I’ve been using a Postalco layered and this thing is very nice. I really like the plastic and metal (brass") combination. The build quality seems quite high. It’s a bit niche and super expensive for what it is. And I’m sure the cap alone is taking up much of the cost, but I do really enjoy it.
Anyone used anything else like it?
Nice image here if you aren’t familiar with it. .
I have the plain black one and was thinking of getting a green one for the longest time. Instead, I channeled the funds towards refurbishing a pre-owned Postalco Channel Point Grid.
In terms of ‘similar’ design (and price), I can think of the ST Dupont Defi. They made several variants with different contrast materials, including lacquer, resin and wood. Staedtler’s lesser seen high end Initium Corium family also has a ‘metal-split material’ design.
At the lower end, but also hard to find nowadays is the Pelikan Vio and a particular Sakura Slide Sharp. Both feature ‘jacketed’ designs with printed contrast zones instead of being made from a different material. There is also a lovely vintage Colleen pencil that sandwiched black plastic between a metal jacket upper, which I used to pair with my Layered.
Thanks, that’s great stuff, especially the ST Dupont, which I hadn’t seen before.
I have both the Layered (in green) and the Channel Point (black), and they are quite nice. I prefer the Layered as it seems more specially to me and the Channel Point is very cool but a bit top heavy, which I don’t love.
I’m super curious how Postalco, which seems to be a design company focused on clothing, managed to release such cool pens. I’d imagine they are pretty small runs and they are very expensive so it’s more feasible than it might seem, but information about them how these came to be, if more are in the works, etc is basically non-existent.
Yes, they are a small boutique focused on small runs of handmade products. I believe the founder is from the USA who set-up the company in Japan. According to their IG and blog posts, the Channel Point pen is individually machined out of blocks of aluminum and brass. They do show some nice sketches and prototypes of the mechanism being developed. I’ve come to admire it because the design of the upper part is not something you can easily ‘lathe’ on a single axis – the shape requires multiple steps of cutting, chamfering, stamping and assembly. The original mechanism is functional, pretty much bombproof and more ergonomic than most bolt-action designs.
As for the Layered collab with Uni, it’s a good question how that came about. In my experience it could have happened in several ways. 1. Someone high-up at Mitsubishi’s product design department purchased and enjoyed using some of Postalco’s products, and initiated a reach out to do a collab; 2. Postalco self initiated the project and reached out to Mitsubishi’s relevant channels in the hopes of an official collab.
In Japan’s rather rigid corporate environment, I believe the 1st situation is more likely. However, I have seen route 2 work out as well, although it was a Japanese designer who did the reach out to a western fashion company.
All you peeps on here are costing me a fortune!
Yeah, I know I’ve got nothing but time on my hands while under evacuation orders, but I know I shouldn’t look.
(In the meantime, I drove through the haze and remnants of what was my city, Los Angeles, and managed to get to my Post Office to pick up the Kokuyo WP cherry wood. I still haven opened up the shipping box, I’ll wait until I finally get home, one day)
Yes, I went down yet another rabbit hole yesterday. A very big hole it was. I called every single store on the Potalco website Stockists list and scoured the interwebs. Miraculously I found a brand new blue version, the one I really wanted, on the 'bay of all places, and out of Japan. The selling gentleman was extremely kind and courteous and now I wait, again. Very patiently.
Thank you all!
cheers,
elliot
OK, in the meantime a lot of things happened. If you know, you know.
But just yesterday the Postalco x uni arrived. And to my amazement, it is not blue (which I said I “really wanted”). No, instead it is the green version, the one I longed for since seeing it after I ordered the blue one! And here it is, all original, box and papers -
That’s it, I’m done buying, he said but no one heard him.
cheers,
elliot
@wildpony This is so cool… Can I know the price of this pen pls ?
I’ve once contacted Postalco — if they’d be willing to lower their shipping fee which is $60. They said they couldn’t. I’d be a mass consumer of their little grid notebooks but as it is it’s just not possible. I was unable to do an art project with their little A6 notebooks because the shipping fee was just ludicrous.
I mean, they could ship for much less, I doubt they really need $60 to ship stuff when EMS door to door is around 3000¥. I know it’s part of some “high end” culture to have through-the-roof shipping rates, but shipping quality doesn’t actually follow those posh or refined benchmarks.
I managed to snag it for $297USD.
It is indeed on the pricey side.
I have been in contact with people at Postalco and they wrote me that the first three Layered pens, black, navy and burgundy were released by uni in December 2018. Then in November 2019 a new color, green was added and uni re-released them.
To find one sitting around for five+ years, untouched by human hands, in original condition with both boxes and papers is astounding. And, I think, worth the extra dollar.
cheers,
elliot
Got It thanks
