| The Forbidden City in Beijing, China, was the legendary
home to the Chinese imperial family for more thatn 500 years, and
it is so named because it was closed toall but the royal family
and those in their service. Today, the elaborate complex of palaces
and gardens - one of the greatest achivements in Chinese architecture
and culture - is open to provide inspiration for all, which lately
includes more than one penmaker. One of these tributes to the Forbidden
City, by Italian Visconti, turns conventional overlay inside out.
Designed by Visconti president Dante
Del Vecchio and designer M. Carla Benedetti, the Visconti Forbidden
City was seven years in development, and Del Vecchio reveals,
"The final result has almost nothing to do with the initial
drafts, discussions and prototypes."
The most unusual feature of the pen is its resin
overlay. Rather than a typical metal overlay on resin, Del Vecchio
instead turned things inside out with resin overlaying a finely
engraved metal base. The design grid of the resin overlay recalls
the layout of the Forbidden City as seen from above. The design
creates "cages," which are also symbolic of the sense
of isolation connected to the site, even today. The cages house
mythical beings prominent in Chinese culture. The tiny figures
are created with the lost wax process in sterling vermeil. The
original concept was based on Del Vecchio's idea for the miniature
sculptures, recreating figures from the Forbidden City. Benedetti
then gave life to his ideas in drawings. Says Del Vecchio, "Through
the cage, we see the gods - the dragon, phoenix, and lion - reproduced
in ways that correspond to images in the Forbidden City."
New ideas, such as a different type of overlay, present
new challenges - something embraced by Visconti since its establishments
in 1988. Visconti likes to offer its customers new and interesting
technical solutions and is the only company to offer four different
filling systems: power filler, crescent filler, piston filler
and convertor. This technical expertise has a long history in
Del Vecchio's family. Dante Del Vecchio I was an artist involved
in iron works, winning international prizes in Paris in 1928 and
Rome in 1935. Dante II was trained by his father, Cesare, in this
art. Luigi Poli, sales and marketing manager, design consultant
and co-founder of Visconti, also has family history in the business.
His father, Gugliemo, worked for Pelikan Italy for 35 years. Together,
Del Vecchio and Poli, themselves collectors of fountain pens for
many years, set up their company to produce and market celluloid
fountain pens.
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