It was masterfully created by the artist, designer, and architect Bruno Paul. With his designs he succeeded more than any other in combining elegance and modernity. One of his most famous pupils was Mies van der Rohe. The fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld is full of admiration for him.
The mood around 1900 was one of a new departure, yet with an eye on tradition. Technical innovations, art nouveau, and the first signs of modern design were all the rage. At the same time, the French neo-classical Empire style, and also Biedermeier (early Victorian), experienced a revival.
For all their floral exuberance, the fin de siecle designers were also interested in the possibilities offered by more abstract forms. One example is the herringbone pattern, in which natural inspiration and strictly geometric lines and angles complement each other so beautifully. Used mainly for elegant clothes and fine parquet floors, it also graces the inlay work of choice pieces of furniture, among them Ottilie von Faber’s writing desk. This was the inspiration for the filigree marquetry work on the barrel of the Pen of the Year 2008: a herringbone pattern, fashioned from satinwood – in effect, parquet wrapped around the cylindrical barrel. The effect is fascinating: with every little movement or rotation, individual segments sparkle to produce a fine nuance of effects.
The more sophisticated a creative idea, the more feeling it takes to implement it. No fewer than 84 rectangles have to be individually hand-made for the delicate herringbone pattern of the satinwood fountain pen. No two segments are identical: each can be fitted at just a single position on the barrel and matched to its neighbours to produce precisely even joins. Then the barrel is repeatedly polished and varnished, a time-consuming process. The world’s smallest parquet, on the surface of a pen, is a work of perfection.
