The Surrokko Fountain Pen

Finally! A new stationery review! I recently had the means to finally acquire a Surrokko fountain pen - what appears to be the only commercially-made New Zealand fountain pen ever. They have a few (monetized, oddly) YouTube marketing videos, which stress that the pen is “Made in New Zealand”, as well as featuring themes like extreme sports, individualism, military toxic masculinity and Viking armies, and conventionally attractive white people (one video has a split-second clip of Maori dancers).

Image taken from Surroko website.

Needless to say, the marketing is all about bit of a bummer to me. I wasn’t able to buy the pen directly on their web site due to unknown shopping cart errors, and of their two authorized retailers, one seems to be gone and the other told me to contact the makers directly, which is how I obtained mine.

After ordering, I asked for comments from the sellers to aid in this review. Paul Guinibert provided some information:

“[T]he bulk of the work is done in my garage in Avondale, Auckland New Zealand. The pen is CNC machined using both milling and turning processes though more importantly I hand polish the outer profile of the pen before the parts are coated to get the profile spot on to the eye. The coating is done by an external NZ company but something I keep quiet as part of the IP of our product. The marking on the clip I do in house and the logo on the top of the cap is a mixture of laser engraving and me hand painting them under a microscope (A patience game indeed). I assemble and pack all the pens by hand myself. The box is made in china (there is no one in NZ who can handle making this sort of box) and we QC the boxes to a very high standard. There is approximately 5hrs of my time in every pen. It sounds like a lot, but I hope this pays off in the quality of each pen.”

All told, the makers along with their original 55 Kickstarter backers who brought the pen to fruition really did a great job.

It’s really rare for any new pen makers to emerge these days - most just contract directly with the major luxury pen manufacturers in China or Germany. But with a high price point and low quantity of initial backers, I can believe that an artisinal batch like this could be made in-house by experienced makers.

Image taken from Kickstarter.

On to the pen! I’m sure they could have shaved an easy USD $100 from the price with less packaging, but I know packaging helps tell a story, and this is a very bulky 3-layered story. A slipcase, followed by a box, followed by a uniquely hinge-opening “jewelry box”. Then there’s the pen.

The base model comes with a varnished red Bock nib, threaded into the very tip of the grip, rather than the section like most pens. One of their videos claims the pen is balanced to come to rest with the cap’s logo pointing upward, but mine did not perform that way, even when capping it such that the flat side of the pen was opposite the clip. The weight of the clip always dragged it to rest against the clip itself.

However, when uncapped, the flat side always brought the pen to rest nib up, which is a nice feature. Two supplementary nibs - a black-varnished and unvarnished gold-plated steel nib - were included, as well as a tin of 6 J. Herbin “Perle Noir” standard international short cartridges (not the Pilot cartridges as mentioned in the videos).

The “ceramic anodizing” finish of the aluminum barrel is interesting to feel. Similar to “soft touch” rubber coatings, it gives the metal a soft sensation. The machined grip grooves definitely create less slip in a sweaty hand, but for death-grippers like me, they can feel a little sharp.

The cap can theoretically be posted, but it doesn’t hold on tight (or at least not without a level of force I wasn’t willing to try), and just about any interaction with the pen’s “ceramic anodizing” surface left marks. My very clean hands left behind marbly layers of either damage to the coating or dry skin that the coating was sandpapering off. I used a standard cotton cloth and a microfibre cloth, and neither (wet or dry) could remove these marks.

The pen writes good. After a little shaking to prime the included cartridge into the feed, it was smooth and easy. The Bock nib was fairly wet, which should work well if I try to run shimmer or pigment inks through it.

A short converter like those made by Kaweco will fit, but a standard converter was too long. The cap snaps on with the aid of a red rubber o-ring, and the inclusion of a spare tells me this will likely wear out over time. It appears to be a standard gauge, however, so it should be easy to find additional replacements down the line.

Overall it’s a good pen, of unique provenance, niche marketed in a way I find a bit off-putting, and at a price point similar to other luxury fountain pens that perform as well and provide an equivalent aesthetic experience.

This post has been updated with comments from the manufacturer/seller.