I'm excited because I have an entirely new (to me) brand in front of me for review today! This bright and cheerful orange pen came from Istanbul in Turkey, made by the brand Kilk. I first encountered Kilk pens on the table of Fontoplumo at last year's Dutch pen show, but it took me until this year when Frank (from Fontoplumo) encouraged me to try one out. I'm a sucker for orange pens, so obviously, I couldn't resist their newest model: the Kilk Orient!
A single glance at the Orient was all it took to be intrigued by the Orient. It has a couple design features that make it stand out quite strongly.
The first thing that probably caught your eye is the vibrant orange acrylic that this pen is made of (recently, they also introduced a stunning green 'cracked ice' version). Large streaks of pearlescence flow throughout the material and appear to glow when light hits it. You get a slight glimpse of the converter and nib through to the semi-translucent acrylic.
But it's not just the material. The overall shape and design of the Orient are also quite out there: The pen has a very sculpted, organically flowing shape, especially on the barrel there's a very strong curved taper towards the back. The cap and barrel have flat finials.
Personally, I find the barrel shape a bit strong, but it is an original-looking pen, to say the least. And as a plus side, the shape of the barrel allows for the cap to post deep and very securely on the back.
The design feature that absolutely won me over, however, is the use of sterling silver for the clip and center band. It's quite rare to see sterling silver on a 300$-ish pen, but not for Kilk. Almost all their pens have at least some silver accents, even their most affordable sub-200$ standard models! The clip follows the same flowy, curvy lines of the rest of the pen. The center band immediately draws the eye with its stark, geometric pattern that counters the organic shapes in the rest of the pen. The clip and center band received a matte brushed finish to give them a more vintage appearance.
L to R: Scribo Piuma, Pelikan M805, Leonardo Momento Zero Grande Pura, Kilk Orient, Lamy 2000, Lamy Safari |
The Orient is a mid-sized pen, measuring 13.9 cm/ 5.48" in length when capped and 13.2 cm/ 5.19" uncapped. It's quite a bulky pen around the center band (15 mm/ 0.59" on the barrel), but a strong taper towards the nib takes that down to 11mm/ 0.43" at the concave of the section. The entire pen weighs just 20 grams, with the balance mostly towards that large silver center band when uncapped.
The curved, organic shape of the Orient naturally conforms to the shape of your hand. Together with the gentle taper of the section towards the barrel, and nicely flush threads, this is a fantastically comfortable pen to use.
It also has to be said that the production quality of the Kilk Orient is second to none. The entire pen feels incredibly solid and robust in hand. The sterling silver parts were cast very precisely, with crisp details. All the acrylic parts are perfectly polished (you'd think that that's a given these days, but it's not!), and everything fits together seamlessly.
In fact, my only remark would be that construction is sometimes a bit too precise. There are quite a few crisp edges on the Orient (the finials, the cap lip, the clip). I wouldn't go as far as saying they're bothersome or too sharp... except for the clip! The clip narrows down into a point that, in my opinion, should've been rounded off just a little bit to make it less sharp. The pointy edge could grab onto fabric when you carry it in a vest pocket, for example.
The #6 steel nib comes from the stables of Bock, customized with a clean and simple laser engraving of the Kilk logo on the nib face. This medium nib came very well-tuned out of the box and runs true to western sizing. It's a stiff nib, in line with recent Bock nibs being thicker and stiffer than they used to be a few years ago. The nib is fairly smooth, though has a slight-but-noticeable touch of pencil-like feedback, similar to Bock's titanium nibs. The ink flow is nice and rich, but most importantly, consistent.
The market of 200-300$ pens is filled with excellent options these days, including many smaller and custom makers. What Kilk brings to the table with their Orient fountain pen, though, is a strikingly original (dare I say, a touch eccentric?), very well-made pen that writes as it should out of the box. Not to mention the beautiful sterling silver details you'd usually only see on much higher-end pens. With all that, 295€ (at Fontoplumo) feels like a very fair retail price for this pen.
Note: This product was provided by Kilk and Fontoplumo, free of charge, so I could write this review. I was in no way influenced in the making of this review. The opinions shared in this review are completely my own! This post does not contain affiliate links.
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