Agackakan V1 Fountain Pen Review: An Artisan Resin Pen from Turkey

Introduction

One of the best things about the fountain pen hobby is stumbling across makers you had never heard of. The Agackakan V1 comes from a small Turkish manufacturer, Studio Agackakan, and is sold exclusively through Galen Leather. The name Agackakan means woodpecker in Turkish, a nod to the brand’s love of shaping objects with fine workmanship and small, thoughtful touches. The two friends behind the brand aim to bring Turkish motifs and storytelling to fountain pen lovers worldwide, and they have started appearing at international pen shows.

This is a cartridge-converter pen built around custom resin and a gold-plated Jowo nib, priced at $195 on the Galen Leather site, which sits in the appropriate range for an artisan resin pen of this type.

Who This Product Is For

The V1 suits collectors who enjoy artisan resins, small-batch makers, and pens with a story behind them. If you like the idea of owning a pen from an emerging Turkish brand rather than a large manufacturer, this is squarely in your lane.

It is also a good fit for anyone who values nib choice. With extra fine through broad, a 1.1 stub, and a range of italic, oblique, and gold options at additional cost, there is real flexibility at checkout.

First Impressions and Packaging

Galen Leather packaging remains one of the best examples of attractive presentation that does not cost a lot to produce. The pen box slides off and lifts up cleanly, and the order typically arrives with a generous set of extras: a zippered pouch, a company letter telling the brand’s story, a postcard, a discount coupon, Turkish tea, an evil eye charm, a branded polishing cloth with the woodpecker logo, a canvas pen pouch, and a leather pen sleeve.

The material on the review pen is Earth Magic from Jonathan Brooks, and the pen is available in over 30 different versions, some using other Jonathan Brooks resins and others made from Ebonite. As with custom resins of this type, no two pens look the same; some will lean more blue, others more copper. The colors here are a bit more blended and creamy than other versions of the same material, with subtle pearlescence in both the blue and the darker copper.

Design and Build

The cap top is flat and inlaid with a round metal piece engraved with a special memorial image honoring Zeynep, the late founder of Galen Leather, taken from a photograph of her with her son. It is a genuinely personal touch rather than generic branding. Beyond that medallion, there is no cap band or external branding anywhere on the pen.

The cap angles up until a shoulder point and then straightens out, with a small step down to the barrel. The barrel is straight for about an inch before tapering to a flat end. The cap twists off in just over one rotation, revealing a gold-plated number six Jowo nib engraved with the same logo as the cap top, though in a different orientation than most pens, which is a quirky little detail. The section begins with a flare, angles up to the cap threads, and then steps up medium-size to the barrel.

Nib and Writing Performance

The review unit carries an oblique broad nib. Oblique nibs have an angled tip rather than a rounded one, so they reward holding the pen slightly to the left of vertical. For writers who tend to rotate the pen a little, an oblique can be a genuinely comfortable match, and this one writes very well in that position.

Two practical notes on the nib. First, the sweet spot is smaller than a standard rounded nib: held straight up and down it simply will not write, but angled correctly it performs fine, and line variation is modest. Second, ink flow is decent and the plastic feed keeps up nicely during fast writing. Reverse writing is a challenge with this grind, as expected. The nib is available in extra fine, fine, medium, broad, or 1.1 stub, with italic, oblique, and gold options available for an additional cost.

Filling System and Usability

The V1 is a cartridge-converter pen that accepts standard international cartridges, and a converter is included. With no internal metal parts and the appropriate amount of silicone grease, the pen should also work just fine as an eyedropper, which is a nice bonus for this class of pen.

Unposted, the pen is plenty long enough to use comfortably. The cap does post, and while it does not post deeply and the look is not for everyone, the cap is very light and does not backweight the pen or throw off the balance. If you like to post your pens, the V1 will accommodate that.

Size Comparisons

Compared against other pens in the same Earth Magic resin, the V1’s colors run creamier with more blue, while a Carolina Pen Company Charleston shows a more vibrant blue and stronger copper contrast. Alongside the Leonardo Momento Zero and the Pilot Custom 823, the capped sizes are fairly similar, and it sits comfortably in the same class as the Visconti Homo Sapiens. Next to another Turkish pen, the Kilke Celestial, it is a reminder that Turkey is producing some genuinely high-quality writing instruments right now.

Things to Consider Before Buying

The oblique broad nib needs attention to grip angle, so if you write with the pen perfectly upright and do not want to adjust, a standard rounded nib is the safer choice. Posting is possible but shallow, and the posted look will not appeal to everyone. And because this is a custom resin, what arrives may lean more copper or more blue than the unit pictured, which is part of the charm for some buyers and a gamble for others.

Buying Advice

At $195, the Agackakan V1 is priced sensibly for an artisan resin pen with a custom Jonathan Brooks material and a gold-plated Jowo nib, especially given the included converter and the generous extras that come with a Galen Leather order. If the material appeals, pick your nib with your actual writing angle in mind, and consider an oblique only if your grip naturally tilts left.

Conclusion

The Agackakan V1 is an easy pen to like: beautiful creamy resin, thoughtful personal touches, a well-behaved Jowo nib in an unusually wide range of grinds, and eyedropper potential in a cartridge-converter body. As a first impression of a new Turkish maker, it is a strong one, and it leaves you curious to see what the brand does next.