七宝 - Seven Treasures
Fountain Pen
A vintage-inspired bakelite fountain pen handcrafted with Japanese traditional shippoyaki art by Master Okagaki Yukie.
DESIGNS
Maroon Bakelite with: Sangria (left) or Cosmos (right) Shippo.
You can choose either of these.
Black Bakelite with: Sangria (left) or Moonlight (right) Shippo
You can choose either of these.
Fire Bakelite with: Verdant (left) or Sangria (right) Shippo
You can choose either of these.
NIBS
Jowo #6 stainless steel nib
Jowo #6 stainless steel gold-plated nib
Jowo #6 stainless steel gold plated two-tone nib
Wancher 18K gold nib (+13,000 JPY or $130)
FEEDS
3 feed options: plastic, black ebonite, red ebonite
Plastic feed - No extra cost
Black Ebonite (+3000 JPY or $30)
FREE upgrade when ordering 2 pens
Red Ebonite (+5000 JPY or $50)
FREE upgrade when ordering 2 pens
IN REAL LIFE
Our vision for 2020 is also the goal fo this project, which is to create a new special fountain pen that does not only embrace a Japanese tradition art - 七宝焼 (Shippoyaki) but also supports the work of cloisonne artists to continue. We wish this project will partially help to preserve this unusual award-winning Japanese Cloisonne art and after this, the generation of Shippoyaki artisans will be expanded to a younger age.
We are honored to work with Japanese national Shippoyaki artist - Okagaki Yukie whose artworks are now exhibited in famous museums around the world.
Up till 2013, the smallest frame of her Cloisonne artwork is evaluated at 920,000 Yen which is around 9000 US dollars, shown in the Art Annual book via www.art-annual.jp. However, the value of the art is not in the price tag but it's in the effort and techniques that the artist has spent many decades to work on.
Our project is now LIVE on Kickstarter, please visit here to back for us!
Artisan Profiles
1. Shippoyaki Artist - 岡垣幸得 (Okagaki Yukie)
Master Okagaki Yukie was born in 1936 in Hiroshima Prefecture. Growing up in the land of traditional crafts, Master developed a strong passion for arts and designs, and had her life tied to this field by starting her major at Kuwasawa Design School.
In 1968, after a few years working for Nitto Boseki (日東紡績) Co., Ldt., Master Okagaki founded Okagaki Shippo Research Institute (岡垣七宝研究所) where she and a group of artisans have done a lot of research about Japanese Shippo as well as created many Shippoyaki masterpieces.
In 1970, Master Okagaki joined Japan Cloisonne Craft Association (日本七宝クラフト協会入会).
In 1973, she received the Tokyo Governor's Award at the Japan Cloisonne Craft Association Exhibition (日本七宝クラフト協会展東京都知事賞受賞).
In 1975, Master Okagaki's shippoyaki art was chosen for 日展 - Nitten The Japan Fine Arts Exhibition, one of the most honorable recognition for artists in Japan.
In the same year Master's artwork was selected for the Japanese Contemporary Crafts Exhibition (日本現代工芸美術展入選).
In 1978, Master Okagaki won the 1st International Cloisonne Exhibition Bronze Award (第1回国際七宝展銅賞) and Japan Cloisonne Writer Association Award. She won another 8 awards in these two exhibitions following years.
1990 marked her first Shippoyaki artwork exhibition in Tottori Daimaru. This exhibition has been held for 6 times until today.
In 1993, Master Okagaki became a writer of Japan Cloisonne Writers Association Exhibition (日本七宝作家協会展審査員)
In 2009, she won the Yukawa Sosuke Prize (湯川惣助賞受賞).
Since then, Master Okagaki served as Vice President of Nakazono Cloisonne Association (中園七宝協会副会長) and now a special member of the Japan Cloisonne Writers Association (日本七宝作家協会特別会員).
2. Fountain Pen Engineer -
岡垣太造 (Okagaki Taizo)
Mr. Okagaki is the founder and now president of Wancher Inc.
Mr. Okagaki graduated from Tottori University, then Tokyo University and had his researched done in University of Hawaii.
After conducting "Desert Greening" research for ODA in Egypt, August 1990, he came back to Japan and started his business with fountain pens.
He is the inventor of many fountain pen designs and art but the two most recent ones are Dream Pen and Kiei Urushi.
Dream Pen is ebonite fountain pen with Japanese traditional art. The project launched on Kickstarter in 2018 and received a huge support from fountain pen community.
In 2019, on behalf of Wancher, he received "Vibrant HABATAKU Small and Medium Enterprises 300" Award among thousands of entrepreneurs across Japan.
In this same year, he released his new Urushi technique called 季映 /Kiei/ which features real natural objects onto fountain pen body.
After many years of researching and making, Mr. Okagaki finally came up with the final prototype of 七宝 - Seven Treasures fountain pen which he made in collaboration with Shippoyaki Artist - 岡垣幸得 (Okagaki Yukie).
He has successfully created fountain pen body from a rare material - Bakelite. In addition, this will be his first fountain pen model that works with piston filler mechanism.
More Details
Shape: Flat top
Fountain pen material: Bakelite
Art: Japanese cloisonne Shippoyaki (on cap crown)
Design: Black with Moonlight Shippo, Orange with Verdant Shippo, Red with Cosmos Shippo
Clip & accents: Gold plated
Filling mechanism: Piston filler
Nib: Jowo #6 stainless steel (EF, F, M, B), Wancher 18K gold nib (F, M)
Feed: Plastic, Ebonite feed
