Armando Simoni, the founder of OMAS and one of the world’s leading experts on fountain pens, was not just a designer with an inspired imagination but also a man possessing profound technical and mechanical knowledge. Thanks to his genius innovation became one of the benchmarks of company philosophy. From small discoveries to constantly improve the production process and products, to the famous patents, the result of innovation was nearly always a milestone in the history of the fountain pens.
The list of achievements is long and includes: the Doctor’s pen with the flat ink holder and small clinical thermometer, the faceted models with lever filling system, encapsulating all the detailed features needed on a fountain pen, and of course the model epitomizing that unmistakable OMAS style; the Extra Lucens. The piston filling system on this pen has become the standard-bearer of current piston filling systems. The much-copied but never bettered OMAS 361 enables three different types of writing with a single nib ranging from flexible and calligraphic to hard and also able to write as a ball-point.
The dedication to modern design and technology is best summed up by the OMAS 360, the most revolutionary pen ever produced. Thanks to the special triangular shape the user’s fingers naturally move to the optimum position to ensure correct nib inclination for better, customised and more comfortable writing.
Innovation has also concerned production materials as well as functioning and use. Wood has been manipulated to produce oval pens and molded into small facets. Titanium has been transformed into velvet-like surfaces and gold has been engraved to recall the travels of Christopher Columbus and Marco Polo, the moon landings and the legend of Atlantis. Gold has also been combined with mother-of-pearl on the Gian Lorenzo Bernini model to confound even the experts and ensure a unique combination of technology and a goldsmith’s handiwork.
OMAS is responsible for an extraordinary cultural legacy where each product is the fruit of research and always conceals something new or complicated and where creative and aesthetic talent are combined easily with technical innovation and function.
