The Mad Scientist of Nibs

He goes by the name CY,” but Chinyi Chow’s nibs give writers a seemingly endless variety of expressiveness.

- BARRY GABAY

People describe nib master Chinyi Chow, known by his nickname CY, variously as a mad scientist” and an aesthetic engineer.” CY is a world citizen, comfortable in many countries and cultures. Born in Taiwan and raised mostly in Hong Kong, he received his secondary education in the United States and attended university in France.

In high school, CY encountered the concept of Homo faber, or Man the Maker.” He describes the impact of this philosophy as helping steer his personal and professional life.

“| am obsessed with the idea that humankind advances because of our inclination to create,” CY says.

His first memory of using a fountain pen was during a summer semester when he attended a handwriting camp.” This calligraphy class provided bladder-fill fountain pens, which CY remembers as fun but an absolute mess that got ink everywhere.”

Later, inspired by classmates with fountain pens, CY saved money from part-time jobs and purchased a Montblanc 145 with an OM oblique medium) nib. The nib was a challenge, but he liked its unusual characteristics and learned to write with it. It became his sole writing instrument for the next seven years. With it, he learned that a writer must master technique to properly use different nib styles. Eventually, he purchased a Sailor pen with a Naginata Togi nib, made by Sailor’s master nib craftspeople in the tradition of Nobuyoshi Nagahara.

After being disappointed at the lack of interesting stock nib options available from pen manufacturers, CY decided to grind and craft nibs to provide options for people beyond standard fine-medium-broad choices. He felt, and continues to believe, that fountain pens are the ultimate writing instrument because they can be infinitely personalized.