The Bijou & Joule Collection

It’s been a couple of years since we first launched the Bijou and Joule collection, and it felt like the right moment to step back and share a bit more context around why these pens exist.

When someone invests in a metal fountain pen, I believe they deserve to understand what they’re actually paying for—not just the silhouette or the materials list, but the intent behind the object. This is the problem that I intended to solve.

For Bijou and Joule, the starting point was very straightforward - my love for urushi pens.

They’re calm. They’re deep. The surface doesn’t shout—it just quietly absorbs light and gives it back in a way that feels almost alive. But I also realized early on that truly great urushi pens often cost thousands of dollars and require a level of care and commitment that puts them out of reach for most people.

So the question became:
Could we deliver a collection that gives a similar experience at a price that more people could enjoy?

Design Intent

Bijou and Joule were designed for different writing rhythms, but with the same philosophy.

Bijou was always meant to be a compact, everyday pen. Balanced, ergonomic, and easy to live with. In some ways, it’s intentionally a little dainty—not fragile, just refined. A pen that feels natural in the hand and disappears once you start writing. We've also dramatically improved the tolerances compares to its predecessor to deliver a premium fit and finish. 

Joule was designed as Bijou’s bigger sibling. It’s for people who want more heft, a larger nib, or simply prefer a pen that feels more grounded on the page. It has more presence, without becoming oversized or aggressive.

Both pens were tuned for approachability. The nibs lean slightly toward the stiffer side with just a hint of softness—easy to control, forgiving, and friendly to both new writers and long-time users.

Engineering Priorities: Making Depth Accessible

Most of the real engineering work in this collection went into the finish.

Some of that inspiration goes back to my younger days, spending hours polishing and buffing my car. After six plus hours of hard, exhausting work, you finally reach that moment where the surface turns mirror-like—deep, wet, and luminous. The kind of finish you also see on a grand piano.

That feeling stuck with me, and the key is the difference here is between paint and lacquer.

Paint is designed to cover. It hides imperfections and sits on top of a surface.
Lacquer does the opposite, it reveals what’s underneath. 

Applied in thin layers, lacquer builds depth over time. Light doesn’t just bounce off it; it moves through it. That’s what creates that sense of dimension, that “wet” look people associate with high-end finishes, including urushi.

We weren’t trying to replicate urushi as a material or tradition. What we wanted was to translate the experience—the depth, the luminance, the way color feels like it lives within the pen—into a modern lacquer system that could be worn daily and produced accessibly.

That led us to develop two finishes:

• Snowfall Lacquer, with a subtle, dimensional shimmer that feels almost like looking into a snow globe

• Sapphire Lacquer, a clear, highly translucent finish designed to showcase color accuracy and depth without distraction

Together, they allowed us to create a meaningful bridge between traditional painted metal pens and ultra-luxury finishes that very few people can realistically afford.

Tradeoffs We Accepted

We knew early on that this approach would come with tradeoffs.

Lacquer slows production. It increases rejection rates. It demands near-perfect metal finishing because imperfections can’t be hidden. And you don’t truly know how a finish will look until the entire process is complete and fully cured.

What most people never see is that lacquer is unforgiving.

Many versions of these pens never made it past internal review. Some colors looked promising early but lost depth once cured. Others revealed flaws we weren’t willing to ignore. Getting the final colors right required a lot of trial, error, and patience.

On average the development process takes about twice the amount of time and resources compared to non-lacqured finishes. 

How These Pens Compare

I genuinely believe these pens offer something special.

At $130, Bijou delivers a lacquered metal pen with real depth, 24k double gold-plated details, a reliable two-tone nib that integrates seamlessly into our nib ecosystem, and fit and finish that is expected from a premium writing instrument.

Joule extends that experience into a full-size format with a No. 6 two-tone nib, broad compatibility, and a full-grain leather pen case included—something that, on its own, would normally be $25.

These aren’t pens designed to win on specs alone. They’re designed to be a complete premium experience. 

Who These Pens Are Not For

These pens aren’t meant to replace true, traditional urushi objects. That experience exists on a different level—culturally, materially, and financially.

Bijou and Joule are for people who are curious about that world and want to experience something adjacent to it, without the cost, fragility, or intimidation factor.

Why This Matters

At Ferris Wheel Press, our mission is simple: Make Fancy Fun.

For me, that means taking the elements that make this hobby beautiful—craft, depth, storytelling, care—and finding ways to make them more accessible. It means experimenting with traditional ideas, adapting them thoughtfully, and sometimes trying new things if they allow more people to participate.

Bijou and Joule are the result of that philosophy.

If you ever have the opportunity to write with one of these pens in person, I hope you will. Writing instruments are meant to be experienced, not evaluated from afar or on a screen — the instant the nib touches paper tells you far more than any blog post ever can.

Internal Link Suggestions

• Our Story
  

• Bijou Fountain Pen

• Joule Fountain Pen

Author Bio

Hi, I’m Raymond Yu — founder and CEO of Ferris Wheel Press. I’m passionate about building beautiful tools that inspire creativity, and even more passionate about serving our community with excellence. Thanks for being part of our story.