The Krama pen I mentioned 10 days ago, arrived today. I’ve not had much time to play with it yet, but my initial impressions are that the reasons for me backing the Kickstarter were valid.

The first quality that jumped out at me were the subtle details that show the manufacturers knew what they were doing. Having seen (and backed) enough Kickstarter machined pens, the quality of the coating on this pen reaches for the heady heights that a Rotring 600 provides, which is high praise indeed. No other Kickstarter pen has the same quality of coating.

It’s an exceptionally slight pen, no thicker really than a standard 6 sided pencil, so if you like heft to your writing experience, this really isn’t the pen for you. Having recognised the dimensions at play here, I ordered a brass version, which I definitely think is the correct way to go, using a different material would basically have changed the balance of the pen.

This is a simple pen, and that is where it’s beauty lies. The mechanism is a bit different to what I’ve seen for simple pens (like the Squire or Retro 51), but it’s done very well on this pen and the refill has no wriggle. Part of that I think are the tighter tolerances but also the fact that the back of the pen screws directly into the refill. I did not know that this was an option, but the fact that the pens are machined to consider these tolerances on a standard Schmidt refill is even more impressive.

The pen comes in a unique leather wrap, with a couple of brass rings that hold everything together. What I like about this approach (and yes I understand that I’ve paid for the packaging already) is the fact that there is no plastics involved.

From my brief interaction with the pen, I would certainly recommend this pen to anyone looking for something unique but truly functional.