WANCHER 'THE DREAM PEN' URUSHI FOUNTAIN PEN REVIEW

Wancher. Chances are, you've seen this Japanese brand pass by on several blogs or social media in the past few weeks. And that's all due to the Kickstarter campaign for their latest product: 'The Dream Pen'! 

I don't know about you, but before their announcement of the Kickstarter, I had never really heard of the brand. They cleverly used a strong social media campaign to advertise the Kickstarter. And they also reached out to me, and about half a dozen other bloggers, to take a look at the early production prototypes of The Dream Pen. 

I have to give it to them, they did a very solid job with publicity and marketing for their Kickstarter campaign, which showed in the ridiculous pace at which their project got funded (and blew past their goal)!

Anyway, I kind of missed the start of the Kickstarter with my review due to exams taking the upper hand. As it's a completely new brand to me, I had no clue what to expect so I didn't want to rush it either. It quickly became clear that Wancher is onto something impressive though. 'The Dream Pen' might be a slightly strange name, but after spending some time with it... there might be some truth in it.

Let's start at the beginning. With The Dream Pen project, Wancher set out to make a true ebonite and urushi fountain pen at a competitive price (and even a Maki-e version, albeit at a serious premium). At the same time, they want to honor the Japanese craftsmen who specialise in Urushi and Maki-e, by including them in the manufacturing process instead of turning to large scale industrialized production methods.

At first, those two things don't seem to go together, low price but labor-intensive manual production? Wancher says they achieve this by diverging from the traditional marketing and retail scenario. Instead of investing in advertisement, and selling through distributors and retailers (who of course each want a profit margin), they sell directly through the public, and do their own advertisement.

I'm not an economist, so I don't know how viable this plan is in the long run, but so far it seems as if they have everything exactly figured out. Their successful advertisement campaign says enough in that regard.

As a Japanese manufacturer, they have been in the pen industry for over 25 years. But despite having one or two urushi and maki-e products in their assortment, their focus seems to be mainly on more affordable pens. The Dream Pen is an 'affordable' Urushi pen, but affordable is relative of course. Other urushi pens like Nakaya or Danitrio, go for at least twice as much easily. Even with a price many times higher than most of their usual products, they still managed to stay far below the usual retail price for urushi products. 

In the Kickstarter campaign, you have a wide variety of finishes to choose from. 'The True Ebonite',  made out of solid ebonite (without urushi finish). 'The True Urushi', solid urushi colors (red, blue, black, green, purple,...) and red Tamenuri. And finally 'The True Maki-e', urushi with a cherry blossom Maki-e finish. 

I received a production prototype of the black urushi finish. Even though it's not so much a photogenic pen (almost impossible to properly capture the lustre of this perfectly polished laquer), it's a sight to behold. The Dream Pen is a large, cigar-shaped pen. The cap is slightly wider than the barrel, so the cap doesn't sit flush against the barrel. It's very remniscent of a Danitrio Mikado round-top (but smaller) or Namiki Yukari. There are no markings or artist signatures on the barrel or cap, which gives the pen a clean and minimalist appeal.

Underneath the cap, there's still a surprisingly large step towards the section. Considering the design with the wider cap diameter, they probably could've made this a little less pronounced. But on the upside, the walls of the cap are thick and the entire pen has a solid and robust feel in the hand. The step and threads are noticeable when you run your finger over them, but the transition from section to barrel is gradual. I found my grip to be more towards the front of the long and nicely tapered section, so I didn't personally encounter any discomfort during writing.

The urushi laquer is applied evenly and sanded and polished to perfection. I couldn't find any flaws in the finish on this review unit. I even let Catherine of Sakura Fountain Pen Gallery check it out. She's an expert on Japanese handmade pens, and she was very impressed with the quality of the craftsmanship. If Wancher can keep up this level of detail and finesse at their current pricing, they will have created something remarkable. I'd almost dare call it revolutionary, but in the grand scheme of things it's not yet on the level of a cure for cancer or world peace...sorry Wancher!

L to R: Pelikan Souverän M805, M1000, Montblanc 149, Visconti Homo Sapiens Oversize, Wancher The Dream Pen, Lamy Lx, Lamy 2000.

Measuring 15.6cm (6.14") closed, and 13.2cm (5.20") uncapped, The Dream Pen is a serious pen. The cap cannot be posted, but since the pen is more than long enough as-is, I never felt like this was needed anyway. The widest part of the cap has a diameter of 1.7cm (0.67"), but the width drops down to a relatively average and comfortable 1.1cm (0.43"). A lot of urushi pens tend to be on the larger side, which makes it easier for intricate Maki-e patterns to be applied. But due to the lightweight ebonite construction (total of just 22 grams!), they remain comfortable and lightweight in use. 

Uncapping the pen, you can feel the spring-loaded insert in the cap. They used a similar system to the slip-and-seal mechanism Platinum uses in their 3776 pens, which prevents the nib from drying out. I found this feature to work excellent. The pen started each time, even after several days without use.

For the writing end, Wancher decided on a pretty unique team-up with JoWo and Flexible Nib Factory. JoWo is of course well-known and widely used, and they produce excellent steel and gold nibs. But seeing Flexible Nib Factory involved was a pleasant surprise. This small startup company based in the US, specialises in custom feed and nib housings for existing nib/pen combinations. 

The resulting writing experience is honestly superb. The symbiosis of the 18k rhodium-plated gold nib (a broad nib in this case), and the precisely machined ebonite feed, make for a flawless setup. The nib is shockingly smooth but responsive with a wet ink flow due to the feed. A lot of superlatives, I know, but I honestly can't say a single bad thing about the business end of The Dream Pen. 

Filling is done through a conventional standard international cartridge or converter. This is really my only hiccup I had with my review sample, as the converter that came included...wouldn't fit? A bit strange, but I suppose the custom nib unit has a slightly different diameter. I ended up using a Schmidt converter which fits snugly, but it works. 

Of course you're probably curious to find out how 'affordable' they are exactly. The price obviously depends on the finish and choice of nibs. For a 'True Ebonite' pen with steel nib, the Kickstarter price is 155 EUR (185 USD), a gold nib adds 100 USD. The 'True Urushi' pens are available for 320 EUR (385 USD) and come with a 14k or 18k gold nib of choice. Finally the 'True Maki-e' will set you back 912 EUR (1100 USD). 

Personally, I find the ebonite pens on the expensive side, given the retail price after the Kickstarter will go up even more. I think the true value is at the urushi pens, even the full retail price (450 USD) is still a lot lower than any other urushi pen currently on the market. The Maki-e I can't really judge on value for money, since the quality and technique of Maki-e has a great impact on its' value (literally the difference between a 1000 dollar pen, or a 40.000 dollar one!). 

Participating in a Kickstarter is of course always somewhat of a risk, especially with a brand that has never done this before. But since Wancher is not at all new to the business, I think they knew what they were getting into. If you want to get your feet wet into the world of urushi pens but don't feel like dropping big $$$ for it, The Dream Pen might very well be the way to go! I sincerely can't say enough positive things about it, if Wancher can make their promises true and deliver a product as good as the prototype I have in my hands right now, this can become a game changer for the Urushi fountain pen industry... especially if they can keep those prices low once the Kickstarter is over.

Want to join in on the Kickstarter? Better act fast: at the time of publishing this review, there's only a little over two weeks left on the clock... You can find the Kickstarter page HERE.

Note: This product was provided on loan by Wancher, free of charge, so I could write this review.  I was in no way influenced in the making of this review, the opinions shared in this review are completely my own! This post does not contain affilate links.