Happy handwriting day. Today I’d like to share another special pen: another Meisterstück Calligraphy 149 pen from Montblanc, but now with a specially-designed curved nib. Its hand-crafted nib is not a flex nib, but an innovative curved nib allowing the user to draw a variety of writing styles and line widths, depending on the angle and the orientation at which the pen is held.
Using this pen, we can draw wide horizontal lines, thin vertical lines, and even fine lines. For the last style, we need to turn the nib upside down.
The nib is unlike any bent or fude nib, but I was tempted to use it to write some kanji and katakana character, and I found the result is better than many other pen I previously have. I would not display the result here, since I’m not a real master in writing kanji character.
Otto Hutt Design 04 is a notable and highly regarded series of writing instruments by the German manufacturer Otto Hutt. Introduced in 1999, Design 04 has become synonymous with the brand’s commitment to craftsmanship, innovative design, and luxurious aesthetics.
Otto Hutt is a German manufacturer known for producing high-quality writing instruments, including fountain pens. The company was founded in 1920 by Karl Hutt in Pforzheim, Germany. Initially, the company focused on creating jewelry and accessories, including gold and silver pens. During the 1950s, Otto Hutt expanded its production to include more affordable writing instruments while maintaining its dedication to quality. The company incorporated advancements in pen technology and materials, such as the use of new plastics and metals, to cater to a wider market. In the 1990s, Otto Hutt underwent a significant transformation under the leadership of Dr. Christa Hutt, the granddaughter of the founder. Driven by a vision of combining traditional craftsmanship with contemporary aesthetics, she revitalised the brand’s focus on luxury pens. This led to the introduction of the “Design 04” series in 1999, which gained widespread acclaim for its sleek and innovative design.
The Design 04 series is characterised by its sleek and modern design, combining clean lines with sophisticated details. It uses premium materials — the collection includes options crafted from precious metals, such as sterling silver and gold, as well as high-quality lacquers and resins. These materials not only enhance the pen’s aesthetic appeal but also contribute to its durability and longevity. The Design 04 pens are available in a range of finishes, allowing users to select a style that suits their personal preferences. Some of the finishes include precious metals with polished or brushed textures, vibrant lacquers in various colors, and elegant combinations of materials. The finishes are meticulously applied to ensure a flawless and visually captivating appearance.
The Design 04 series offers a selection of finely crafted nibs, designed to deliver an exceptional writing experience. The nibs are available in different materials, such Au750 (18k gold) shown here, and in various widths to cater to individual writing preferences. Each nib is carefully tuned to provide smooth and consistent ink flow, resulting in effortless and enjoyable writing.
Otto Hutt is known for its attention to detail, and the Design 04 series exemplifies this commitment. From the precision-engineered threads to the meticulously finished clips and accents, every aspect of the pen is thoughtfully designed and executed.
September 2022 edition of BBI will be carried out in North Maluku — a province surrounding Northern Moluccas islands. Northern Moluccas was once a central source of global trade even since the Roman era. But currently the economy of this area is not so significant comparing to other areas. With this BBI program, we intend to leverage the MSME economy in these islands.
The campaign manager of this program is The Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration (Kemendesa PDTT). The leader for this program is Ms Harlina Sulistyorini, the DG of Economy Development & Investment.
Telkom will support this program by providing MSME build up program (in collaboration with BNI and other state-owned enterprises) integrated with digital business transformation for the MSME, and a virtual expo to display and promote curated MSME products.
TEMS — or the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society — is an IEEE society with a mission to advance, enhance, and improve essential management and leadership knowledge and skills of IEEE members.
The IEEE TEMS Regional Leaders Subcommittee carried out its 1st meeting this year today, with a new team. This meeting was led by Mohamed Aboud, the VP for Membership Development. The TEMS President, Ravikiran Annaswamy, addressed the meeting.
The meeting aims to leverage the program to leverage the TEMS activities in wider areas, and to improve collaborations among TEMS members in engineering management and leadership field. Our field of interest encompasses the management sciences and practices required for defining, implementing, and managing engineering and technology. Specific topics of interest include technology policy development, assessment, and transfer; research; product design and development; manufacturing operations; innovation and entrepreneurship; program and project management; strategy; education and training; organisational development and human behavior; transitioning to management; and the socioeconomic impact of engineering and technology management.
Bukittinggi is a small historical and cultural city in West Sumatra province. It was once appointed as the provisional capital of Indonesia when the criminal armed forces of the Netherlands occupied Yogyakarta (i.e. also the provisional capital of Indonesia). The elegant city is located amidst Bukit Barisan mountain, just between Mt Marapi dan Mt Singgalang — giving it a perfect weather, at least for me.
Bukittinggi hosted BBI this month, organised by OJK. It was a special BBI event, since it was attended by the Vice President of Indonesia, and it hosted the launch of the awaited BBI Virtual Expo, designed and provided by Telkom.
The event was carried out at the courtyard of Jam Gadang — the famous clock tower of Bukittinggi.
In Nusa Dua area of Bali Island, the GoI carried out a business matching event for three days (22-24 March 2022) between Ministries, Govt Institutions, and Local Government on one side, and national industries and SME on the other side. This event also exhibited some national industry associations (organised by Ministry of Industry) and SME (organised by Ministry of Coop & SME).
I will write about the business matching some other time. But the exhibition itself is interesting. Here we displayed nationwide technology-focused entrepreneurs, scoping from weaponry simulation, health facility instruments, tools for agroindustry, and many others.
The Minister of Coop & SME, Mr Teten Masduki, personally visited and talked to the local entrepreneurs. He emphasise the importance of the local industry to improve the quality and production capacity to match the market demand. Also, for the platforms like PADI UMKM, he addressed that such system should be used as a gateway for SMEs to be listed at national industry catalogue to be linked to the market where Ministries etc are targeted to spend 500 trillion rupiah this year.
When I was in Kupang (May 25th), I was invited by the Coordinative Ministry of Economy (Kemko-Ekon) and Ministry of ICT to discuss the implementation of IMT-GT e-Commerce plan. I presented some options we might choose using PADI UMKM as a national hub connected to the IMT-GT Mall. But then the Government addressed us to propose PADI UMKM as the core platform of the IMT-GT e-Commerce program instead.
On the next IMT-GT JBC (Joint Business Council) Meeting (May 28th), we stated the proposal to take over the development and operation of IMT-GT core platform with some alternative business models. At that time, Thailand expressed their dissatisfaction on the business operation plan of the IMT-GT Mall from Malaysia. Also the CIMT (Centre of the IMT-GT Cooperation) mentioned that PADI UMKM has been in operation since last year, while IMT-GT Mall from Malaysia is still in development plan stage.
Today (June 4th) we continue the JBC Meeting with CIMT. Malaysia has stated their desire to maintain their role as IMT-GT e-Commerce hub as decided in 2019; and representing Indonesia, I have agreed to let them continue leading this program with this determined timeline. PADI UMKM will continue to support as the connection between Indonesia MSMEs and the IMT-GT Mall. I also proposed that the operation of each national hub will be independent, so each country may have different business models in designing the operation business of the e-Commerce program. For example, JBC Malaysia prefers that the operation will be carried out by private sector; while Indonesia prefers to use MSME ecosystem program. This result will be reported on the next Convergence Meeting, scheduled on July.
Virtual Meeting on IMT-GT Strategic Planning Meeting (SPM) / Sub-Working Group on ICT was held today. The Standing Chairman of IMT-GT SWG on ICT is from Mme. Suhaila Yeop Johari (Communications Technology Division, Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia). I attended the meeting representing Telkom Indonesia as the platform owner of PADI UMKM — the platform chosen by the Indonesian Government for MSME exporting facility. The meeting was also attended by Mr. Iswarayuda Bayu Agutama (Head of Bilateral Division,Centre of International Affairs, MCI, Indonesia), Ms. Ishariyaporn Smiprem (Director of Regional Cooperation Group International Affairs Division, Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, Thailand), and Mr. Firdaus Dahlan (Director of CIMT).
For the International Handwriting Day today I will display Pelikan M1000 as one of the best pens I have (considering, though, that almost all my pens are the best pens). This pen is the top member of the Pelikan Souverän family. This family consists of the M3xx, M4xx, M6xx, M8xx, and M10xx — with the higher numbers before xx are related to the increase in size. So this Souverän M1000 is also the flagship pen of Pelikan.
This pen has a gigantic nib made of Au750 — and it is virtually a perfect 18C gold that it writes so smoothly with the effect of a flexible nib. We can compare it with the magnificent Montblanc Meisterstück 149 with flex nib. Both have an Au750 nib. But not all 149 nibs are designed as flex nib — only those that are advertised so. So both writes excellently well for flexible nib effect. But then when we use them for simple signature, M1000 can simply transform to a cool signature pen, whle 149 flex would lose its magic without its flex effect. It means, to replace an M1000, I’d need a 149 with flex nib and another 149 without flex nib. But surely others may have different experiences.
M1000 has some alternative designs. But for the sake of why not and mwahahahahaha I have chosen a perfect black M1000 with golden cap and ring. Now I have more collection for my gold banded black pen. The barrel and the cap of the pen are made of cotton resin. The cap features a 24k gold-plated finial with a laser-etched relief logo of a pelican and its chick. This pen has an 18k gold bib.
Pelikan’s nib is so breathtaking. It has a unique design: a long and slender nib, with narrower shoulders and a shallower curvature. The face of the bi-color nib is stamped with a series of intersecting, graceful, swooping curves. The Pelikan logo is stamped in the middle of the nib face.
Some dimensions:
Length (capped): 145.6mm
Length (uncapped): 135.1mm
Length (posted): 173.6mm
Section diameter: 12.1mm
Barrel max diameter: 13.8mm
Cap max diameter: 16mm
Weight, uncapped (with ink and/or converter): 25g
Weight, capped (with ink and/or converter): 35g
Writing using M1000 giving a wet effect of the ink — a favourite for a calligrapher. But, no, it is very wet — but somehow I like it. The big nib is springy, allowing to make line variation as we wish. Again, it is a favourite for a calligrapher.
Pelikan is a 190 year old manufacturer of stationeries. It launched its first fountain pen in 1929. Pelikan is also credited as the pioneer of piston filling mechanism with a differential spindle gear aims to overcome the ink capacity issue in fountain pens. Hungarian engineer Theodor Kovacs is credited with the invention of the original filling mechanism before selling off the patent to Günther Wagner in 1927.
At this special BBI coordinative meeting, the Coordinative Minister of Maritime & Invesment reminded us that the program expansion to leverage the MSME & national product should be accelerated in 2021; and the programs would include the quality improvement for the MSME & their products. Some MSMEs must be leveraged to the class of artisans, whose products will have better quality than the industry comparisons.
Telkom, with its definitive role as the architect of the platform-based digital ecosystem for MSME business will expand the digital market for the MSME, including generating and promoting a wider market demand for the MSME products & services. Some horizontal and vertical integrations have been planned to ensure the MSME economy will be part of national development strategy; and some new services could be established, including financing, certification, quality improvement, export facilities, etc.
