Jay Rath
Back away from the Bic and opt for a more personalized pen.
Like many small boys, Dan Ouimet liked to collect things found in rubbish. In his case, it’s led to an unlikely career making fine writing instruments.
Founder and sole employee of Spring Green’s Parus Pen, he handcrafts ballpoint, rollerball and fountain pens, mechanical pencils and artists’ graphite holders for purchasers nationwide.
He grew up near a prestigious manufacturer of luxury pens. What Apple is to smart phones, Janesville’s Parker Pen Company once was to writing instruments. Founded in 1888 in Janesville, the company is now owned by Rubbermaid. The hometown plant closed in 2009, but you can still find its vintage pens on eBay. Top price is $25,000. Really.
Back in the day, says Quimet, he would search through their “big dumpsters.” “It was just so fascinating. There were all these pretty pen parts. I would gather up the parts, take them home and make new pens out of them. I had a whole collection.”
Jay Rath
Dan Ouimet makes ballpoints, rollerballs and fountain pens.
But that was childhood. After a stint in the U.S. Forest Service, in 1995 he began teaching science for the River Valley School District, in Spring Green. After 20 years he wanted a change. He studied pen-making in earnest and haunted Craigslist looking for specialized tools and equipment. He began to make pens.
And more pens. And more, learning all the time. He established Parus Pen in early 2016.
Ouimet’s workshop is something like Santa’s, with miniature tools and mysterious parts: jewel-like nibs, points and “transmissions” (the piece that moves when you click a ballpoint pen). There are also exotic woods, imitation stone, resin, acrylics, shed antlers, feathers. Almost any material or memento, it seems, can be incorporated into the barrel of a pen: stamps, old money, a piece of school desk or grandpa’s cane. These objects are cast in acrylic and then fashioned into a fine writing instrument. Even your favorite beverage can be encased, floaty-pen style.
“I made one from coffee beans for my sister in law, who owns a coffee shop in Minnesota,” he says. Ouimet eschews gold-plate in favor of longer lasting gold titanium nitride for the nib, caps, clip and bands. He also favors rhodium. “The top jewelry makers in the world — that’s what they’re using,” he says.
He enjoys being engaged in customers’ lives. “It may be something custom for a wedding party, using the colors that they want for their wedding. Or corporate recognition.” Or perhaps even — motion pictures? “The client wanted a Star of David. The address where it went was a movie producer’s office. I’ve wondered if that was going to be on a set or something.”
His pens tend to range from $50 to $140. “There’s just something about them,” he says. “I hate to use the word ‘fetish,’ but there’s just something I like. The heft of a bigger pen and the colors and the shine. These kinds of things are still appreciated in today’s culture. A good quality pen. Good quality writing paper.”
For more information visit paruspen.com or call 608-588-7626.
