DESIGN
A Star Signature Hundred-year-old Italian pen-maker Montegrappa has launched three limited-edition series, each dedicated to one of the biggest creative geniuses of our times.
SEPT-OCT 2013
ans of ‘the King of Rock and Roll’ Elvis Presley, eccentric surrealist genius Salvador Dalí, and Italian music maestro Giuseppe Verdi will now be able to relive the favourite moments of these artistic masterminds with beautiful writing instruments (a limited-edition collection dedicated to each), released close to each other in the summer of 2013 by Italian luxury pen maker Montegrappa. Giuseppe Aquila, CEO of Montegrappa, points out that releasing three big collections around the same time was purely coincidental. “All of our collections are developed independently of each other...they are all precious in their own ways; however, the Salvador Dalí pens are the most elaborate ones in terms of design, materials and craftsmanship.”
The inspiration for the Dalí pens, (the third in the company’s Genio Creativo series) was the motif of the elephant with unrealistically stretched legs, and bears an obelisk on its back, which appeared first in his 1944 work, Dream caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening.
It later resurged in the 1946 the temptation of St. Anthony, and 1961 jewelry, the Space Elephant. Montegrappa’s designers have converted this image of the beast into miniature manifestations of Dalí’s art. The elephant sits on a barrel of Mediterranean blue celluloid for the silver edition, and malachite green for the solid-gold version. Its legs stretch till the end
of the extra long cap, while the trunk forms the pocket clip. Upon opening the cap, the poignant quote ‘Not one day goes by that I don’t ride, ‘til the in nite, the horse of my imagination,’ from Dalí’s autobiography, Secret life of Salvador Dalí is revealed. In total, 1,000 sterling-silver fountain pens and 989 rollerball pens, denoting 1989 – the year that Dalí died, and 19 solid gold rollerball pens and 61 fountain pens have been released, representing the year he created the 1961 jewelry, e Space Elephant.
If the Dalí pens invoke a mythical aura, the Elvis Presley pens from the Icons Series are stark opposites. Reminding one of the late ’50s and ’60s rock-and-roll era, and cared bellbottom trousers, the Presley pens come in four different themes (four represents the famous ‘Million Dollar Quartet’), each representing a significant time in the musician and actor’s life. “With advice from one of our consultants, we concentrated on four key eras – the 1950s, the GI years in conjunction with his albums, the amazing comeback, and the Las Vegas period,” explains Aquila. All four designs come in different colours. Aqua represents the ’50s, especially 1956 when Elvis ‘hit the big time’. Green is reminiscent of the year 1958 when he was drafted into the army and he was in uniform. The stripes on the clip of the cap represent his rank of a sergeant. Next, the black pen stands for 1968, the year of his comeback, when he wore his famous black
leather out the pocket clip denotes the zipper of the out the final model, representative of the year 1973 – a period of Presley’s signature bling jumpsuits, and the groundbreaking ‘Aloha from Hawaii’ broadcast that was seen by an estimated one billion people – comes in white.
Set with gemstones, the pocket clip of this pen recalls a personal message from the singer to his close friends – ‘TCB’, meaning ‘Taking Care of Business’.
The Giuseppe Verdi pens, in comparison to the Presley and Dali instruments, are more subtle. The barrel is made of black resin balanced by a striking rhodium trim. "The reproduction of Giuseppe Verdi’s face on the cap, created using a state-of-the-art laser is its most enticing feature,” says Aquila. is Limited Edition Bicentennial collection of 1,813 pens (a number that denotes the year of Verdi’s birth) have been made to honour the maestro’s 200th birthday.
All pens are still manufactured with great care and precision, in the same building in Bassano del Grappa, Italy, where Montegrappa is headquartered since its inception in 1912. Fittingly, Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos, who were stationed in the next building as voluntary ambulance drivers during World War II were the first celebrity users of the brand. For pen aficionados, owning your favourite piece from their diverse collections, is almost like owning a piece of writing-instruments royalty