Manu Propria - Hand Made Urushi Pens

"manu propria" (lat. m.p., mppria, mppa, mpria) - with my own hand

MANU PROPRIA  is a small, independent one-man manufacturer founded in 2013.

The atelier is based in Ittigen-Bern, Switzerland.According to the term manu propria „with my own hands“, all fountain pens are completely hand made by myself in my atelier.

MONOZUKURI is a Japanese term which is described as "having the spirit of producing excellent products and the ability to constantly improve a production system and process."

“Japanese lacquered objects are the most perfect works of art that have ever issued from the hands of man.”

L'art japonais, by Gonse, Louis, 1846-1921;

 

"Darkness is an indispensable element of the beauty of lacquerware… [Traditional lacquerware] was finished in black, brown, or red, colors built up of countless layers of darkness, the inevitable product of the darkness in which life was lived. But lacquerware, Tanizaki notes, isn’t merely a visual delight — its magic is multi-sensory, amplified by a sense of mystery: I know few greater pleasures than holding a lacquer soul bowl in my hands, feeling upon my palms the weight of the liquid and its mild warmth. The sensation is something like that of holding a plump newborn baby… With lacquerware there is a beauty in that moment between removing the lid and lifting the bowl to the mouth when one gazes at the still, silent liquid in the dark depths of the bowl, its color hardly different from that of the bowl itself. What lies within the darkness one cannot distinguish, but the palm senses the gentle movements of the liquid, vapor rises from within forming droplets on the rim, and the fragrance carried upon the vapor brings a delicate anticipation. What a world of difference there is between this moment and the moment wen soup is served Western style, in a pal, shallow bowl. A moment of mystery, it might almost be called, a moment of trance".   

Junichiro Tanizaki (1886–1965) - (In Praise of Shadows 1933)

The unique feeling by touching Urushi has the power to make people handle things in a gentle way

Martin Pauli