Stationery Spotlight: Retro51 The Nautilus Pen Display
Every once in a while, when shopping around for my stationery supplies, I’ll come upon something that I had no idea existed. A lot of the time, it might be something small and low profile — a fun accessory or even something vintage. In any case, I love finding them, and this case is no different: The Retro51 “The Nautilus” Squid Pen Display. It didn’t take long for this to get my attention, and it was basically mine as soon as I saw it. Discovering unique items to hold my pens is something I enjoy almost as much as I do overthinking ink names. Almost.
At a glance it’s pretty simple: it’s a wooden, laser-cut pen display — burnt wood smell and all — that resembles an adorable squid (apparently inspired by Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea — very cool). And, well, you build it! It ships in what Retro51 refers to as a wooden “postcard” (and they’d be right, it’s a perfect postcard size).
There aren’t any instructions included, but the build is pretty straightforward: there’s a centerpiece that all the parts connect to, and it’s marked with numbers and symbols. Find the matching numbered part, and slide it into its respective slot. Perhaps Retro51 could have included an image of the complete product as a reference here, but it’s still a fairly simple model and it shouldn’t require it. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be that easy to assemble. I recommend having a hobby knife and a file ready before starting on this, and we’ll get to why in a moment.
The number on each part can be found next to the opening that slots into the centerpiece, while the parts marked with the stars and triangle fit together to form a thicker “spine” of sorts. As you can see above there are small tabs that haven’t been laser-cut holding the parts onto the surrounding plate. Here’s where you’re going to need to be a bit crafty because it’s not the easiest thing to get those pieces off cleanly. The hobby knife can be used to carefully cut the tab and separate the parts from the runner.
Otherwise, you might have a result similar to this where the runner splinters off and stays attached to the part.
There’s also the matter of fitment: the pieces fit tight, which is good! But some of them are way too tight. Not good. I can’t say whether or not all of the Nautilus pen holders are like this, but below you can see that while one of the two star/triangle pieces can slide into the centerpiece without a problem, the opening isn’t wide enough to accommodate the second, and there’s no way to force it without risk of breaking the center.
Thankfully, I was able to remove some material with the use of a file and everything came together. It didn’t take much, just enough material removed on each side to remove the burn marks from the cutting process. The same had to be done with other pieces to get them to slide in (but not so much that they’re loose). You can see in the image below that the openings aren’t all straight and get tighter near the ends. Feel free to give them a test fit beforehand just to be sure.
Once the center is all together, you can install the rest of the squid’s tentacles. Keep in mind that the wavy sides of the tentacles are supposed to face downwards. From Retro51's images of the Nautilus, it looks like the numbers on the centerpiece are supposed to face up as well. The corresponding parts will cover up the numbers when the model is finished.
Some moments later, the model is done! And the first thing you might notice is that it has 10 tentacles. Yep, ten of them.
After getting past that, you might realize that it’s not very well balanced. Or perhaps it was intentional, but in any case, no matter what you do, it will lean to one side and the arms on the other will float off the surface.
But moving on, this is a pen holder! So I have to judge it on how well it can hold a Retro51 Pen!
I decided to start with a Retro51 Tornado fountain pen, because I like them, and it was already on my desk.
While The Nautilus certainly holds the pen, it’s a little finicky on the balance. It doesn’t feel all that stable to begin with, but if you rest the pen on it just a little too much to the left or right it’s going to fall over. Now, what about a Retro51 Tornado rollerball?
The Tornado rollerball I’ve chosen is also my most recent: the Penquisition Logo edition. I imagine that it’s not quite as heavy as The Nautilus rollerball that this pen display is meant to go with, but since this is the most common format of Tornado you might find from Retro51, it’s worth giving a try (and it glows in the dark, so it’s cool). As far as stability goes, it’s slightly better. The legs of the pen stand don’t float off the surface as much, but it’s still not as stable as I would like for a pen stand — I still wouldn’t trust it to hold a pen unsupervised, at least not in the orientation that the product images show The Nautilus holding a pen.
If you turn the pen and rest it on the stand in the other direction it will teeter the unbalanced pen stand to rest on its other side, and then it feels perfectly stable. Bonus points, now the correct side of the pen is facing outward! You still have to ensure that it’s balanced, but I wasn’t worried that the pen would easily fall off the stand. This remains true for the Tornado fountain pen, as well as just about any other pen I had on hand to try.
What’s that you say? The Nautilus rollerball is a Tornado Big Shot??
How right you are! While I don’t own The Nautilus rollerball myself (and I truly lament this), I do have one that’s equally awesome: The Sherman Tank Big Shot. If you’re not sure what a Big Shot is, it’s basically a thicker Tornado rollerball. As you can see, the legs on one side of the pen rest are lifting up even more, but it can easily be adjusted to balance on whichever side of the rest you prefer. The weight of the big shot is doing a much better job of keeping itself stable on the pen rest. In this case, it’s fine and I didn’t have any concerns about the pen falling over if I left it alone.
So, what do I think?
Well, it’s certainly the unique and fascinating thing I was looking for. Does it have merit as a pen holder? Honestly, probably not. Getting the pen on the rest is a little fiddly. But then again, If you want it to display a pen that you don’t plan on using a lot, it’s not that inconvenient, just make sure it’s balanced well and you’re done. If you have any concerns, you can use some sticky tack to hold it safely in place without damaging the pen or the display. It’s inexpensive, novel, and kind of cool. I don’t think it was ever set out for this to be the world’s best pen rest. It’s just fun. It looks nice on a desk or a bookshelf or anywhere you want really — even without a pen on it. It’s cute, I like it, and I’ve named it Squidric.
Queue the photo shoot!