Grandvillers aux bois, Picardie

A workshop, a lathe, and wood

Here pens are made one at a time. No batches, no moulds : one species, one lathe, and the time it takes.

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The approach

The hand, the material, the time

The hand

What cannot be delegated

The lathe turns, the gouge bites, and it is the hand that decides where to stop. No machine knows when a curve is right. It takes time, that is the craft, and it is why no two pens come out quite the same.

The material

Woods with an address

Mahogany from Honduras, snakewood from Guyana, plane tree from the end of the village. Each species has its density, its smell under the sandpaper, its way of taking a finish. The workshop’s wood library holds 78 of them, all traced and catalogued.

Time

Counted in days, not in output

Between the moment the wood is cut and the moment the pen is signed, several days go by — many of them spent doing nothing but waiting for a finish to cure. You cannot shorten that without it showing.

The raw material

The wood library

78 species catalogued at the workshop, from the plane tree down the road to woods that crossed an ocean. Each has its record, its Latin name and its origin.

Acajou Swietenia macrophyla Amarante Peltogyne venosa Amazaqué Guibourtia ehie Amourette Brosimum guianense Atapa Macrolobium bifolium Aubépine Crateagus monogyna Azobé Lophira alata Bambou Boco Swartzia provacensis Bocote Cordia eleagnoides Bois de Rose du Mozambique Dalbergia variabilis Bois de serpent Pithecellobium racemosum Bois de violette Bois stabilisé teinté Bouleau madré betula alba Bubinga Buis Gossypiospermum Paraguariense Cade Junipérus oxycédrus Ceylan (bois de satin) Charme échauffé Carpinus betulus Chataignier castanea sativa Chêne quercus Cocobolo Dalbergia Retusa Difou MORACEAE (angiosperme) Ebène de Macassar Diospyros celebica Ebène Gabon Diospyros crassiflora Ebonite Erable Acer saccharum Erable échauffé stabilisé Acer campestris Frêne Fraxinus exelsior Goncalo Alvès Astronium graveolens GreenHeart Chlorocardium rodiaei Grenadille Dalbergia melanoxylon Hêtre Fagus sylvatica Hêtre échauffé Fagus sylvatica Hububalli Loxopterygium sagotii Ivoire rose Berchemia zeyheri Kotibé Nesogordonia papaverifera Lamellé précieux Acajou Swietenia macrophyla Amarante Peltogyne venosa Amazaqué Guibourtia ehie Amourette Brosimum guianense Atapa Macrolobium bifolium Aubépine Crateagus monogyna Azobé Lophira alata Bambou Boco Swartzia provacensis Bocote Cordia eleagnoides Bois de Rose du Mozambique Dalbergia variabilis Bois de serpent Pithecellobium racemosum Bois de violette Bois stabilisé teinté Bouleau madré betula alba Bubinga Buis Gossypiospermum Paraguariense Cade Junipérus oxycédrus Ceylan (bois de satin) Charme échauffé Carpinus betulus Chataignier castanea sativa Chêne quercus Cocobolo Dalbergia Retusa Difou MORACEAE (angiosperme) Ebène de Macassar Diospyros celebica Ebène Gabon Diospyros crassiflora Ebonite Erable Acer saccharum Erable échauffé stabilisé Acer campestris Frêne Fraxinus exelsior Goncalo Alvès Astronium graveolens GreenHeart Chlorocardium rodiaei Grenadille Dalbergia melanoxylon Hêtre Fagus sylvatica Hêtre échauffé Fagus sylvatica Hububalli Loxopterygium sagotii Ivoire rose Berchemia zeyheri Kotibé Nesogordonia papaverifera Lamellé précieux

Lamellé teinté Loupe d'Amboine Pterocarpus indicus Loupe d'orme Ulmus campestris Loupe de Palissandre du Honduras Dalbergia stevensonii Loupe de thuya Tétraclinis articulata Merisier Prunus avium Mixte Mopane Colophospermum mopane Noix de Banksia proteaceae Banksia grandis Noyer Juglans Regia Olivier d'Afrique Olea Europaea Olivier de France Olea Europaea Padouk Pterocarpus soyauxii Palissandre de Madagascar Dalbergia SPP Palmier noir Oenocarpus batawa Palo santo Zollernia spp Pau amarello Euxylophora paraensis Pequilla amarello Aspidosperma ponenposum Peroba rose Aspidosperma polyneuron Pierre reconstituée Platane Platanus orientalis Poirier Pirus communis Pomme de pin stabilisée Pommier Malus pummila Prunier Prunus domestica Racine de cerisier Prunus avium Résine acrylique Résine camouflage Résine Lava Bright Résine Sylvain Saint Martin Rouge Andira coriacea Sapelli Entandrophragma cylindricum Tambootie Spirostachys africana Tilleul Tilia cordata Tulipier Liriodendron tulipifera Wapacou FABACEAE-CAESALPINIOIDEAE Wengé Milletia laurentii Zébrano Microberlina brazzavillensis Ziricote Cordia dodecanda Lamellé teinté Loupe d'Amboine Pterocarpus indicus Loupe d'orme Ulmus campestris Loupe de Palissandre du Honduras Dalbergia stevensonii Loupe de thuya Tétraclinis articulata Merisier Prunus avium Mixte Mopane Colophospermum mopane Noix de Banksia proteaceae Banksia grandis Noyer Juglans Regia Olivier d'Afrique Olea Europaea Olivier de France Olea Europaea Padouk Pterocarpus soyauxii Palissandre de Madagascar Dalbergia SPP Palmier noir Oenocarpus batawa Palo santo Zollernia spp Pau amarello Euxylophora paraensis Pequilla amarello Aspidosperma ponenposum Peroba rose Aspidosperma polyneuron Pierre reconstituée Platane Platanus orientalis Poirier Pirus communis Pomme de pin stabilisée Pommier Malus pummila Prunier Prunus domestica Racine de cerisier Prunus avium Résine acrylique Résine camouflage Résine Lava Bright Résine Sylvain Saint Martin Rouge Andira coriacea Sapelli Entandrophragma cylindricum Tambootie Spirostachys africana Tilleul Tilia cordata Tulipier Liriodendron tulipifera Wapacou FABACEAE-CAESALPINIOIDEAE Wengé Milletia laurentii Zébrano Microberlina brazzavillensis Ziricote Cordia dodecanda

The making

The time of one pen

The choice

A species pulled from the wood library, picked for its grain and colour.

A few minutes, or three days

Cutting

The blank is cut to the length of the barrel and the cap.

10 minutes

Drilling

A hole down the axis, true to a tenth. Everything else depends on it.

15 minutes

Gluing

Brass tubes bonded with epoxy, then faced off flush.

One night to cure

Turning

The gouge roughs out, the scraper finishes. This is where the shape is born.

30 to 60 minutes

The finish

Sanded to 12000 grit, then cyanoacrylate or oil-wax depending on the wood.

2 hours and 24 h of rest

Assembly

Mechanism, nib, clip. Then the number and the certificate.

20 minutes

wood species

models

pieces made

years at the bench

From the bench

Out of the workshop

A few pieces

Discover the creations

Authenticity

A certificate for every piece

Every pen leaves with its certificate and its QR label. Scan it and you find the exact species, its origin, the date it was turned and the piece number.

None of this is decoration : it is the only way to know, ten years from now, what you are holding.

Certificate of authenticity

Knurl GT Bubinga One of a kind — no. 001

Atelier CréaStylos