THE WRITE STUFF
Lennie Dionisio has gone full circle from personally handwriting notes, collecting antique pens, nibs and ink bottles — the kind you cannot find anymore — to manufacturing penholders made of wood and inlaid with mother of pearl.
Handwritten notes, letters, invitations, and greeting cards have almost gone the way of the dodo bird. John Hancock surely never imagined a world without them. The graceful, elegant, distinctive art of penmanship has been replaced by the impersonal, distant, cold and curt email, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Messenger.
Lennie Dionisio makes an effort to push back the hands of time so that the art of calligraphy is not lost forever. She has gone full circle from personally handwriting notes, collecting antique pens, nibs and ink bottles — the kind you cannot find anymore — to manufacturing penholders made of wood and inlaid with mother of pearl and other shells. She also keeps typewriter ribbon tins. Most of these items she finds on the internet.
“In the beginning were the twigs and quills,” Lennie begins, showing me one made of goose feather. Geese are indeed so useful as their feathers go into comforters and are turned into quills. Turkey feathers were also used for quills because their feathers are sturdier. “Hindi
magalaw. The primary wing feather has to be sturdy,” she continues.
“Then, in the 1800s, they developed the nibs. In the monasteries, where documents and manuscripts were written and kept, they probably had a lot of pens but I think during the time they used twigs, too, to write because that was before the invention of the printing press. I also collect typewriter ribbon tins. Some people kept this stuff only to find out later that they had value. Today, I get all my information on the internet. One can also get information from shows like The Pickers.”
Lennie continues, “Back in October 2014, I took up calligraphy lessons so I could enhance the quality of my Christmas presents by writing my own notes with calligraphy dip pens and gold ink. One of my hobbies is giftwrapping as well. I want all my gifts to be special. I was into anything calligraphic. I was researching a lot until I stumbled onto some Instagram accounts showing their callig- raphy pens. It was love at first sight. And from then on, I was obsessed with collecting calligraphy pens,” Lennie explains.
In those days, there were very few pen makers and they were mostly based in the US. Pens were not cheap and supply was scarce as they were handcrafted. This frustrated Lennie as she was unable to buy pens to pursue her hobby. She wondered why no one was making them in the Philippines when we have so many talented and skilled craftsmen.
“I decided to make them myself with the objective of showcasing Filipino designs using indigenous materials and tapping excellent craftsmen,” she proudly says.
“After all, our national heroes of the early Propaganda period for sure used these kinds of pens to write,” Lennie muses. “I must have invested about P2 million collecting pens from the earlier periods up to pens manufactured by contemporary, modern penmakers,” she says of her collection.
“I am proud to say that I have the most extensive and largest collection of antique oblique penholders in the Philippines, easily numbering 108 pieces,” she states.
“My most precious and rarest pen would be an early 1900s Zanerian oblique owned by Earl A. Lupfer, a master penman of ornamental penmanship who studied and taught at the Zanerian College of Penmanship,” she says as she shows us the rest of her collection.
“My most expensive purchase was US$1,500 for an oblique holder and the least expensive is a modern century oblique pen for $20. My mother is not into this at all, by the way. You know how the Chinese are, so she does not know about my collection. The kita for me here is that it will grow in value as time goes by,” Lennie says.
“All these pens are rare, some are oneof-a-kind, handmade and most importantly used and made by master penmen who knew the classic and proper way of writing classical scripts and penmanship,” she says.
Lennie only uses pens that she makes. She does not use her antique pen collection. She does not teach but has friends who teach pointed pen calligraphy.
“I like to draw and sometimes I use dip pens and watercolor to draw but my calligraphy is not as good as other people’s. So I use my dip pens for just regular writing. For me, it’s beauty. It’s a beautiful art form,” she explains.
“In the Philippines, I was the first one who manufactured pens but now marami
na rin gumagawa. Although up to now I’m the only one who can make this topquality shell-inlaid pens in the world. Chris Yoke, one of the known pen makers in the US, gumaya na rin. Now he also uses shell inlay in his pens. Pero iba pa rin yung workmanship ng Pilipino,” Lennie says.
“With modern flanges made of metal alloy, as one keeps on writing, the tip of the nib becomes blunt and will sometimes break especially if you’re heavy-handed. But look at this one I have, it’s more than 100 years old and it does not even have a trace of rust. The nibs in my collection are more than a hundred years old pero
wala pang signs of wear and tear. They don’t even have rust. I think the metal they used was of good quality. I think they just simply used high-quality brass. I see some nibs have kalawang but these don’t. They call it steel nibs or iron nibs,” Lennie says as she educates me on calligraphy pens.
“Mine is not a business. It’s more of a hobby, but I have been thinking about cultivating it into a business” she declares. “I have a captured market already with the ‘Curious Artisan,’ but I’m trying to control it. I don’t really want it to be too commercialized because baka mawala yung passion. I want to keep it personal. It’s about me and my passion. I want to do it because I love it, not because I have a quota to reach,” she adds.
Curious Artisan is Lennie’s online shop marketing her own handcrafted line of exquisite calligraphy pens.
“A lot of people today are seeing the beauty of calligraphy. A number of people are making pens now but I have a different standard of excellence. There is always a story behind a collection. My pens cost between P3,000 to P7,000 and most of my clients are overseas.
With the deluge of messages, greetings, news streams, videos, etc. we receive online, there must be a countermovement that still values the artistically and creatively written words expressing emotions of love, happiness, wonderment, doubt, sorrow, solidarity, even hatred and others that remind us that we are humans and not robots.
It is in our nature to express ourselves. Only human beings write. Whether in simple script, block letters or fancy calligraphy, there is that element of control, not just at the fingertips or the wrist; sometimes even in bolder, wider movements from the shoulders.
However we choose to put down on paper our deepest thoughts, we must not lose this one most significant skill that differentiates us from all the other creatures. Expression, artistry and the thought processes that are unique in each and every one of us that brought us to where we are today.
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Follow her curious journey at her instagram account @thecuriousartisan
The Curious Artisan will be holding an antiques and vintage fair called Istorya ng Pasko this Dec 2 & 3 at Warehouse Eight in Pasong Tamo Makati. Event details: bit.ly/ IstoryaNgPasko
Email the author at nikkicoseteng2017@ gmail.com or text her at +639974337154.