Goulet Pens Podcast

There is a new phenomenon happening in the planning, stationery, and fountain pen world called Bullet Journaling. Bullet journaling was created by Ryder Caroll and is a flexible system for self organization. It has spread across the stationery world and been embraced by a number of bloggers, including the subject of today's Goulet Guests episode, Kara Benz.

We've been hoping for sometime now that Lamy would come out with a purple Safari and they've exceeded our expectations with this 2016 Special Edition. It's matte purple with a black nib and a matching black clip. We'll have them available with extra-fine, fine and medium nibs, as well as a rollerball version.

For a long time we've been asked, and now we're finally able to deliver Goulet #6 size black nibs! These are the exact same high-quality Jowo-brand German nibs you've seen in our polished steel and two-tone colors, but now with a slick black oxide finish to stealth out any pen that'll take a #6 nib.

We're all human, and we all make mistakes. Having learned from the error of our own ways and from the vast amount of feedback and experiences we hear from customers, we've compiled a list of the biggest mistakes we see made with fountain pens. Hopefully, now that you know them, you can avoid the disastrous results... 

Back in November of 2015, Rachel and I had the honor to visit the Pilot USA headquarters in Jacksonville, Fl. Pilot USA is the distributor for Pilot product in the US, and supplies their products to retailers like us. It's a very important, yet often overlooked part of the process of getting these incredible Japanese products to the US market. They opened up their doors to us and let us show you their operation, it is quite impressive!

In this week’s Q&A, I talk about why fountain pens are called fountain pens, how pen materials affect the pricing of a pen, and what a typical day at Goulet looks like for me.

We have a new video series that we're starting called Goulet Guests! This interview kicks it off strong with urban sketching legend and educator Liz Steel. Liz has been a fangirl of Goulet for some time now, and we've been following her and learning a lot from her sketching tutorials for a long time. When the idea came up to interview her, it was a natural fit. Enjoy!

This week Brian's talking about architect nibs, slippery grips and the strangest requests we've ever gotten in order comments at Goulet Pens. Enjoy!

We're excited to announce the newest edition to the Visconti Homo Sapiens collection.... Dark Age! Coming in early March, this super stealthy fountain pen features everything you already love about the Homo Sapiens (like as Brian says, it's made out of freakin' volcano!),  except this time it comes with all-black trim. Even the palladium nib is black.

This week Brian talks about affordable stub nibs, his favorite demonstrator pens, and the most tragic pen dropping story he's ever had! 

In this week's Q&A, Brian talks about the necessity of tipping material on a nib, which pen was the biggest let down for him, and Valentine's Day gift ideas for fountain pen fans. Enjoy!

We recently launched the Karas Kustoms Fountain K and I'm excited to get to show you more of this pen. The Fountain K is very industrial looking, and I can see it appeal to anyone who's looking for an indestructible pen. These pens are machined here in the USA and can literally be thrown across a parking lot, or run over by a car and still write just fine.

If you are looking for a rugged every day carry fountain pen, look no further than the Karas Kustoms Ink. Don't be confused by the name- the Ink, is in fact, a fountain pen. It comes in 15 varieties of colors/finishes, made of 3 types of material. All feature the same utilitarian/industrial design with swappable grip sections and nib units.

We're extremely excited to introduce a new brand to the lineup here at Goulet Pens! Karas Kustoms, named after founder Bill Karas, was founded back in 2008 in Arizona, and all of their pens and accessories continue to be machined here in the USA. What began as a Kickstarter campaign has now turned into a successful brand of durable rollerballs and fountain pens, all made of solid metal. Each pen comes in locally sourced recycled packaging, and includes cartridges and a converter. 

In this week's Q&A, Brian discusses various flex nibs, thickening ink, and which pens he loves but never talks about!