Architect's Wallet Giveaway from Huckberry

My good friends at Huckberry are back once again with another awesome giveaway for readers of The Pen Addict.

Huckberry just completed a full site redesign, which turned out beautifully I must add, and with Father's Day creeping up fast, they are loaded for bear with some of the coolest gear and accessories around. I'm excited to give one of these items away to my readers.

The Architect's Wallet by form.function.form is an exercise in design efficiency. Everything about it is just so, with no extraneous bits to cause friction. The notebook slot is designed to fit the extra small Moleskine Volant with a pen slot tailor-made for the Fisher Space Pen. There is space enough to store a few credit cards, cash, and receipts inside the notebook flap or in the rear thumb-slot pouch, and that's it. Minimalism at its finest.

One winner will receive the Architect's Wallet in English Derby (as seen in the pictures) as well as a matte black Fischer Space Pen and two Moleskine Volants to kit you out fully.

Here is how to enter the giveaway:

1. Head over to Huckberry.com and sign up as a member (if you aren't already one.) All you need to do is enter your email address and a password, or connect with your Facebook account. It is that simple and there is zero commitment.

2. Leave one comment on this post anytime between now and Thursday night, June 12th, at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. You are limited to one entry. International readers are welcome to enter!

3. For this contest, I will pick one winner at random from the comments section of this post. The comments will be numbered in the order they are received, i.e. the first comment is #1, the second #2, and so on. The Random Integer Generator at random.org will be used to pick the number of the winner.

4. The contest winner will be posted on Friday, June 13th. The winner will have one week to email me via the Contact link at the top of the page.

Thanks again to Huckberry for providing these goods for Pen Addict readers. It is greatly appreciated!

(Note: I am a Huckberry affiliate and links to Huckberry.com are affiliate links. If you patronize them through these links I get a small percentage back which helps support this site.)

Craft Design Technology Chrome Ball Point Pen Review

Craft Design Technology is a unique Japanese stationery brand whose mission statement is to marry "modern design with Japanese heritage of traditional craft and technology innovation." Their beautiful green packaging has been on my radar for a while and when Rikumo reached out to me offering a couple of products for review I was excited to take a look.

The first item I chose from Rikumo was the Craft Design Technology Chrome Ball Point Pen - Item 22, CDT's take on the classic business ballpoint. This is the type of pen I picture in my grandfather's shirt pocket, on my dad's office desk, or in a Mad Men client meeting. It exudes style and class.

Most pen companies in the 1950's through 1970's leaned heavy on this design and CDT has done their best to refine it. The chrome barrel is a stunner. It is so shiny it is hard to photograph for a hack like me, but in person it makes a statement. I could do without the CDT branding - just their logo would have been nicer - but I would be lying if I said I didn't like the whole "Item 22" thing. Something about that cracks me up. It is so Japanese, and I love it.

As with all writing products in this line, the chrome ball point is built in conjunction with Pentel and therefore uses Pentel refills. The 0.8 mm ballpoint is average at best. The darkness of the ink is excellent, but it is prone to being messy and there is even some spidering (a string of ink between letters/words when lifting the pen of the page.) In the abstract it looks fine, but on closer inspection I expect more.

Getting down to brass tacks, the Craft Design Technology Chrome Ball Point Pen is a value proposition. At $65, this is not a cheap pen, so are the benefits worth the price? I don't think so. The design is excellent and CDT's goals are admirable, but the value isn't there. There is a long list of pens that I would choose over Item 22.

There are Craft Design Technology items that look like they would suit my writing needs better and I hope to try out more soon. This is a company that is well worth keeping an eye on. Big thanks to Rikumo for sending me this pen for review. Be sure to check out their online shop for more wonderful Japanse imports or drop in to their brick and mortar store if you are in Philadelphia area.

Ink Links

-- Sketching with Iroshizuku Inks (Francis THEO)

-- A Pen Geek in Seoul (Modern Stationer)

-- Inktastic - De Atramentis Rote Rosen (The Pencilcase Blog)

-- J. Herbin Poussière de Lune (inklode)

-- Organics Studio Arsenic Grey – Ink Review (Ed Jelley)

-- Pensieve: 1920/30s Conway Stewart 458 M Review (Scribalishess)

-- Midori's Traveler's Star Edition Notebook- Passport size (Seaweed Kisses)

-- Measuring up: A short review of the Midori ‘Japan works’ ruler (A fool with a pen)

-- Review: Now n Then Eco-Essential Pen & Pencil Set (Gourmet Pens)

-- My first Rotring (Pen Pursuit)

-- Review: Kaweco AL Sport Black Stonewashed (Fountain Pen Quest)

-- Pelikan M200 Cognac Special Edition (Italic) Review (Write to Me Often)

-- Ink Review: Montblanc Irish Green (The Gentleman Stationer)

-- Hands On: Kaweco Skyline in Mint (The Well-Appointed Desk)

-- Interview with Martin Pauli of Angular Momentum and Manu Propria (Pen&Design)

-- Pelikan Pelikano Jr. (Inkdependence!)

-- My Supply Room (There is a New BIC In Town)

-- Kaweco Special Fountain Pen Quick Review (THE UNROYAL WARRANT)

-- On Pencil Sharpers, and the Secret to a Great Point (Pencil Revolution)

-- Forest Choice: A Review (The Finer Point)

-- Report from the 2014 Raleigh Pen Show (Atramental Otaku)

-- Drawing Essentials (Mattias Adolfsson)

-- Monteverde One Touch Multi-Tool Pen (Office Supply Geek)

-- Sheaffer VFM fountain pen review (Pens! Paper! Pencils!)

-- Yoobi No. 2 Pencils - "One For You, One For Me" from the new Target school supplies line (Lung Sketching Scrolls)

-- Tale of a Vandal Pen Collector: Three Pilots Full (Peaceable Writer)

-- The Cross Dubai Review (Funkmon on pens.)