The Nominal Pen Set
The image of the Falcon 9 booster landing perfectly for the first time at Cape Canaveral was the inspiration for our new product story, Nominal.
Things that are referred to as Nominal may seem dull and unexciting to some but, during the launch of a rocket, it’s anything but! When there are so many crazy parameters to track and so many things that could go wrong, to know something is Nominal, totally controlled and exactly as it should be, is music to the ears. We know that what we do won’t resonate with everyone but we think those for whom it does will understand exactly what we mean.
We’ve been designing and crafting pens for European luxury brands for so many years that when we saw the Falcon 9 land, our rather biased world view naturally saw a pen. But a pen with a difference. It’s the most complex pen we’ve ever made, with 34 integrated, precision machined components. We’ve combined both aircraft grade aluminium, used in alloy form on the original Falcon 9, with brushed stainless steel that will be used on the Falcon Heavy and Starship moving forward.
Pens definitely don’t need to be this complicated or intricate but we wanted, in some way, to reflect some of the amazing ingenuity and engineering packed into the Falcon 9. Much of this engineering is discreet and not seen but can be felt through the easy and silky writing experience.
The legs are retracted most of the time, lying flush with the steel surface of the pen so as to be satisfying to hold and not interrupt your train of thought. But, just at the moment you might need some inspiration or time to stop and think, you can hold the lid between your thumb and forefinger, just below the legs, and rotate the main body to deploy the 4 legs. It’s bizarrely satisfying!
The crew cabin comes as standard with the pen but as writing is a very individual art, and some prefer longer pens, we decided to offer a cargo cabin as an alternative option to extend the length. This also allows for a discreet monogram to be engraved on the hidden end of the pen, under the cabin of choice. It just so happens this is also where the refill can be changed.
As with landing on drone ships, when the Octograbber robot moves out to stabilize the rocket for its journey home, we wanted to add a little feature to help your pen sit securely on your desk, to be able to weather any storm that might appear. CNC machined in black-anodised aircraft grade aluminium and lined with a soft touch polymer, our Octo-Stand adds a layer of security when the pen is not in use.
A beautifully machined, simple and elegant black anodised case helps to complete the set to keep the pen secure, when on the move.