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Designers: Luigi Trenti, trenti.design, Firenze, Italy
Manufacturer: Unibrands Corporation, Matawan, New Jersey, USA

Nahvalur’s first-ever retractable fountain pen, featuring a faceted aluminum body that collapses effortlessly to reveal a stainless steel nib. Available in three stunning colours with two trim options each, the Eclipse has a spring-loaded, button-free mechanism and a removable clip.

When Nahvalur assigned me to work on the subject of the push-button fountain pen, the challenge proved particularly stimulating. In fact, historically, there are only two other examples of this type on the market: the legendary Pilot Capless and the more recent Platinum Curidas, both of which feature the same nib extraction system, i.e., a button placed at the end.

We, however, wanted a different and distinctive proposition. Personally, I didn't like the solution chosen by the two previously mentioned models, that is, that long button clearly visible at the end, an element that harks back to one of the most common solutions used to operate ballpoint pens or mechanical pencils.

From this reflection came the idea of eliminating the visible button, replacing it with another, less common system, namely, an operating mechanism that acts directly on the pressure of the pen body itself. The body of the pen was designed in two parts, cleverly crafted from aluminum, which slide and interpenetrate and allow the nib to be removed.