In Episode 65 of The Pen Addict Podcast Myke and I are joined by my blogging compatriot Ed Jelley. Ed joins our follow up discussion on two Kickstarter projects - the Visionnaire and Ajoto - as well as a few other popular subjects. I then proceed to fawn over Ed's fantastic blog, some of his favorite pens, and the great resources he provides. And don't miss Ed's tattoo story!
Visionnaire, Visionnaire, Visionnaire. That's all anyone has wanted to talk about for the past week in my social media feeds. What do Myke and I think about this white-hot Kickstarter project? Listen to Episode 64 of The Pen Addict Podcast to find out!
For posterities sake, here is the list of questions I posed to Visionnaire creator Morgan Combes. I will post again if and when he gets back to me.
You have talked about designing the Visionnaire but you also talk about not having much fountain pen experience. How much of the actual design is yours, and how much is pre-made parts?
Did you fit your specs into an existing design, or is this 100% original design?
Are any new tools or dies being made to produce these pens, or will existing tooling be used for the manufacturing?
The full manufacture of your pen is Chinese. Why should someone buy the Visionnaire instead of a Hero Pen form the most well-known Chinese pen manufacturer that looks similar and only costs $4?
You mentioned several times that your margins are low for this project, yet you increased the the number of Early Bird backers exponentially, allowing more backers to get the pen at a cheaper rate. What was behind the decision to allow this if the margins are so low?
In Episode 63 of The Pen Addict Podcast Myke and I discuss a recent TechCrunch article on the Kickstarter pen phenomenon and also look at a current Kickstarter project that may be a little bit ambitious. I also talk about my first 14k nib Sailor Fountain Pen and Myke and I make suggestions on how to fix the pen aisle at big box retailers.
Would individual pen packaging work for big box retailers?
