Schon Design Full-Sized Fountain Pen Review: Aluminum, Anodized, and Full of Personality

Introduction

Schon Design has built a reputation for producing cool, distinctive pens, and the company’s latest release continues that pattern. Called the Full-Sized Fountain Pen, it is the brand’s first pen in its larger format made from aluminum. Previously, the larger body was reserved for unique material models like the Ultem and the Peak, both part of the engineered plastics series.

This review covers the parts and features, measurements and size comparisons, and a writing sample, plus what works well and what is worth considering before buying.

Design and Finish

The pen is made from aluminum with an anodized exterior and is currently available in 15 different color variations. The names are inventive, with options like Bubble Gum, Aqua Jazz, Cherry Garcia, Film Noir, Regal Smoke, and FedEx Confetti. The teal, silver, and black model shown here is an unreleased colorway that will be added to the site in the near future. The randomness of that combination is genuinely pleasing, though every scheme on offer looks sharp.

The cap comes to a rounded point at the top that is not sharp at all, and it angles up very slightly from beginning to end, only about eight tenths of a millimeter. The pen is clipless. At the end of the cap you will find an engraved company name along with a shooting star glyph. There are 13 random glyphs machined on the pens, and they do not match the colors. Unless you purchase a pen at a show, you cannot choose your glyph. Some are rarer than others, and examples include a heart, an arrow, and even a Harry Potter Deathly Hallows symbol. At a later date, these glyphs will be used as an indication of the date of manufacture, which is a fun way to date a pen.

The packaging is simple and characterful. The pen ships in a plain plastic box containing information about the company, which is based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, along with a drawing of the company mascot and a couple of stickers. The barrel is straight until near the end, where it tapers down for the last inch and a half or so, finishing in a rounded point that mirrors the cap.

In the Hand

The cap twists off with just over two rotations, revealing a concave section that transitions into the threads and a small step up to the barrel. The shape of the section is comfortable, and the anodization on it looks great. It is not the longest section, so a grip may spill over onto the threads, though they are not overly sharp or biting.

The cap does post. It does not post deeply, but it is secure, aided by an o-ring on the cap. There is some metal-on-metal contact, so some wear over time is possible if you post regularly. That said, the pen is long enough to use comfortably unposted as well.

Nib and Writing Performance

Under the cap sits a stainless steel Jowo number six nib, available in extra fine, fine, medium, and broad, plus a 1.1 stub and a 1.5 stub at an additional cost. Gold nibs are also available.

In a writing sample with the medium stainless steel nib, the pen performs very nicely. You will not get a lot of line variation out of it, but the ink flow is decent. Reverse writing is a little hit and miss, but during fast writing the feed keeps up with no issue at all.

For the sample, a bluish-teal ink with a bronze oxidation character was used, and it paired well with the teal colorway, sitting close in tone to other popular teal inks.

Filling System and Interchangeable Parts

This is a cartridge converter pen. It accepts standard international cartridges, and a Schmidt K5 converter is provided. A neat touch is that the anodization extends to a portion of the section that is only visible when you are inking the pen.

Another genuinely useful feature is that the parts are interchangeable with Schon Design’s engineered plastic series, comprised of the Ultem and Peak models. You can purchase spare parts from that series to turn this into a rollerball or to accommodate a Bock 380 nib, which is a number eight size. The fact that this relatively small pen can take a Bock 380 is pretty cool.

Price and Availability

The Schon Design Full-Sized Fountain Pen is only available on the company’s website, where it retails for $195. Pens of this size in the engineered plastics line sell for $250, so the aluminum models are priced a bit lower. At $195, the pricing does not feel excessive and fits in with the rest of Schon Design’s lineup.

Compared side by side, the pen is the same size as the Peak and the Ultem, and it is significantly smaller than some other metal pens on the market. Against the smaller Pocket 6 models, the Pocket 6 actually becomes larger than the Full-Sized pen once it is posted.

Buying Advice

If you want a metal fountain pen that is distinctive without being oversized, this is an easy recommendation. Pick your colorway first, since there are 15 options and one is likely to match your taste. Decide whether you want to post the cap, keeping in mind the possible long-term wear from metal-on-metal contact. Choose your nib based on your writing style, and consider the stub options if you enjoy line variation. If you already own an Ultem or Peak, the interchangeable parts make this an even more flexible buy.

Conclusion

The Schon Design Full-Sized Fountain Pen is a great addition to the company’s lineup. The anodized aluminum construction, wide range of colorways, random machined glyphs, and interchangeable parts give it plenty of personality, and the solid writing performance from the Jowo nib rounds things out nicely. With tons of variations available, there is likely one out there that fits your personal tastes.