Off A Beaten Path

Artisan penmaker Tim Cullen makes pens that are living history.

- Suzanne C. Lee

Tim Cullen of Hooligan Pens employs eclectic and distinct materials for his pens that are meaningful in and of themselves, with long histories. His designs bear not only the story and experience of their creator, but also the kaleidoscopic world in which he resides. Radiant and layered, his pens are fabulous, and each one functions as a palimpsest—a piece of art that can tell stories, make revisions, add and eliminate minutiae, and yet retain the traces of legend.

Almost all, if not all, of these pens are custom made, and there, too, one can see the work of a skilled artisan intent on preserving significance and determined to create a living history. Collaborations on particular pens incorporate other referential perspectives, and Cullen works with only the best—artists in their own right who are renowned and even iconic in their respective enterprises, esteemed for their enormous talents.

“Society looks for the newest and latest materials like carbon fiber or engineered plastics. These materials are great, but they’re choking up our landfills and oceans,” Cullen notes. “I prefer to work with more natural materials that are in a sense biodegradable: wood, antler, horn, celluloid, and galalith.”

Nowhere is his love for interesting materials, borne of histories, more on display than in his 2016 limited edition. Its elegant rosewood had once been a tree cut down by a city in Florida. A wood trader ended up with it, having noticed the incredible grain, and stabilized it through resin-infusion of every piece after a long drying process. Several boards fell into the hands of Cullen, who picked the most exquisite pieces for use in this series of numbered, limited edition pens.