Gravitas Pens is doing some seriously cool stuff. I’ve already reviewed the Skull Pen I impulse-bought after seeing the online shop in one of Brad’s Twitch streams, and now I’m the grateful owner of this Skittle Fountain Pen. Gravitas is such a good name for Ben’s business, because these pens have presence. They have attitude. There’s almost a kind of animas or sentience to them, the way created things sometimes have. They have gravitas. Receiving one feels momentous, and opening the package is an event. And then there’s a rad pen.
This Skittle matte finish definitely lives up to the magic promised by the ambiance of the brand. It is flawlessly rainbow, with each color blending smoothly into the next in transitions that make it look almost like an illusion. The only interruption to the color is a small laser-etched logo at the base of the cap. It’s a super fun color and I love it.
The craftsmanship is also impeccable. The stainless-steel machining is precise and everything is perfectly flush, with smooth joins and easy triple-start threads. At each end of the pen, there’s a small hollow into which is fitted a silicon nitride ball, which protects the points from being damaged.
The one warning I will give about this pen is that it is a beast. It’s very large, comparable to an Opus 88 Omar in size, and is easily the heaviest pen in my collection at 74 grams. If you don’t like heavy pens, you might want to check out some other Gravitas models that also come in this cool finish—or you may fall in love with one of the other colors, or fancy laser-etched designs. I don’t mind a heavy pen as long as it’s well balanced and doesn’t cause fatigue. This one writes so well that it doesn’t wear out my hand when writing, though I wouldn’t use it for a super long writing session. It did fine as my notes pen for an hour-long lecture.
This pen came with a very wet medium nib that writes more like a broad, in my opinion. The bold line surprised me a bit, but it writes very smoothly and I love how it shows ink characteristics. The Gravitas pens come with Jowo #6 nibs, which I have used in many other pens, and I would say this one was out of character for the labeled size. Most of my medium Jowo nibs are true mediums, so I’m guessing this one was either mislabeled or an anomaly. It doesn't bother me, but YMMV. It should also be noted that this nib is interchangeable with other Jowo nibs, so if you already have a favorite nib at home, you can always mix and match.
The pen comes in a vibrant rainbow tube with the Gravitas brand name in Ogham, and includes a converter and a generous six standard international cartridges. It is very reasonably priced at 80 Euros, or about 94 American dollars, and I highly recommend you go get one before Ben figures out he could be charging a lot more for pens of this quality.
I’m an official Gravitas fan, now. I’m sure it won’t be long before my two are joined by more--especially as Ben seems to be rolling out new ideas and finishes faster than I can keep up. If you’re interested, keep an eye on the Instagram page where shop updates are always announced. Just be ready to buy a pen before you look.
(Gravitas Pens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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