AntwerPPen exhibition
After months of hard work and preparations, the AntwerPPen & More exhibition took place on Friday 21 July. Over 200 people came by to admire our collection, listen to our stories and discover our latest special editions.
At Conid, we like to do things differently. Therefore we decided to take a different approach to the traditional exhibition.
We wanted to highlight our connection to Antwerp, our passion for our hometown and how it inspires us every day. Antwerp’s dynamicity and innovation are what inspires us, but also many other Antwerpians and entrepreneurs.
In the end, this idea resulted in an interactive, inspiring and exceptionally different exhibition.
The Conid team, the true driving force behind everything we do, was present in full force to meet and chat to the visitors about their common passion: handwriting, Antwerp and technology.
Komec’s first brand is Conid
From big machines suited to industrial and heavy-duty work to fountain pens – you might wonder what on earth came to Komec’s mind to combine the two. If you look closely however, you will notice how Komec provides our fountain pens with their unique character. Precision, innovation and incomparable quality form the cornerstone of all of our products, both at Komec and at Conid. The simple yet cutting-edge solution that would later become our patented Bulkfiller mechanism could only have originated from our engineers following the Komec mindset and philosophy. In that way, Conid’s Bulkfillers are equally precise and state-of-the art as any of Komec’s large-scale products.
Engineered for people who love writing!
Only a very small number of manufacturers are known to test their nib units after assembly. The former Writing Equipment Society president, Geoff Roe, addressed the society members on the inadequacies experienced from production pens – even well-known quality manufacturers. At Conid, it is different. After assembly of your Conid pen, the nib is tuned to write as requested and a writing certificate is supplied to demonstrate performance. As far as we are aware, no other manufacturer gives this personal service. Social media comments confirm the smoothness and pleasure of writing with one of these pens. This is a major strength of the Bulkfiller ideal encapsulated in Conid’s motto: “Engineered for people who love writing!””.
All parts are machined
The ‘Bulkfiller’ features a piston, sealed with industrial ‘O’ rings. It also contains a novel rod system that locks the piston at full capacity while allowing the rod to disengage and be stowed in the pen reservoir when filling is complete. It is an elegant solution and, while not the simplest, uses fully machined parts of high strength and durability.
The pens currently use Bock nib units of gold, titanium or stainless steel. With just the exception of the nib unit and seals, all parts are machined from solid stock giving a very strong, high-quality product. The pen components have been given rigorous engineering testing, and the filler system has gone through one million operating cycles on a computer controlled jig. The clip is made from a solid billet of titanium, a material not easily formed but milled if you have the correct cutting tools. This is a time-consuming process but chosen wisely to maintain the desired functional requirements. While other manufacturers generally use pressing that gains its strength by curling the edges downwards and forming an end ball, the Conid clip has a solid ‘D’ shaped cross section; the result is a flexible yet strong, durable and elegant clip.