Etelburg - Digital Pasts. Analog Futures. I.
The handwriting habits of pen users made Etelburg's co-founder, Gabor Megyeri curious. To fulfil his interest, he decided to start PhD research at the Corvinus University of Budapest in 2018 with the title “Digital Pasts, Analog Futures”. The first two years of this study were amazing, and the results showed that there is hope for handwriting in the digital era. The team have entered the second phase of this research and it is getting more and more exciting every day.
As a result of his research, Gabor started to create and refine a tool, and product group, which revolutionize and spread the importance of the hand in terms of writing, drawing, painting, etc. The project's mission is to mix the values of the past with the advantages of future technologies so that the achievements of humanity in this area can be sustained, appreciated and valued by future generations. The primary goal is to grant availability to a broad spectrum of users. To achieve this goal, Gabor and his team are planning to create multiple models to make them useable for users of every age. The combination of analogue values with digital values is the key.
"Our mission is to save handwriting for future generations and to define the writing tool that will stand proudly for centuries to come. To fulfil our goal, we need to understand the object, use the habits of the new generations and clarify the necessity of handwriting for them. During our research, we use different qualitative research methods from a different point of view."
- Gabor Megyeri, co-founder of Etelburg.
In 2019 Etelburg launched a four-stage crowdfunding project called “D.P.A. and F.”.
Project D
After some long brainstorming sessions, we have decided to start with a simple, yet elegant, durable writing instrument, available as a fountain pen and a rollerball. The main goal of project D is to get financial support for the upcoming P, A and F projects.
Design
The pen “D” is a classic, elegantly shaped pen. It belongs to the family of cigar-shaped pens. This design is meant to properly represent the old golden age of handwriting. We’ve added some twists, such as the unusual barrel ring and modern materials, to bring this pen into the world of modern writing instruments.
Size
The length of the pen is 136,4 mm and the width is 14 mm, which results in a nice, unisex writing instrument suitable for everyone. It’s well balanced whether you use it with a cartridge or with a converter.
Cap
We are using air-tight caps that don’t let your ink dry out, so your pen is always ready for use. The caps are postable on the barrel-end, so if you prefer longer pens or a tail-heavy writing experience, you can extend the barrel with the cap.
Materials
The main material is the 3K twill carbon fibre for the cap and the barrel. Instead of using simple carbon fibre tubes, as many other brands do, we made our tools to create the entire cigar-shaped body of our pen. The high polished carbon fibre surface has a thin metal core to make it even more durable.
The metal surfaces are highly polished and hard chromed. The clip has a nice tension to hold the pen tight in your pocket.
The cap-top, the barrel-end and the grip are made out of acrylic. The nice polished surface results in a comfortable grip, even for long writing sessions.
Nib
The basic “D” has a simple, clean steel nib, available in three different nib-point sizes (0.6, 0.8, and 1.0 mm line width). The simple, yet unusual design of the nib is a statement of our mission, with the script “Digital Pasts, Analog Futures” in Gabor's handwriting. For a slightly higher cost, you can also get your pen, with a high-quality Schmidt steel or gold nib.
Filling
To keep the D simple, we decided to use the simplest filling method available and picked the cartridge/converter system. You will get a converter and three ink cartridges for both the fountain version and the rollerball version of the pen. We are using Schmidt converters, they are also available as standalone products if you need more.
Packaging
To protect the environment, we have kept the packaging as simple as possible. There is no need for unnecessary boxes. You will receive your pen in a nice, little pouch, which you can use as a penholder to protect your pen.
