is only a fantasy, but I will always think of the people behind Kaweco as magicians. That was my initial reaction to the Kaweco Liliput when I first held it, uncapped it, and screwed the cap onto the barrel: This pen is a work of magic!

When Kaweco's Sales and Marketing Manager Sebastian Gutberlet sent me a box of Kaweco products last year, he kindly included an aluminum shiny black Liliput fountain pen. I've been curious about this tiny aluminum pen since it was reintroduced in 2011, after Kaweco was revived by H&M Gutberlet Gmbh. I wanted to know how it writes, and see if I could write with it.

Kaweco introduced the Liliput fountain pen in ebonite in 1910. The remake is now made from different metals, with a matching ballpoint pen. The Liliput in this review is made from lightweight aluminum with a shiny black finish, but the line includes other colors/finishes: aluminum (shiny silver); lead-free brass (eco brass smooth satin, eco brass wavy); stainless steel; copper; and tempered steel which is used on the fireblue steel Liliput.

The Liliput is a small and compact pen. It is the smallest fountain pen made by Kaweco, and one of the smallest fountain pens in the world that uses standard short international cartridges. Due to its size, the Liliput can only take short cartridges. I have seen converters for Kaweco Sport fountain pens, but none for the Liliput.

Kaweco makes its own ink in 30ml bottles and short international cartridges, available in 8 colors: Pearl Black, Midnight Blue, Royal Blue, Paradise Blue, Palm Green, Caramel Brown, Ruby Red, and Summer Purple. In 2016, two new ink colors were introduced: Smokey Gray and Sunrise Orange.

Lots of parts for a small pen: cap, barrel, section, feed and nib holder, feed, and nib. 

The aluminum Liliput is the lightest among all Liliput fountain pens. It weighs ~11.3 grams, and measures ~3.8 inches long while capped, 3.4 inches uncapped, but becomes a full-sized pen at ~5.0 inches when the cap is screwed onto the barrel.

The barrel of the Liliput is even smaller and thinner than the barrel of the Sport series. At a diameter of 0.4 inch, it could almost fit in the Sport's barrel.

Kaweco Sport (left) and Kaweco Liliput (right) barrels.

The threading on the end of the Liliput's barrel allows the cap to be screwed on securely, converting the pen into a full-size length of ~5.0 inches, comfortable enough for writing.

Because of its material, the aluminum Liliput cannot be transformed into an eyedropper pen. Prolonged contact with ink may corrode the barrel.

The Liliput's screw-on cap serves two purposes: nib protection and barrel extension. When the cap is screwed onto the section, it protects the nib and prevents ink from drying up. Once it is uncapped and screwed (posted) onto the barrel, it becomes an extension, and transforms the pen into a full-sized fountain pen. The Liliput's cap is a wonder, but I wish the Kaweco wizards can install a clip on it.

The logo KaWeCo (Federhalter-Fabrik Koch, Weber & Co), or “KA-WE-CO” in the three-part circle was first used in 1930. It's still being used today in nearly all Kaweco pens.

The Liliput's section has a feed and nib holder, probably to avoid rusting and corrosion from the prolonged contact between the aluminum section and the wet feed and nib. The feed and nib holder is threaded, and screws onto the section for a tight fit.

The medium stainless steel nib was scratchy, and hard starting at first, so I thoroughly cleaned both feed and nib to take off any manufacturing residue. I widened the feed's ink channel, and the space between the tines. 

Bock, a German nib manufacturer, makes nibs for Kaweco. The Kaweco nib imprint includes the width (M), logo, and the words 'Germany' and 'since 1883' under a filigree-like pattern. Five nib sizes are available for the Liliput: extra fine (EF), fine (F), medium (M), broad (B), and double broad (BB).

Other nibs available for the Liliput are: gold, rhodium plated gold, or a bi-color gold nib. The carbon black steel nib is perfect for the black Liliput. Some of these nibs are available for order at MostWanted-pens.com.

The Liliput's nib.

Kaweco uses identical stainless steel Bock nibs on the Liliput, Sport, and Student series. This feature of Kaweco fountain pens is helpful because I can easily swap nibs from one pen to another.

Left to right: Liliput, Sport Skyline, Student.

The Liliput, capped, is ~3.8 inches long. Uncapped, it's only ~3.4 inches.

When the Liliput's cap is screwed onto its barrel, the pen becomes a full-sized pen at ~5.0 inches, almost the same length with the Sport at ~5.3 inches.

Writing with a posted pen is new to me. I tried writing with the Liliput without the cap, and it was uncomfortable. Writing with a short and slender pen felt like there was no balance between my hand and the pen. The Liliput's cap not only extends the length of the pen, it also provides additional weight and balance.

Writing with the pen uncapped was still possible, but uncomfortable.

The Liliput is a comfortable pen to write with once the cap is screwed/posted onto the barrel.

Writing sample of Kaweco Liliput with a broad nib inked with Kaweco Paradise Blue.

The aluminum shiny black Kaweco Liliput is a well-made, compact, and solid fountain pen that is uniquely designed to be portable and easy to use. The stainless steel nib writes well, and changing nibs is very easy. It's a great pen and the perfect companion for small (and big) notebooks. If you are looking for a portable fountain pen, nothing's better than a Kaweco Liliput.

The Liliput fits comfortably in my TN's pen holder.

The Liliput and other Kaweco pens are widely available in many reputable sellers worldwide. For a list of sellers, visit Kaweco's Store Locator.

I received the Kaweco Liliput fountain pen in this review free of charge from Kaweco Germany. For more details, visit the Kaweco website.

In the Philippines, Kaweco Liliput pens are exclusively available at Scribe Writing Essentials stores in Eastwood Mall, Shangrila Plaza Mall, Glorietta 5, SM Aura, and SM Megamall. Their 6th store has opened in SM City Cebu in April. For their complete location/address, contact numbers, and store hours, visit the Scribe website.