Mark One Retractable Pen | All-Metal | Cerakote Finish

Studio Neat — the two-designer outfit that launched their first product, the Glif, on Kickstarter when almost no one had heard of the platform and exceeded their goal by over 10× — built this pen the way they build everything: solve a problem, make it useful, skip the venture funding. The Mark One is machined metal with a ceramic-based Cerakote exterior, a custom click mechanism, and a completely seamless body. It's a retractable rollerball pen made entirely of metal, polished steel knocks included. Studio Neat started in Long Island City in 2010, moved to Austin, and has been profitable since day one making small-batch products guided by Disney's old line about making money to make more movies. They're not interested in being acquired. They intend to stick around.

You'll click it seventeen times in the first minute just to hear the mechanism. Smooth, solid, no rattle. Then you'll set it down and somebody will pick it up, click it eight more times, and ask where you got it. A week in it's the pen you use to sign important things — or things you want to feel important, like grocery lists and birthday cards. Two weeks in you're hiding it from co-workers.

• Machined all-metal construction
• Ceramic-based Cerakote exterior finish
• Custom click mechanism
• Completely seamless design
• Polished steel knocks
• Built for rollerball refill
• Retractable
• Made in small batches by Studio Neat
• Could make your signature feel a little tawdry