Ryosuke Namiki, the founder of Pilot Corporation, realized the need for improving existing pens used for drawing during his tenure as a professor at the Tokyo Merchant Marine College. After making a prototype fountain pen, he formed a partnership with one of his colleagues, Masao Wada and started manufacturing and selling fountain pens in 1918. Pilot/Namiki is known for its quality maki-e pens and the beautiful works of art are available in both its brand. Be it Pilot or Namiki both uses the finest materials to create a line of writing instruments that look beautiful and perform flawlessly. The Pilot Taka Maki-e Maple leaf fountain pen features lively drawings of the plant.

The Maki-e lacquering, a centuries-old technique in which multi-layered patterns are drawn on the barrel and cap with urushi - sap from Japanese lacquer.  This lovely fountain pen is hand painted Taka-maki-e lacquering techniques. The design is available with a fine, medium or broad 18 karat gold with rhodium accented nib, assuring long lasting, impeccable writing performance. A gift box with bottled ink completes the attractive presentation.

Maki-e is Japanese lacquer sprinkled with gold or silver powder as a decoration using a makizutsu or a kebo brush. The technique was developed mainly in the Heian Period (794 -1185) and blossomed in the Edo Period (1603-1868). Maki-e objects were initially designed as household items for court nobles, they soon gained more popularity and were adopted by royal families and military leaders as an indication of power. To create different colors and textures, maki-e artists use a variety of metal powders including gold, silver, copper, brass, lead, aluminum, platinum, pewter, as well as their alloys. Bamboo tubes and soft brushes of various sizes are used for laying powders and drawing fine lines. As it requires highly-skilled craftsmanship to produce a maki-e painting, young artists usually go through many years of training to develop the skills and to ultimately become maki-e masters.

Taka maki-e (or "raised maki-e") is one of the three major techniques in maki-e making. Developed in the Muromachi Period (1336 - 1573), the technique of takamakie involves building up design patterns above the surface through a mixture of metal powder, lacquer and charcoal or clay.

Take Maki-e (Raise design) involves 4 different ways to raise designs:-

1) Urushi-age -  applies layers of Urushi lacquer to raise the design. This is the most time consuming and expensive way of all

2) Sumi-ko-age – uses charcoal powders to raise design and it is the most commonly used method today

3) Sabi-age – raises designdby Sabi, which are wet polish powders mixed with crude Urushi

4)Suzu (tin) Taka Maki-e – a method created by Nagata Yuji which uses baked tin powders to raise design


System: Fountain pen uses converter or cartridge

Dimension: 14.2cm in cap closed and weights 32.5 grms.