The Sailor 50 States ink series made its PW debut in our Trends in '21 special section (Vol. 34 No. 1, December 2020), and trendy it certainly is! The Sailor 50 States fountain pen ink series has exploded in popularity since its debut. Each 20-ml glass bottle of fountain-pen-friendly ink is inspired in color and theme by the state for which it is named.
While all the inks are created at Sailor's Japan headquarters, the idea for the Sailor 50 States series is an American invention. Don Takemura, president of Sailor's U.S. distributor Itoya Profolio, and Itoya's Creative Director Rachel Kostival are the brains behind the project.
In preparation for an interview on the Sailor 50 States series, Takemura and Kostival sent me a list of the most commonlyasked questions by Facebook and Instagram users. The questions from fans of the series were so comprehensive, they became the cornerstone of the interview that follows here:
How did you come up with the idea for the Sailor 50 States ink series?
Don Takemura: Sailor has so many wonderful fountain pen ink colors and themes that are based on things you see and experience in Japan, like the four seasons, exotic local flowers, or other things in nature. But how is that truly relevant to us in North America? And then, how do we come up with a series theme that could continue much longer than just six or eight ink colors?
Being an American and a car guy, I've always liked how license plates on cars were so different from state to state, so 1 thought it would be super cool and relevant to have 50 different state inks. Maybe people will buy an ink because it's where they live or a state where they grew up. Or maybe they'll just buy it because it's a cool color or somewhere they dream of going. It's actually so specific and relevant!
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