Stylosuite: Serious Nibbage

From flexible to italic, nibmaster Les Sheely's expressive points help users find their own writing style.

- AZIZAH ASGARALI

One of the wonderful people in the pen community making customized writing experiences and tools more accessible is Les Sheely. His shop, Stylosuite, specializes in nib modifications and grinds to produce expressive writing in fountain pens.

Sheely, a curious explorer who loves solving problems, has been enamored with fountain pens since he was a little kid.

What started out as fascination with his grandfather's pen on a table progressed into an adventure of visiting local stationery shops to browse their selections of pens and inks. These days, with much tinkering and learning along the way, Sheely is considered a nibmaster extraordinaire.

Sheely's interest in pens took on a new focus when he discovered one of his favorites: “A big change occurred when Pelikan introduced the M800 in red and black stripes. I ordered one from John Mottishaw with a custom italic grind. That springy nib with a custom grind was a game changer for me. I loved the resulting line variation that an italic grind with a springy nib made on the page."

Following this experience, Sheely sent many of his pens to Mottishaw, Richard Binder, and Mike Masuyama—three big names in the nibmaster circle—for custom grinds. He sold off many pens along the way to thin the herd but kept his favorites.

Sheely notes, “There was a problem with that strategy: 1 had developed a taste for many different writing styles and pen types. During one visit with Richard Binder at the Philadelphia Pen Show, we were talking about various nib types when he asked if I had tried writing with vintage flexible nib pens. I had not, and that conversation started a whole new journey of exploring pens with flex 1 nibs. A good flex nib pen can be a real joy to write with, but it can take a bit of practice to develop your own style.”