Lamy

See Lamy (disambiguation) for other meanings

C. Josef Lamy GmbH

Type	GmbH
Industry	Writing instruments
Founded	1930
Founder(s)	Josef Lamy
Headquarters	Heidelberg, Germany
Key people	Bernhard M. Rösner (CEO)
Revenue	53.6 million € (2011)[1]
Employees	320
Website	lamy.de

Lamy /ˈlɑːmɪ/ is a producer of writing instruments in Europe. The company is German-owned and its presence is particularly strong there. Josef Lamy, who was a sales representative for The Parker Pen Company in Germany, founded the business in 1930 by purchasing the Orthos pen manufacturer. Lamy was a pioneer in the use of moulded synthetic plastics to make their product. Lamy was run by Josef Lamy's son, Manfred Lamy, until his retirement in 2006. He was succeeded by Bernhard M. Rösner.^[2]

Business history

The Lamy Development Centre in Heidelberg, Germany

External references dealing with Lamy's business history commence in 1984, where Lamy's export share increased to 33 percent of turnover. In 1986, Lamy, Montblanc, and Parker held between them 70–80 percent of the West German market, and export markets then consisted of the US, Japan, and Austria. Lamy then had hoped to expand that export share to 50 percent of turnover, which stood at approximately 40 million Deutschmark (DM) for 1985.^[3] Turnover for Lamy increased to 48 million DM for 1987,^[4] then employing 350 people, increasing to 54 million DM in 1988 and a corresponding increase in staff to nearly 400.

In 1989, turnover increased to approximately 62 million DM, and Lamy had begun taking on employees as sleeping partners. The result was approximately one third of the then 400 workforce becoming sleeping partners. In that year, Lamy established contacts with East Germany and planned to do business there as well as in West Germany.^[5] 1991 held an increase in staff and turnover again, this time to 85 million DM and five hundred staff.^[6] Lamy invested in their "innovation workshop" in Heidelberg, in 1996, along with approximate expected turnover being 113 million DM.^[7] 1999 showed Lamy reporting stable turnover of approximately 120 million DM, though domestic demand has fallen.^[8]

Product range

Like other writing instrument companies, each Lamy product has a descriptive and artistic name that evokes an idea related to the product; "Scribble", for example, is their mechanical pencil, which can take 3.15 mm graphite refills, the relatively large diameter pencil refill is useful for sketching.^[9] The company refers to their products by prefixing "Lamy" in front of the descriptive name, such as "Lamy Scribble" (to avoid repetition, here only the descriptive name is used).

Fountain pens

Lamy Z 50 nibs in front of a Lamy Nexx fountain pen

Many Lamy fountain pen models share the same type of nib. Most use Fe-Ni-Cr stainless steel alloy Z 50 nibs which can be interchanged by the user and are available in Extra Fine (EF), Fine (F), Medium (M), Broad (B) line width nibs in steel and black finish and 1.1 mm (1.1), 1.5 mm (1.5) and 1.9  mm (1.9) calligraphic stub italic nibs which are only available in steel finish.^[10] Besides these nibs there is also Z 50 LH Medium nib available for left handed use. To develop the handwriting skills and improve the penmanship of schoolchildren there is a Z 50 Anfänger (A) or beginner nib that can not be damaged as easily as regular nibs when a beginner applies a lot of pressure on the nib. The steel Z 50 nibs will also fit some Lamy fountain pens that come with gold alloy nibs. These 14 carat (58⅓%), bi-coloured, gold alloy nibs are styled like the lower priced all-steel nibs and available in Extra Fine (EF), Fine (F), Medium (M), Broad (B) line width and Oblique Medium (OM) and Oblique Broad (OB). The 2000 fountain pen model uses nibs of another type which is incompatible with Lamy's other fountain pen models.

Dialog 3

The Lamy dialog 3 is Lamy's first foray into the retractable-nib fountain pen market. The pen's main competition is the Pilot Vanishing Point/Capless which is probably the most well known retractable-nib fountain pen. The pen went on sale in October 2009.

Studio

The Lamy Studio Fountain in black steel

Lamy produces a number of fountain pens, the most recent of which is the Studio, designed by Hannes Wettstein.^[11] The Studio is a cartridge/converter fill pen, featuring a distinctive clip. It is available in matte black steel,^[12] polished steel^[13] and palladium^[14] finishes. The steel Studio pens come with steel nibs and the palladium Studio comes with a gold nib. The Studio design has won the Good Design Award^[15] and the iF Design award in 2005.^[16]

Safari

From top to bottom: Lamy Vista, Lamy Safari and Lamy AL-star graphit

The Safari is a noted design by Wolfgang Fabian^[11][17] and Bernt Spiegel of the Entwicklungsgruppe Mannheim^[18] which remains in production from 1980. Another cartridge/converter fill pen, its body is ABS plastic, with moulded triangular grip section, and comes in primary colours of red, yellow, and blue.^[19] The Safari's design is visible in AL-star line, which features aluminium and other aluminium-tinted^[20] plating and a clear plastic section, in the Vista line which has an entirely transparent plastic body and cap (a demonstrator pen), and in the taper-tailed Joy line for calligraphers which are often used with 1.1, 1.5, and 1.9 mm calligraphic italic nibs.

2000

The Lamy 2000.

Lamy's flagship fountain pen is the 2000.^[21] Designed by Gerd Alfred Müller^[11] and released in 1966, it remains in production today. The 2000 was innovative in its day for its use of a special fiberglass resin produced by Bayer, Makrolon, for the body of the pen. It is the only Lamy fountain pen that is a piston fill pen, so thus only takes bottled ink.^[22] It has a non-flexible 14 carat (58⅓% gold content) gold alloy nib, though it is plated with platinum, which achieves a uniform colour scheme to the pen.^[23] The pen's design demonstrates the Bauhaus influence on Lamy pens, and that of "form follows function".^[24] The classic design continues to be popular more than forty years after being introduced. Notable author Neil Gaiman wrote his book American Gods with his Lamy 2000, which he refers to as his "novel writing pen".^[25] In addition to normal production mechanical pencil, ballpoint and four-color ballpoint versions, a commemorative fountain pen version was produced for the new millennium called the Edition 2000, which features an inverse design of the original: a stainless steel body with Makrolon ring and polished clip.^[23]

abc

Lamy's abc beginner's fountain pen was designed by Bernt Speigel to be used by children while learning to write. The body is made from maple wood and includes a name sticker in the cap to assist in identifying each student's pen.^[26] The Lamy abc is fitted with an extra sturdy and forgiving Anfänger (A) nib.

Ballpoints

Lamy produce ballpoint pens in different form-factors, including as pocket telescoping pens, triangular and titanium.

The pico is a pocket telescoping ballpoint pen designed by Franco Clivio.^[11] It comes in chrome, red, blue, and black finishes. Like some other Lamy pens, the pico features a small protrusion to stop the pen from rolling .^[27] Lamy also produces a leather carrying case uniquely for this pen. The pen has also won a red dot award for product design^[28]

Several noted designers have produced pen designs for Lamy, such as Richard Sapper, designer of the ThinkPad, who designed the dialog1,^[11] a triangular ballpoint, coated in titanium.^[29]

Some fountain pen designs are also available in ballpoint form, such as the Studio, Safari, and 2000, which is available in a Makrolon ballpoint design that remains faithful to the fountain pen design, but also comes in special African blackwood^[30] and taxus^[31] editions. The 2000 also comes in a four colour variant.^[32]

Rollerballs

Other designs such as the Safari and Studio come in rollerball form too, though certain designs such as the Swift are uniquely rollerball pens. The distinguishing design feature of the Swift is the retractable clip. When the point is extended, the Swift's clip retracts to be flush with the body of the pen, which helps the pen sit in the hand more comfortably, and also serves as a preventative reminder not to reinsert the pen into one's pocket with the point extended, which may cause staining.^[33][34] Lamy is also one of the few pen manufacturers to produce a cartridge rollerball, the Balloon. It takes the ink cartridges for the fountain pens, but has a rollerball mechanism, and has an elastic clip.^{[citation needed]} This is one of Lamy's newest products.

Multisystem pens

Lamy produces a number of multisystem pens, which combine a ballpoint and another feature within the one pen, such as the Pickup, which integrates a ballpoint and a highlighter into one body. The highlighter is released from the body of the pen by depressing a button on the body of the pen, and can be reinserted into the body of the pen.^[35] A reinvented version with aluminium body, and spring action clip has been released as the Pickup Pro in 2006.^[36] The Pickup was also designed by Wolfgang Fabian, and has won the red dot award for product design.^[37]

Mechanical pencils

Lamy produces a wide range of mechanical pencils. Some of the other Lamy designs exist in mechanical pencil form, such as the 2000 and the Safari. The Scribble, also designed by Hannes Wettstein,^[11] is a large-bodied pencil with triangular shapings on the body to help the grip. It comes in 0.7 and 3.15 mm lead variants. To make the pencil more comfortable when sketching, the clip on the pencil is removable. The 0.7 mm pencil comes with an integrated eraser and needle which is used if the pencil becomes clogged with broken fine pieces of graphite.^[38]

Ink

A blue Lamy T 10 proprietary ink cartridge containing 1.15 ml ink for fountain pens

Lamy produces ink in bottles and proprietary cartridges. Lamy provide the widest range of colours in what it designates as T 10 cartridges, with black, blue, blue-black, red, green, turquoise, and violet.^[39] Lamy ink bottles are provided in two forms, the slender 30 ml T 51 bottles providing ink in blue, black, red, and turquoise,^[40] while the 50 ml T 52 bottles are larger, and have a greater colour selection providing ink in blue, black, red, green, turquoise, and blue-black. The T 52 bottles also provide a roll of blotter tape used to clean the pen after filling, or to blot writing.^[41] Both bottles are specially shaped with a wide neck and a basin to collect ink to aid filling when close to empty.

The bottled T 52 blue-black used to be an iron gall based ink until it was discontinued in 2012. It was a modern formulation that is safe for use in fountain pens. Like the other available T 52 bottled colours T 52 blue-black nowadays is a dye-based fountain pen ink.

Earlier designs

Earlier Lamy designs includes the Lady and the Persona; "vintage" designs are varied but have numerical suffixes instead of descriptive names. The Lady was a design intended to appeal to women; the Lady is manufactured out of painted, hardened, porcelain and does not feature a clip as it was thought that women do not normally make use of the clip—a small protrusion prevents the pen from rolling on a flat surface. The Lady was designed by Wolfgang Fabian and Sharon Jodjaja was responsible for the barrel designs.^[34] The Persona was designed by Mario Bellini. It features concentric ribs on the grip and parallel ribs down the barrel, a retractable clip that retracts flush with the cap, and a small protrusion again to stop the pen from rolling.^[34]

Gallery

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  LAMY Safari (top) in red and Vista (bottom) fountain pens. Under the LAMY Vista transparent demonstrator pen a LAMY T 10 ink cartridge and a LAMY Z 24 piston operated converter for using bottled fountain pen ink.

• 

  Parts of a Lamy Vista fountain pen. From left to right: Z 50 M nib (medium line width), ink feed, grip section of the barrel.

• 

  Lamy Vista rollerball pen (top) and Lamy Vista fountain pen.

• 

  Boxes of Lamy fountain ink cartridges. In 2012 these are the available colors: black, green, blue-black, blue washable, turquoise, red and violet.

• 

  Lamy T 52 bottled black fountain ink.

• 

  Lamy fountain pen and rollerball pen writing samples.

Notes and references

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lamy.

• Lamy's website
• Lamy at Penspotters
• Lamy 2000 at Penspotters
• Review of Lamy ink at Glenn's Pen Page
• Review of the Lamy Studio at Stylophiles Online
• Review of Lamy 2000 4-colour pen at The Gadgeteer
• Review of Accent Brilliant Briarwood at Chiral Software