Facebook Blurb # 2

KA-WE-CO – Looking at the underside of the ubiquitous Kaweco tin container, one could be forgiven for being flummoxed at the connection between the manufacturer – H&M Gutberlet GmbH – and the well-known German brand. The “Since 1883” embossed at the tip of the nib gives us a clue. The Heidelberger Federhalter Fabrik was founded in 1883 as a producer of dip pens using gold nibs from the then biggest nib maker in New York, the A. Morton & Co. In 1889, Heinrich Koch and Rudolph Weber took over, and promptly renamed the company with the even longer Heidelberger Federhalter Fabrik Koch, Weber & Compagnie. The first syllables of the last three words were combined to become, or at least sound like, “Kaweco,” and the rest is pen history. Over time, the now familiar three-part circle was developed as the official logo.

It was in 1911 that Kaweco was positioned to be a pocket fountain pen, and the Kaweco Sport was introduced. A few corporate takeovers later, Kaweco became bankrupt in the 1980s, until a Nuremberg manufacturer of pen parts for Lamy, Pelikan and other brands (yes, H&M Gutberlet GmbH) took over in 1994. H&M decided to replicate the 1911 Sport not as a premium writing instrument, but as a daily, portable tool in a new era of technology and communications.

In 2018, the Kaweco AL Sport Limited Edition “Lilac” was launched exclusively for Taiwan. With a sandblasted matte finish, a gold-plated nib and a gold logo on the finial, only 1,000 pieces of this marvelous fountain pen were made, continuing a 136-year old tradition of fine quality writing instruments.