Onoto is a British

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

luxury Luxury may refer to: *Luxury goods, an economic good or service for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises *Luxury tax, tax on products not considered essential, such as expensive cars **Luxury tax (sports), surcharge put ...

fountain pen A fountain pen is a writing instrument which uses a metal nib to apply a water-based ink to paper. It is distinguished from earlier dip pens by using an internal reservoir to hold ink, eliminating the need to repeatedly dip the pen in an inkw ...

s and accessories. Originally manufactured by Thomas De La Rue & Company, Limited from 1905 until 1958, the brand was relaunched by "The Onoto Pen Company Limited", based in Colney Hall, Norwich in 2005. Onoto pens have been used by numerous notable people from history such as Field Marshal

Douglas Haig Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, (; 19 June 1861 – 29 January 1928) was a senior Officer (armed forces), officer of the British Army. During the First World War, he commanded the British Expeditionar ...

and Prime Minister

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

. Other famous names include

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...

, Edgar Wallace and

Natsume Soseki Natsume (夏目, 夏芽, 棗, なつめ or ナツメ) is a feminine given name and a surname, and may refer to: People with the given name *, a Japanese light novel author and manga writer *, a Japanese model, singer, and presenter *, a Japanese m ...

, the foremost Japanese novelist of the

Meiji Era The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization b ...

. The origin of the brand name Onoto is unknown. One suggestion is it is derived from Ono Tokusaburo, a Japanese watchmaker. Another theory is that it was a made-up name chosen specifically for its ease of pronunciation in order to boost global sales.

History

Early years

Thomas De La Rue & Company, Limited, which was one of the world's largest printers of postage stamps, banknotes, and playing cards, had manufactured

s for most of the later part of the 19th Century. In 1881 it produced the Anti-Stylograph pre-dating

Lewis Waterman Lewis Edson Waterman (November 20, 1836 – May 1, 1901) was an American inventor. He held multiple fountain pen patents and was the founder of the Waterman Pen Company. His entry into fountain pen manufacturing has only recently been proper ...

’s first pen by three years. These writing instruments were well received throughout the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

and around the globe. The Onoto pen was invented by George Sweetser, a mechanical engineer, in 1905. Sweetser offered his invention to Evelyn De La Rue –the eldest son of Thomas De La Rue– who immediately accepted.Masterclass - History of the Onoto
by Peter Twydle on The Pen Museum Other versions state that the Onoto pen was invented jointly by Sweester and Evelyn.A brief history of the Onoto pens
/ref> In the autumn of 1905, De La Rue launched a self-filling fountain pen that it guaranteed not to leak because it had a cut-off valve. The writing instrument, which was called the "Onoto Patent Self-filling Pen", also had a patented "plunger filler" system that drew ink into the pen using a

vacuum A vacuum is a space devoid of matter. The word is derived from the Latin adjective ''vacuus'' for "vacant" or "void". An approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressure. Physicists often dis ...

created by the down-stroke of a piston. All pens were handmade in

Bunhill Row Bunhill Row is a street located in St Luke's, London Borough of Islington, London. The street runs north–south from Old Street to Chiswell Street. On the east side are the cemetery of Bunhill Fields and the open space of the Honourable Art ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Very quickly Onoto pens became popular in Great Britain and internationally. Recognition as a global brand was helped by extensive advertising and marketing. The company spent £50,000 (£2.5 million in 2016) on sales marketing and a wide variety of campaigns in Britain, USA, India, Italy and France. By 1909 Onoto pen advertisements were using the red pillar box and a young boy called "Peter Pen". As a result, a US

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

, "Onoto Pen Co.", was opened in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1909. The strong branding of the "Onoto THE Pen", which sold for £10, (about £500 in 2016) was marketed as the "All British Pen" by the time of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The strength of the Onoto name was successfully added to other products such as stylographs (a fountain pen with a narrow steel tube instead of a conventional nib),

pencil A pencil () is a writing or drawing implement with a solid pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage, and keeps it from marking the user's hand. Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving a trail ...

ink Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. Thi ...

and diaries - and other items such as writing paper, playing cards and blotting paper. In 1915 De La Rue launched the Onoto Valveless. The Onoto ink pencil and the Onoto Safety 'Receder' (with retractable nib) followed in 1921.

Growth

In 1921 the De La Rue family sold the Thomas De La Rue & Company, Limited to a three-company consortium. Two new Onoto models followed, the Onoto metal-cased pencils in 1922 and the first Onoto lever-filler in 1924. Three year later all pen manufacture was transferred to Fife, Scotland in 1927. Production would continue at a disused paper mill at Strathendry which had been operated by J A Weir, one of the companies involved in the consortium.

Inter-war period

During the 1930s, and coinciding with both the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

period, Onoto pens became even more stylish and colourful. New models included streamlined pens with screw caps and ornamental "mounts" were introduced in a wide range of colours. Transparent pens with the ink supply visible became popular. By the mid-1930s premium-priced Onotos with sterling silver and solid gold overlays became highly desirable models. Throughout this period of new ranges and styles, the basic design of the plunger-filling Onoto pen remained the company's main line. Although it had developed from the original black chased vulcanite model of 1905 into a stylish marbled plastic Onoto by the late 1940s. Consumers had numerous other plunger-fillers in the Onoto range to choose from, for example, the red-chased Onoto of 1913, the 'Mammoth' Onoto with No.8 nib (1924), the 'Princess Mary' Onoto in powder blue (1925), Onoto ink pencils (1925), coloured plastic Onoto's (1928), Onoto desk sets (1929), visible-ink Onoto's (1935) and the fabulous Onoto Magnas (1937). This would be the successor to the over-sized Mammoth Onoto. With an impressive two-tone No 7 nib, the full-sized Magna was available in three distinct colours with either three narrow rolled gold bands or a single wide 14ct band, and soon got a reputation as being one of the best fountain pens ever made.

World War II

On 11 September 1940, the De La Rue banknote printing works in London was gutted by fire during

The Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

. As a result of the damage, the printing works was moved to Strathendry. This ended much of the high-end artisan pen production in Scotland for the duration of the war. Along with banknotes, the factory also produced the first

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

seats in laminated plastic along with munitions cases. Some pen production did continue in the early years of the war when a less expensive version of the Onoto minor was produced along with the Onoto Pelletink pen. Marketed as the new "active service" pen, it had a transparent barrel and an integral magazine which held six pellets that could be dissolved in water to provide enough ink to last for a year or more.

Post war period and demise

After the war, continuing restrictions and rationing meant that full production of pens did not resume until 1947 when a reduced range of Onoto Magna was reintroduced. This included the first lever-filling Magna. These were followed soon afterwards by a series of Onoto lever-fillers in pearl marble colours, the Onoto Ballpen, the Onoto Penmaster ( with metal cap, and semihooded nib) and a small range of Onoto pens with rolled gold overlays. However, production of most of these models had ceased by February 1955 when the Onoto K series was launched. Available in four models (with matching Onoto pencils) and in four plain colours, the K series had twist-action fillers, hooded nibs, ink-visibility, and the option of heavy rolled gold cap. The adverts promoted "a pen for writing faster, more smoothly for longer". These were the last Onoto pens to be made at Strathendry. Thomas De La Rue ceased making Onoto Pens at Strathendry on 28 February 1958. In the same year Thomas De La Rue changes its name to De La Rue Company Limited.

Brand relaunch

Since the closure of the original De la Rue factory, there has been a loyal following for Onoto pens among collectors and connoisseurs of fine writing instruments. Many original Onoto pens have resold for many times their original price. In May 2005 a new company named "The Onoto Pen Company Limited" launched itself at an event held at the London Stock Exchange and attended by the late Sir Brandon Gough, then Chairman of De La Rue plc. Based in Norwich, it restarted the brand making the first new ''Onoto'' pens for 46 years.About us
on Onoto Pen Company, retrieved 3 Dec 2019 The first luxury pen that was unveiled was the Onoto Centenary, weighing 90gms they were made in hallmarked sterling silver with a gilded pocket clip and fitted with an 18crt nib. The fountain pen, with a limited edition of only 500, each individually numbered, celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the original Onoto brand by Thomas De La Rue & Company, Limited. The Centenary was made by Jack Perry, Master Goldsmith, who in his late teens was apprenticed to the French luxury jewellery firm Cartier, at his workshop in Petworth, West Sussex. Since the Onoto Centenary in 2005, The Onoto Pen Company Limited has release these pens: * 2006 – The Royal Ballet 75th anniversary pens * 2006 - The Horatio Nelson Onoto & Emma Hamilton Onoto * 2007 – The Onoto Magna (vermeil) * 2007 – The Onoto Excel * 2008 - The Magna Writer * 2009 - The Magna 261 * 2009 - The University of Cambridge 800th anniversary pen collection * 2010 - The Magna Classic range * 2010 – The University of Cambridge Alumni pen range * 2010 – The Henry Simpole Overlay Number 1 * 2011 – The Heritage Plunger Filler * 2011 – The Sir Winston Churchill pen range * 2011 – The Burlington * 2012 – The Charles Dickens Range * 2012 – The Aviator * 2012 – The Diamond Jubilee * 2012 – The Magna Plunger Filler

References

External links

Official website
{{Portal bar, Companies British brands Luxury brands Fountain pen and ink manufacturers Stationers of the United Kingdom