Great curves

Always one to buck tradition with amazing new shapes and materials, Jean-Pierre Lépine elevates penmaking into a realm much closer to sculpture than anything else on the market today. His recently introduced Sunday Afternoon ballpoint pen, while not yet available in the US, is a gentle curve of a pen that required, according to Lépine, special tools and mechanisms that he produced himself. Lépine's manufactory is in the Jura region of France, a picturesque place I visited many years ago. Its pastoral setting and long winters have been conducive to watchmaking and, at the hand of Lépine, pens. The Sunday Afternoon is aluminum and will be available in various lacquer finishes.