It’s the season of Indian fountain pens and what better time to have an exciting launch in this sphere. Witness the unveiling of India’s first Raden fountain pen by Lotus in partnership with Makoba India. We are proud to say we have been able to bring out the best in an Indian handmade fountain pen with this launch.
It wasn’t easy!! Definately not easy.
Planning for the Lotus exclusive Makoba model started in March 2020. We met for the second time in as many months and we knew we could do some magic together. In our very first interaction with Mr. Arun Singhi of Lotus Pens, we had this gut feeling. It was at one of the Pen expos we had taken part in. Our stall was decorated with all the best Internationa pens from Leonardo, Montegrappa, and Pilots and at the end of the row was Mr. Arunji with his wares. Our love for Indian pens started with Ranga in 2018 and in 2020 it turned into a passion when we met Mr. Arun Singhi. Over the two days of the expo, we found a lot of synergies between us. We were like kids in a toy store getting excited every time we visited their table. We were intrigued with the models and the bandwidth of the craftmanship Arunji could work on.
Getting back to our workstations, me and Donesh started wondering if Arunji would be interested in partnering with us and creating an exclusive model for us to promote. I guess the precursor to this though was the launch of Ranga Varnin, an exclusive Makoba model. We did receive an overwhelming response to the Ranga Varnin and thought we could do the same with Lotus and probably with a much deeper impact.
Above is what was the end result of a thought that started in March 2020 and saw the day of light, today 15/01/2021. The Covid pandemic did hinder our project timelines and a project which could have been 5-6 months ended up taking almost 9months to finish. Large shells were imported and painstakingly cut to smaller pieces and then inlaid onto the Japanese ebonite material. Before getting to the final approved piece, We had used up almost material worth five pens to get this perfection in finish and symmetry. The end result is the Raden collection, truly an Indian handmade fountain pen.
The Lotus Raden fountain pen 
The Lotus Raden fountain pen
As the journey began to create this exclusive piece, two models evolved from the original discussion.
One took shape in the form of Rays and the other was a Sparkle.
This collection has been limited to 20 pieces in each design. In other words, it is also India’s first Limited edition fountain Pen. Currently, the pens have been fixed with a Jowo nib with nib options of Fine, Medium and Broad. We can also provide, an additional Bock nib section and nib options of Fine, Medium and Broad in steel and 18KT solid gold nib at an additional cost. To know more about the nib change and cost do call us at 98840 01991 or email at sripal@makoba.com.
From the close-up image, one can notice the perfect liner pattern created with tiny shell pieces. We thought an apt name for this fountain pen would be Rays.
Unlike the linear pattern set in the Rays, the other collection to do was much tougher and time-consuming. The tiny pieces of shell were inlaid onto the pen by creating matching grooves. Why Sparkle? because it was a burst of colors and uneven pattern
The Raden Rays Indian Handmade Fountain Pen 
The Raden Rays Indian Handmade Fountain Pen
The Lotus Raden Rays Indian Handmade fountain pen 
The Lotus Raden Rays Indian Handmade fountain pen
The Impact!!
Slowly as the product was taking shape, so were many other ideas around it. We knew we have come very close to creating an art piece mastered by the Japanese right here in India.
But is this it? Is the product just enough. What about the packaging and the branding. What about the literature that goes along with the pen. How can we make it better? HOW CAN WE CREATE A DEEPER IMPACT!!
We did not stop just with the product. We wanted to push ourselves up the wall and come up with a packaging design, unseen in the Indian pen industry. We experimented with Paper boxes, Acrylic boxes and Metal boxes as well. Nothing inspired as a simple wooden box did. We took inspiration from the wooden boxes as provided by Namiki, Nakaya, and Sailors. Finally, it was decided to create our packaging for the exclusive Raden pen in a wooden box. Next, we sure did not want to blindly replicate these designs. We wanted to create something new of our own, that’s when the with a sliding lid came up. Up next were the contents that could go into the box other than the pen. We created the Warranty card and also a literature on how this product came up.
Wooden box for the Raden Rays fountain pen 
Wooden box for the Raden Sparkle fountain pen
Our anxiety, our apprehensions, came to an end when all the elements of this project finally came together in the perfect shape and quality as visioned by us.
All the credits for this marvelous collection go to Mr. Arun Singhi and his team of craftsmen who understood the intricacy and have been able to deliver to match international standards.
Shop for your First Indian Raden fountain pen. Click here