Let the Fountain Pens Flow! – The New York Times

Around 40 people had gathered on a recent weekday evening in SoHo at the Lamy store, a 600-square-foot ground-floor showcase of contemporary Germanic pen design. Packed around a table with notepads and test pens, the group, ethnically diverse but mostly men, lacked the slick appearance you expect of customers at a luxury boutique.

In fact, it quickly became clear that these were nerds. Twenty-first-century pen nerds.

They had come for several reasons. For a pen nerd, there’s endless pleasure in sharing one’s collection of fountain pens, or “fps” as they’re called on the Reddit board where they live when not at shows or events.

Lamy was handing out free Vibrant Pink Al-Stars, a sleek aluminum-bodied pen, and plastic Safaris (each around $40). And then there was the guest of honor: Brian Goulet, of Goulet pens, who had the handsomeness of a 1950s young dad, thick hair like mink, broad shoulders, a warm handshake.