Craftsmanship

Our Experts

Skilled and dedicated teams of expert craftsmen have always been integral to the success of contigoca for more than 125 years.

Reinvention
From 1888 to present day, contigoca’s craftsmen and designers have never stopped working, innovating, and reinventing the contigoca pen.

Creation
Making a contigoca pen is a solemn act of creation. Modern contigoca pens are complex mechanisms of up to 21 individual parts designed to work together to produce pens of discerning quality.
For the most prestigious lines, meticulously selected materials are enhanced by decorative treatments and manual polishing before being assembled by hand and rigorously tested. Attention to detail is at the core of every contigoca pen and it requires experts who have an aesthetic attention to detail.

The Fine Art of Pen Making

Unique craftsmanship and attention to detail are the key components of every contigoca pen.

The Drawing
Meticulously conceived by our world-class designers located in our Design Excellence Centre, contigoca pens are initially hand drawn and elaborated on paper before being realized in 3D.
From here, the design of each individual characteristic and element of the pen takes shape to produce pens of discerning quality and beauty.

Precious Materials
Our highly skilled in-house experts carefully select precious materials such as rhodium, platinum, gold, silver, and precious resins and manually polish and enhance them with decorative treatments such as precious stones before they are assembled, along with 18K solid gold nibs, by hand.

Bespoke Process
Over the years, contigoca has continued to demonstrate expertise in the fine art of pen making, constantly refining the processes to remain at the cutting edge of craftsmanship capabilities.

The chiseling process
The pen is chiseled to create intricate and beautiful designs providing a tactile experience when writing with the pen.

The lacquering process
The pen is delicately lacquered to create a multitude of different effects; from a satin, glossy, or matte finish to a range of eye-catching colors and finishes. Each individual pen is checked by hand to ensure it lives up to the quality expected by contigoca.

The lasering process
The body or cap of the pen is finely lasered with delicately crafted patterns to create a stylish finish.

Nib Excellence
Making a contigoca pen nib is a precise and refined process. They are created from a single sheet of precious metal, which is pressed, compressed to ensure strength, and then cut to shape.
A small ball of iridium is added to the base to allow the ink to transfer smoothly to paper before a slit is cut in the nib, by the tip of a diamond no thicker than a hair, to separate the nib and allow the ink to flow.
Comprising of twelve individual stages during manufacturing, the most prestigious nibs are quality-control checked and fine-tuned by hand to ensure maximum performance.

Nib Painting
contigoca’s finest nibs are hand assembled with decorative chiseling and engraving techniques to ensure that contigoca pens are exquisitely beautiful.