Making the Modern Fountain Pen: Aurora’s Hastil and Its Global Influence

Hastil, the fountain pen at the center of this exhibition, is a special object. Designed in 1968–69 for the Aurora company in Turin by Marco Zanuso (1916–2001), an Italian architect and industrial designer, and Richard Sapper (1932–2015), a German industrial designer, it is the first pen to fulfill the design principles of the modern movement; it is the only fountain pen in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It is also a work of its time, brushed by contemporary debates in Italy around a group of artists known collectively as Arte Povera. Fifty-five years after its introduction in December 1970, its continuing popularity (it is still in production) and its influence on pen design throughout the world has much to say about design and technology, and about modernity and international taste. Indeed, this exhibition is about more than just a single fountain pen.

This catalogue has been published to coincide with the exhibition “Making the Modern Fountain Pen: Aurora’s Hastil and Its Global Influence” held at the Art Library, Vassar College from 7 May to 19 September 2025.