What inspires the design of a new writing instrument? I suppose it’s true most pens are created to fulfil a function, but some are inspired by great works of art or perhaps an image of natural beauty. The story of how Japanese pen brand Platinum created their Kawaguchi pen caught our imagination, and we wanted to share it. The imperious Mt Fuji has been something of a muse to Platinum for a while, what with their 3776 being titled so because it is the height of the mountain in metres. Recently they developed a series of pens to commemorate the five lakes that surround the mountain; Motosu, Shoji, Sai, Yamanaka…….and finally to Kawaguchi for the final instalment.     The designers at Platinum were captivated by the light of “Lake Kawaguchi awaiting for the dawn,” …..the moment when darkness gradually changes its colour and reveals the glow of the rising sun. The Dawn Blue colour used for the body of the pen has a deep yet slightly transparent quality which captures the translucent quality of the sky and water. They also wanted to reproduce the image of a quiet stream with ripples in the freshening breeze. They achieved this by creating convex and concave patterns on the barrel.       On the cap ring, a special nut has been used to honor the image of the lightly accented  silhouette of the Mt. Fuji at dawn.