NIVI Urushi Lacquered Mechanical Pencil, Zelkova Wood
The NIVI Urushi Lacquered Mechanical Pencil is a Japanese wooden mechanical pencil turned from solid keyaki (Japanese zelkova) and hand-finished in genuine urushi lacquer, made by two Japanese ateliers. It is a working writing tool, built to be carried and used every day rather than kept on a shelf.
The finish is fuki-urushi, natural lacquer wiped thin into the bare wood and cured between coats, so the grain reads through the surface instead of being painted over. Genuine urushi hardens with humidity rather than drying like paint, and it turns more translucent with handling, so the figure of the wood surfaces more clearly the longer you carry it. In Brown, the barrel wears clear raw urushi and shows the wood's own color. The tinted versions are translucent colored urushi (iro-urushi) named for the nature of Fukui: arakon, the deep indigo of a winter sea; nezuzora, an overcast grey; shinryoku, a deep green; and benisabi, a rusted red.
Keyaki, or Japanese zelkova, is a hard, heavy hardwood in the elm family, long used for temple beams, chests, and the bodies of taiko drums. Its bold, high-contrast grain gives each pencil a strong linear figure that no two barrels repeat. The body stays slim, about 14 mm at its widest and near 20 g in the hand, with a 0.5 mm lead and a simple knock, so it works as a pencil you actually write with.
If you prefer ink, the same slim wooden pen body is made as a ballpoint in a different wood. See the NIVI Urushi Lacquered Ballpoint Pen, turned from tochi with its softer, rippling shimmer.
Details
- Size: 5.5" × 0.55" (14 cm × 14 mm)
- Weight: 0.7 oz (20 g)
- Lead: 0.5 mm (knock mechanism)
- Material: keyaki (Japanese zelkova) wood, natural urushi
- Origin: Japan. Turned in Toyama, urushi-finished in Fukui.
- Brand: NIVI
- Note: Genuine natural urushi. Wipe with a soft, dry cloth; keep away from water, heat, and long direct sunlight. In rare cases natural urushi may cause a skin reaction.
The Story of NIVI
The NIVI pen brings together two Japanese workshops in neighboring regions. The wood is turned in Shogawa, Toyama, by Watanabe Mokkougei, a workshop founded in 1950 that works in the Shogawa turned-wood tradition, a nationally designated Japanese craft, shaping the barrels from premium offcuts of its own lacquerware. The lacquer comes from Echizen, Fukui, where Tsujita Urushi-ten has refined natural urushi for six generations, close to 150 years. Two workshops, two regions, one pen you use by hand.
Original: $145.00
-65%$145.00
$50.75
Description
The NIVI Urushi Lacquered Mechanical Pencil is a Japanese wooden mechanical pencil turned from solid keyaki (Japanese zelkova) and hand-finished in genuine urushi lacquer, made by two Japanese ateliers. It is a working writing tool, built to be carried and used every day rather than kept on a shelf.
The finish is fuki-urushi, natural lacquer wiped thin into the bare wood and cured between coats, so the grain reads through the surface instead of being painted over. Genuine urushi hardens with humidity rather than drying like paint, and it turns more translucent with handling, so the figure of the wood surfaces more clearly the longer you carry it. In Brown, the barrel wears clear raw urushi and shows the wood's own color. The tinted versions are translucent colored urushi (iro-urushi) named for the nature of Fukui: arakon, the deep indigo of a winter sea; nezuzora, an overcast grey; shinryoku, a deep green; and benisabi, a rusted red.
Keyaki, or Japanese zelkova, is a hard, heavy hardwood in the elm family, long used for temple beams, chests, and the bodies of taiko drums. Its bold, high-contrast grain gives each pencil a strong linear figure that no two barrels repeat. The body stays slim, about 14 mm at its widest and near 20 g in the hand, with a 0.5 mm lead and a simple knock, so it works as a pencil you actually write with.
If you prefer ink, the same slim wooden pen body is made as a ballpoint in a different wood. See the NIVI Urushi Lacquered Ballpoint Pen, turned from tochi with its softer, rippling shimmer.
Details
- Size: 5.5" × 0.55" (14 cm × 14 mm)
- Weight: 0.7 oz (20 g)
- Lead: 0.5 mm (knock mechanism)
- Material: keyaki (Japanese zelkova) wood, natural urushi
- Origin: Japan. Turned in Toyama, urushi-finished in Fukui.
- Brand: NIVI
- Note: Genuine natural urushi. Wipe with a soft, dry cloth; keep away from water, heat, and long direct sunlight. In rare cases natural urushi may cause a skin reaction.
The Story of NIVI
The NIVI pen brings together two Japanese workshops in neighboring regions. The wood is turned in Shogawa, Toyama, by Watanabe Mokkougei, a workshop founded in 1950 that works in the Shogawa turned-wood tradition, a nationally designated Japanese craft, shaping the barrels from premium offcuts of its own lacquerware. The lacquer comes from Echizen, Fukui, where Tsujita Urushi-ten has refined natural urushi for six generations, close to 150 years. Two workshops, two regions, one pen you use by hand.
