The other day whilst strolling around Amazon I came across the Stabilo Grow; a fountain pen with almost impeccable eco credentials built using recycled materials, FSC approved wood with barrels in three different woods.
For full details see Stabilo’s website: https://www.stabilo.com/uk/products/writing/fountain-pens/stabilo-grow/
I could go on and on but suffice to say this pen captured my attention and five minutes later it was in my basket and a few minutes later it was on the way to shipping.
Of the three woods I opted for the cherry mainly because I have a fondness for cherries and of the three woods it looked the best, so you can see my selection process was very scientific.
Before pressing on with the review I should own up and say I’ve never owned and used a wooden pen before so if I make comparisons it will be with conventional pens.
The Barrel
This is the wooden bit of the pen, which is nicely finished and branded Stabilo Grow. At the top of the barrel is the plastic collar that the section screws into’ the collar is colour coded to reflect the version of the pen you are using; for instance, mine is a dark pink to represent cherries. One thing I noticed about the barrel is despite feeling uncoated the wood is definitely sealed, I got a drop of red ink on mine, and it easily cleaned off leaving no trace. Having said that I do think if you have one of these pens in regular rotation the wood will age very nicely.
The Section
The section is three sided and consequently reminiscent of the Lamy design which screws into the collar and tapers slightly from the collar to the nib where it flares to give you somewhere rest your finger and stop it from slipping onto the nib. At approximately 36mm it is quite a long section but comfortable to use allowing space to adjust your grip as needed.
The Nib
The nib looks like a small version of the Lamy nib; I found it writes well using a slightly wet ink (I used Vitstyle Red Bear by Robert Oster) as the ink flows smoothly and gives a nice even colour and line and the feed had no trouble keeping up with demand. The only observation I would make is that the Medium nib I have is a bit closer to Fine than Medium.
The Cap
The cap is a plastic snap cap with a polished metal clip at the top of which is Stabilo’s swan logo. The clip is nicely sprung; tight enough to grip but not so tight that it would be difficult to attach to anything.
Writing
The writing experience is smooth and the flow of ink keeps up with the speed of writing and beyond resting the nib on the paper I didn’t find the pen required any extra pressure to generate even text.
The Missing Piece
The one thing missing from this pen is a converter; without a converter you can’t maximise the eco credentials because to use the pen I had to buy a converter but in reality most people will, in all probability, use the supplied cartridge and continue using cartridges creating plastic waste.
But including a converter would have been an opportunity to encourage pen users to move away from cartridges to the more eco alternative of bottled ink.
Whilst a converter is something you buy once or twice in a pens lifetime and bottles of ink to fill the converter are bought far less frequently than cartridges and the bottles are usually made of glass which is easily recycled; it would have made good sense to include a converter rather than a cartridge and a spacer cartridge.
I opted to buy a converter for the pen which cost around £5.00GBP and I can’t tell you what type of plastic it was made from; however, had Stabilo supplied one it would have been made from an eco friendly plastic and because of the volume they would have used it would have only increased the cost per pen by a few pennies.
Conclusion
Would I recommend this pen?
Regardless of its eco credentials, which are a bonus, I would definitely recommend this pen; it is a nice pen to own and use and add to your collection.
But I still think Stabilo missed a trick not producing and including their own eco-friendly converter.
Disclaimer: The pen was purchased with my own funds at retail price. The opinions expressed in this review are my own; and I am not connected with either the retailers or manufacturers in any way.
The Indian Marmalade Company 