Unicorns Exist: Nahvalur Pens

This young pen brand sets itself apart with house-made nibs and a true piston-filling mechanism.

- BARRY GABAY

The narwhal is a mystical, magical creature-an imaginative vision yet it exists. With its protruding canine tooth that resembles a unicorn's horn, the narwhal is so different from other animals that it seems to have arisen from a fable.

Narwhal Pens was conceived with visionary ardor, according to founder-owner and CEO Frank Zhang: "We want to be the narwhal of the pen world, a magical and unique company that is real. Narwhal is the unicorn of the sea. We named our company 'Narwhal' because we want to be the unicorn that actually exists." Recently, Narwhal announced a name change for this young brandthe name remains the same, but the spelling and language have changed.

Narwhal is now Nahvalur, utilizing the Icelandic spelling for the word "Narwhal" and adding another level of uniqueness to the company.

[ed: For clarity's sake, this article uses the English spelling of "Narwhal."] Creating something new has guided Zhang's studies and professional life. While still a student of finance and e-commerce, he decided to turn his dreams into reality. He loved writing and using fountain pens. Fountain pens, he found, were practical and comfortable. They possessed a special mystique because they were links to an earlier generation while being perfectly suited to the contemporary world.

Zhang co-founded Narwhal Pens in 2019 with Samuel Peng, and the two were later joined by Noah Li and Daniel Yang. Their goal was not simply to make fountain pens but to fill a gap in the market: to make a true piston-filler at a moderate, affordable price. Utilizing their shared knowledge and engaging a friend to make 3-D CAD images, Peng designed the first pens within months of the original concept, and Zhang headed up the production.

Zhang recalls, "There were drawings on napkins, sketches on crumbled paper." The initial idea took shape and assumed a life of its own.