An Intuitive conversation with the Graf von Faber-Castell Intuition

THE INTUITION

With a covetous eye on this pen, since the time I had got my FCD Ambition and then an orange coloured Ondoro fountain pen, it indeed required lady luck's blessings to get this one at a steeply discounted price. I must say, that there was already a strange sense of loss of colours, after I had parted with both of my orange coloured fountain pens - Ondoro and later a Pelikan m205. And this seemed to be an appropriate treatment for my colour blindness. Coming to the Faber-Castell Design (FCD) and the rather luxurious Graf von Faber-Castell (GvFC) line of pens, I must say that they have been able to splendidly highlight the art of convergence of design and utility. The Intuition pen comes in six lines of resin-based designs and two (earlier three) lines of wood-based designs. The wooden designs are called Intuition Platino Wood which is an enhanced intuition design altogether, be it the fluted wooden barrel or the platinum plated cap or an extra-large and more exquisitely designed bi-colour nib. And, it naturally places them in a more premium segment. You can find a review of the GvFC Elemento here, which shares its dimensions with the wooden Platino designs.

     These lines come with a fountain pen (with 6 to 7 different nib widths), a roller ball, a propelling pencil (0.7mm) and a ballpoint pen.

PRESENTATION (6/6)

It’s a chamois-coloured gift box with top and bottom wooden linings,  which secures itself by a magnetic catch within the two folds. There is the pen resting in a cardboard box within a chamois-coloured linen bag, which carries the Graf Von Faber-Castell name and their coat-of-arms logo.

I someway like the linen, bag because of its differentiated appeal, though not from an utilitarian perspective. There is also a warranty leaflet-cum-manual, which states a lifetime guarantee against manufacturing defects and assures services, in case any need for repair arises. Then, it also illustrates refilling the entire range of GvFC pens and other stationery.

DESIGN (6/6)

The Intuition range comes in six variants (terra - orange, ivory – off-white/fluted, black - black/fluted/metal cap) with six different nib sizes – EF, F, M, B, OM and OB. Only one of these variants comes with a platinum plated metal cap with a shiny black barrel.

             
Coming back to the pen, once you take it out, it surely looks like a compact enchanting piece of art. A high gloss sheen of the of the barrel and the cap reflects back quite a bit of light. Complementing this sheen, are the dazzling platinum plated trims of the pen.

On pulling the cap off, you would initially notice the singularity of the barrel, a section sans joints. It’s made out of a single piece of resin, in this case reflecting the colour of earth or ‘terra’,  gleaming with an orange smile. At the top end of the barrel, is a twist-metallic crown, which disengages the bi-tone nib section and converter system, from the rest of the body. I just love this element of design! The knob is embossed with the coat-of-arms logo, on the finial. Usually the coat-of-arms logo is used in GvFC pens and FCD pens (Ambition, Ondoro, e-motion) carry the jostling knights logo. Traditionally coat-of-arms is said to represent full-achievement in a heraldic tradition. GvFC has quite a bit of design superiority over the other FCD pens. Towards the nib end, the singular barrel narrows down to a slightly concave section to form a comfortable grip. Despite the glossy and smooth finish, the pen has a subtle but non-slippy grip section. The cap (snap-on) secures itself to the barrel with an audible click.

The cap is engraved with GRAF VON FABER – CASTELL, encircling the metallic finial insert which again bears another coat-of-arms logo with its platinum sheen. The cap band says GRAF VON FABER – CASTELL on one side and on the other end it's HANDMADE IN GERMANY. ‘Handmade’ because there are over a hundred steps in the entire manufacturing process of this pen, a majority of which are carried out by hand. The clip on the cap carries the gleam of platinum with a highly efficient and visible spring loaded system.

The finial at the barrel end carries a coat-of-arms logo.

FILLING SYSTEM (6/6)

Once the crown of the barrel is rotated anti-clockwise to disengage the nib & filling system, you would notice a rather classical CC filler system. The nib has a screw fit, and inserts into a metallic sleeve like most of the Faber-Castell fountain pens which I have seen. The nib sleeve has threads which synchronize with threads on the inner barrel, both ending up with an octagonal cross section. The converter has a metallic premium band which friction-fits into the nib section though it does not fit a FCD Ambition section. However, the Ambition converter fits in the Intuition nib section. The converter has a reasonably high capacity of 0.8 – 0.9 mL, and the ink does last for quite a while! I usually have a bias towards piston fillers, but I do appreciate the capacity offered by Faber-Castell converters.

The nib section carries a six-digit number which denotes the date of manufacture, which I did confirm with the Faber-Castell team. Mine says 011210, which would mean it was manufactured way back on 01-December-2010.

NIB (5/6) - ALL THAT MATTERS!

The 18k bi-tone nib comes in four main widths – EF, F, M & B and two special widths – OM (left) & OB (left). The tail end specifies the nib size and composition (75% Au , 18 ct) of the alloy used. A white rhodium decor occupies the outer tines converging with the iridium tip, while the inner part circumscribing the breather hole gleams golden with engraved stripes. There is a dazzling white coat-of-arms logo resting just above the tail-end. This one is a fine nib and writes quite smoothly with a 'minutely minute' hint of feedback when I use relatively drier inks. It lays down a wet albeit fine line, which will be covered in the last section of this review. With a rather curved shoulder, the nib does portray an apparently smaller size even if it’s quite similar to the size of the relatively flat Ambition nib. [minus 1]

The feed is standard grey plastic, with a big filler hole delivering an amazing ink suction, which is also used across the Faber-Castell Design series.

Below is a comparison to the FCD Ambition (non-premium) sections. You can check the differences between the two converters, the Intuition has got some metallic embellishment. Both use the same feed.

PHYSICS OF RELATIVITY (4/6)

With a cylindrical body of 1.2 cm diameter, it does give a comfortable feel without adding much weight. The capped length of 12.5 cm is quite similar to a Pelikan m400. In short, it is quite a compact pen when compared to an MB146 or even a thinner Ambition, for that matter. And a compact pen, can have its advantages along with some disadvantages. The weight of this pen has a significant contribution from the resin cap.

• Uncapped Length ~ 12 cm
• Posted Length ~ 15 cm
• Nib Leverage ~ 2 cm
• Overall Weight ~ 29.4 g

Uncapped, it’s quite similar to the m400 but slightly shorter than the Ambition. The loss of weight and length is somewhat balanced by the wider grip section, if not completely.

Alternatively, you can post it and it’s similar to a posted m400 with a slightly top-heavy configuration. However, I feel comfortable to use it both posted and unposted, although I never have shared the same feeling with Ambition.

ECONOMIC VALUE (5/6)

Although this pen retails around USD 600, it is available at much lower street prices. With end of season clearance sale, I was able to get the pen at a good discounted price.

OVERALL (5.3/6) 

I feel loved by the design and exquisite appeal of this pen on an overall scale, whenever I write with the intuition. No skipping or hard starts right from the beginning, it turned out quite smooth out of the box. With a stiff nib, it delivers a wet line, with this fine nib. The line width closely resembles a Lamy 2000 Fine/ a Japanese FM nib. For a pelikan 4001 brilliant green ink, it takes around 12-13 seconds to dry. There is no noticeable line variation with horizontal and vertical strokes for this one. Below goes a written review of the same:

It was fun reviewing the intuition. Hope you enjoyed reading it.

An Ambitious Review: The Faber-Castell Design Ambition

Long ago during school days, I had used some of the not so expensive Faber-Castell ballpoints, pencils, highlighters, rulers, mechanical pencils and geometry sets. They used to be a bit scarce in India then, as they came with a ‘Made in Germany’ tag. Though there was little or no price difference with other Indian brands like Camlin or Omega, these were not widely available as such. Years later one fine day, while randomly searching for pens made by Faber-Castell, I bumped across the Ambition/Ondoro/e-motion fountain pens which were placed in a premium segment with Graf-Von Faber Castell Anello/Intuition in luxury segment. In India, a few models were available in Shoppers Stop Online and some of the other known e-com sites. I finally ordered an Ambition (then an Ondoro) from Pensavenue, as they were running a discount sale on all Faber-Castell products. I added a converter since it was clearly mentioned that a Faber-Castell Design (FCD) converter was not included with the gift package. 

A BIT OF FABER-CASTELL HISTORY 

Around 1660s Kaspar Faber was one of the pencil makers in Stein, Bavaria, Germany. Later Kaspar’s son Anton Wilhelm Faber took over the business and the initials A.W were added from his name in 1839. Later on in 1898, when Ottile Von Faber (sixth generation of Faber family) married Count Alexander zu Castell-Rüdenhausen, A.W Faber-Castell was born. Count Alexander modernised the company and introduced the jousting knights logo. Faber-Castell started manufacturing fountain pens in 1951, after acquiring the Osmia Company and produced fountain pens till 1975. They had carried the Osmia logo [diamond-within-a-circle] till the 1960s, given Osmia’s high brand recognition in the fountain pen industry. Later under Anton Wolfgang von Faber-Castell, Faber-Castell started expanding their factories & offices across the globe and also started manufacturing fountain pens under two banners of Design and Graf von Faber-Castell (introduced in 1993) from the 90s. 

These Ambition range comes with a fountain pen (with 4 different nib widths), a roller ball, a propelling pencil (0.7mm) and a ballpoint pen with various barrel designs constituting of resin, wood or brushed steel. 

PRESENTATION 

Within 3 days, the pen and a converter were delivered in a moss-green cardboard box. The colour reminds me of lush green cricket outfields and the Australian Baggy Green Caps. 

The box has a slider and the pen is secured with an elastic band on a felted bed, along with a warranty card. 

DESIGN - THE CYLINDRICAL MOTLEY OF RESIN & METAL (4/6) 

Held in hand, the pen will feel somewhat heavier towards the cap end, with a relatively lighter brushed barrel made of up black coloured resin (Like MB, Faber-Castell also calls it ‘precious resin’, I feel it has comparatively lower density). 

A convergence in its minimalistic design of chrome plated accents is achieved with another piece of metallic finial at the end of the barrel, which also serves as the click-lock for posting the cap. 

And yes, the chrome accents are prone to fingerprints. Very much!

The cap is substantially heavy with a snap-on locking mechanism. Once you pull it, it comes off with an audible click, and you can see a chromed metallic section attached to the non-differentiated grip, at the end of which rests a shiny nib. Absence of any taper in the singular cylindrical section, introduces a steep step for holding the pen.

A mirror finish on the chromed cap etched with the Faber-Castell logo of two jousting knights will immediately gleam with the slightest amount of light and it is also embossed with the traditional statement preserving antiquity of A.W Faber-Castell - Since 1761. The clip is spring loaded and is shaped like an arc with a concave end. To generate friction with fabric, there are multiple grooves on the insides of the clip’s concavity, where it touches the cap. There is also a plastic insert inside the cap gives the snap-on friction. However, it seems to lose grip with time. 

FILLING SYSTEM (5/6) 

The small metallic section at the end of the barrel unscrews from the resin barrel with less than three turns and it disengages the section containing the nib and CC filling system. The nib has a screw fit, and inserts into a metallic sleeve like most of the Faber-Castell fountain pens, which I have seen. The nib sleeve has threads which synchronize with threads on the insides of the resin barrel. 

The converter says SCHMIDT on its piston along with a brand imprint of FABER-CASTELL Germany on the metallic sleeve. It has a reasonably high capacity of 0.8 – 0.9 mL, and the ink does last for quite a while! I am usually biased towards piston fillers, but I like the capacity offered by Faber-Castell or Schmidt converters. In case of GvFC Converters there is no mention of Schmidt on the converters themselves. 

NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (6/6) 

The nib is made of stainless steel alloy with an iridium tip. The initially available nib sizes featured F, M and B nibs, though an EF was made available later. I went with an M sized nib. Right out of the box, this was a butter-smooth nib. 

The nib has a perforated imprint of dots which cover a third of its surface area. Had these been real perforations there would have been an opulence of breather holes. And in fact there is not even a single breather hole. The nib-size is embossed above the traditional Faber-Castell Design logo of two jousting knights near the tail. Nib section is screw-fit and thus easily removable from the steel sleeve for cleaning or replacement. 

The feed is standard grey plastic, with a big filler hole for ink suction, which is incidentally also used across the GvFC Intuition Series. 

Faber-Castell Design (steel) nibs are sourced from JoWo whereas the GvFC nibs are known to be sourced from Bock. 

PHYSICS OF IT (3/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING 

Without the cap, the pen measures around 12 cm, which might not be comfortable for people with medium or large hands. Posting the cap is easy and it seems to be secured with a click-lock at the finial section. Although the posted pen exceeds a 15 cm scale, the steel cap makes it pretty top-heavy. In addition to weight, the cap freely rotates once it’s click-posted. While writing posted, the beautifully arched clip later becomes the pen’s arch-nemesis for top weight imbalance, with free rotation around the metal section. A girth less than 1 cm might be inadequate for the shorter uncapped length. 

• Uncapped Length ~ 12.2 cm 
• Capped Length ~ 14 cm 
• Posted Length ~ 15.8 cm 
• Nib Leverage ~ 1.9 cm 
• Overall Weight ~ 28 g (Cap Weight ~ 15 g) 

Capped and uncapped and posted with a GvFC Intuition, Pelikan m400/2XX and a bigger MB146 run below for your reference. The Intuition has a wider grip than the Ambition. 

ECONOMIC VALUE (5/6) 

It retails at around USD 70 and I got a converter included at the same price, because of the aforementioned discount. I believe it’s a good value for money pen, given you too end up with such a nib, which defeats many of the gold ones. 

OVERALL (4.6/6) 

This nib is wet, runs wide and smooth like butter, without giving even a hint of feedback. I purposely used a less wet ink, but the pen did quite well against a drier pelikan 4001 ink. There is a bit of line variation with relatively thicker verticals. The nib has some spring and a touch of softness. In fact it lays a wetter and wider line with a little pressure. If you hold it from the metal section, the pen might feel slippery after some time and it might even rotate a little between your fingers. I instinctively hold the pen just above the metal section. 

Being a wet writer out of the box, the Medium nib puts a line which takes more than 20 seconds to dry on MD Paper with a relatively dry Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black ink. 

REFERENCES 

Faber Castell History

Bock Clientele

Thank you for going through the review. 

You can find some more pen and paraphernalia reviews here.

Ethereal Reminiscences II - The Homecoming

This second ethereal experience has more or less defined my life's path. Let me try to concisely recapitulate the turn of events, that had manifested towards this particular encounter.  

Somehow lacking a sound sleep or simply after losing the motive push to get up from bed at 0800 in the morning (quite unusual for an early riser), I was still in a state of deep slumber, but was aware of it. There was also a gravity of feeling within this slumber, which could have been along the very lines of death. Breath drawn out, heart almost still, lack of any wilful control over my body. May be my own, may be not, but it was just powerful and it was in a sense, omnipresent. Add to that, my mind's utter ineffectiveness, as if held by a sudden uncontainable force, I was made to delve into a strange form of communication. Later someone explained this as an intuitive message, made possible via one's spiritual eye (point between the eyebrows). I was not able to decipher anything, neither about the source nor the medium of communication, till late afternoon. What could only be deduced, was that, it was an impending death with a sudden painful bereavement within my family. Someone very close! No visuals or anything similar, but in a way an irrefutable! And at the same time, I was certain that this was never a dream, it was a real-time precise communication, intended for a specific soul. And the thoughts of portending mortality supposed to occur in my family, filled all accompanying thoughts with merciless anxiety.

               Moments later, I got a call from my Mom, and she shared regarding urgent official orders from the Central Government for my Dad. He had to take one of the earliest flights to Delhi. And eventually reach one of the remotest villages in Uttar Pradesh (UP). It was to oversee that the running elections go peacefully. There had been some shooting incident earlier and one of the earlier observers had been injured by bullets. Of course, remote villages in UP or anywhere in India don't have airstrips. It had to be a composite air-road-air-road journey, with a hundred or more miles to be covered by road. After listening to these accounts, I was mentally shaking with fear. Dad had to take two flights and two cars to reach that particular village. What if my premonitions came true! Somehow I was sure of a death, but lacked any idea on the subject. Unable to tell any of this to Mom and with shaken prayers to God, I boarded a train back home. It was a planned trip and the tickets had been made a few weeks earlier. 

    Comically though, my accompaniment was Chetan Bhagat's new book then, 'The 3 mistakes of my life' to help cover these six or seven anxious hours, with some senseless comedy. After going through a few pages, a realisation dawned upon me, that it was perhaps Bhagat's fourth mistake to have written that book, in the first place! Bravely with scyllas of sarcasm and with an almost dispassionate reading, three-fourths of the book were completed. This was when my Mom called again, sobbing. I got to know that my maternal grandfather had passed away! So it was he, the soul behind the communication. Contrary to a relative scenario of losing one's parent, I felt an immediate sigh of relief and surety, that my father was safe from harms way. Along came the sadness, that my mother had lost hers. All I could do was to console her, with my heart and soul. She mentioned that she would be leaving with her sister at around 7 pm, which was roughly coinciding with the time of my arrival at home. I wanted to go with her, to help unfold this mystery. The rest of the journey helped give a thought to subtle (astral) forces, of which we become aware only when, we are not aware of ourselves (A tiny bubble of laughter I, Am become the Sea of Mirth Itself). Pretty concocted is the human being. Composed of the same elements as Earth or Stardust, how can (s)he be so misplaced to assert with ample confidence that the Earth & the Stars are just gases, without consciousness!

       And the last page of Bhagat's fourth mistake was flipped with a high dispassion for content. After reaching home, and having some food (devoid of any spices as per Hindu customs) and we embarked on a greater journey, back to that quiet place, where my grandfather, mom, dad and even I was born; the ancestral home where, grandfather gave away his physical being. We covered six more hours by road and it was well past midnight, when we reached the place. 

         Paying my respects to all elders present there, all of us went to pay respects to our late grandfather's physical body. He was lying on his usually unadorned bed, and I noticed a perfectly straight spine, and a remarkable expression of freedom & peace, on his face. Blood circulation had stopped, which added additional lightness to his already very fair skin. Some cotton balls were plugged in his nose and ears. Then, mysteriously while I was exiting through the other door, suddenly I felt a substantial force field (astral field perhaps) enveloping me. And it was felt, whenever I entered my grandfather's room again. Trying two or three times and it did seem certain, that an(many) unseen forces had been encompassing and enveloping that very room. It was a strange feeling, and there were doubts regarding these forces sharing the same origin, as to the forces which led the original communication. I can't help feeling that the room was surrounded by angels, blessing everyone, since it uplifted the energy :)

 My maternal grandfather had been a spiritual (not religious though) person throughout his life, keeping himself engaged in his spiritual quest through Kriya-Yoga (& meditation) for extended times. During the golden times, when we were kids, I can remember him doing Bhramari pranyam with long AUMs (pronounced OM), audible even at a distance, coming from the prayer room. My recollection comes with a photo-frame of Paramahansa Yogananda & Maa Kali, on his altar. Later I came to know from my mother, that he had received his teachings from a direct disciple of both Paramahansa Yogananda & his Guru Swami Yukteswar. In case you may not know, Paramhansa Yogananda is known to be an Avatar(ava - down, tri - to pass, or Divine Descent in human form) and the most loved author for many as well as for me, personally. He was assigned the responsibility to spread Kriya-Yoga in the West, by Mahavtar Babaji (below is a photo of the revered Babaji by late Sananda Lal Ghosh, a disciple & younger brother of  Paramhansa Yogananda). 

The most famous Yoganandaji's literary works is Autobiography of a Yogi (AY), which records a Man's eternal quest, played by a young devotee (he himself). The book has sold more than 10 Mn copies worldwide and has changed the lives of at least 30 Mn people across the globe at least in some way. Many successful personalities in creative and business fields, including Steve Jobs, George Harrison, Pt. Ravi Shankar among others, have been deeply inspired by the AY book. It is also known that, this was the only book on Steve Job's iPad and he used to read the book once every year. 

     This brings to memory, rather some funny anecdotes. Six years ago when one of my close friends (& engineering batchmate) had asked me whether I had read this particular AY book, I just expressed utter bewilderment, on who reads these kind of books. Later onwards, I did discover that the same book had been lying there in our bookshelves for the last 15-20 years. And when I had asked my mother, what brings joy, she first told me to study and get into one of the best engineering schools. Then again, after a few years when I asked the same question after completing engineering, she told me that may be I might be happy with further studies in one of the top B-schools. Then I asked again, and she handed me the AY book.  Six years later, I found myself gleaming greedily through this book's content again and again and again! My mom could have just given me the book and reduced those blind efforts of six years. For, Joy as I discovered later, is something that is within yourself, you just need to tune into it, by calming your outflowing energies through meditation.

The AY book though does not tell much about the greatness of the author himself, who was perhaps much greater many of the spiritual personas he has met in AY, and whom he has praised so generously, so humbly. That's when you want a continuity to know more about the author himself. This brings me to the second most prolific author with the same aspect of divine love & kindness, better known by the name of  Swami Kriyananda. I can recommend one of his books from my heart, for people who have loved the AY. Kriyananda authored The New Path. There is also another loved book Mejda by Yogananda's disciple and younger brother Sananda Lal Ghosh, which encompasses funny but deeply spiritual anecdotes of their childhood.

Coming back to the story, I still inwardly get a feeling that my grandfather was much more spiritually (a devotee in complete secret) elevated, than we could have possibly imagined during his lifetime. My mother was told that he did not have any karma left on the physical plane by the Brahmin doing the puja, since there was no mark left (An old Hindu custom where a mark left on sand decides what the next incarnation/form for a deceased one could possibly be, personally I am not the right person to comment on it). However, the fact he did consciously convey his death to his grandchild before it actually occurred, does give a strong enough reason to believe that he knew his time of leaving the physical body. A devotee in complete secret, who did bless his grandchildren with directions (including my maternal cousins & we together constitute one closely knit family), for our own spiritual searches, given respective spiritual inclinations: divine love for the devotee, divine wisdom for the discerning and right action for the karma yogi. Many miracles followed the event in the family, some decipherable other not so, close to our hearts. 

         This experience had established an alternate reality, with a much greater scheme of things, beyond the usual mortality of life & death and perhaps a vast array of thoughts and hidden inside man's real ambition. The following year I joined one of the B-schools, located in one of the most scenic towns of India - Indore. And almost every day of this rigorous course, I have asked God to give me Kriya. I could start on the path of Kriya Yoga only 4-5 years later and have been able to validate these experiences with different aspects of divine contact. Never knowing that my grandfather loved me so deeply, I am glad that he did in the same way Master (Yogananda) does.

Here is a picture of both my paternal (left) and maternal grandfathers (right).

PS: Some additions after six long years, when understanding is relatively deeper & after finally taking all four Kriya Dikshas.