The alchemy between the human mind and paper

Stories like this usually require to be told in a poetic style, but we will begin with a practical and expressive example that proves the title of the article, the point of which is that those who know the formula can turn what is written on paper into gold, understood in all its symbolic meanings.

Namely, legendary entrepreneur Richard Branson began his career, or if you prefer, he made his first venture at the age of 15, starting a student magazine. He was dissatisfied with the then “outdated school practice” of nearly sixty years earlier and, with like-minded friends, wanted to launch a campaign “against corporal punishment, compulsory attendance at school chapel, and Latin”.

“Our ideas were too revolutionary to be published in the existing school magazine, called The Stoic, a name which seemed only too apt to its long-suffering readers. We then thought about linking up with other schools that had similar rules. Gradually the idea of an inter-school publication, Student magazine, was hatched.”, Branson says on his blog.

The later Virgin founder then met with like-minded students from other schools with whom they discussed the idea, and he wrote it all down in his notebook.

To this day, Richard Branson’s number one tip for success is: Write down an idea whenever it occurs to you.

“If I didn’t write down all of my ideas, I would forget them! So I always remember to write down my ideas!“

“Ever since I was a child I have made lists of all kinds, including short-term tasks, long-term goals and resolutions. It’s how I make sense of the world, bring order to the ideas in my head, and start turning them into action.”

Working on his first venture, the teenage Branson also wrote down the names of 250 members of the UK Parliament he would like to be in touch with for the magazine, as well as a list of potential advertisers he found by flipping through the phone book.

“Thus, with contributors, advertisers, distributors and costs all in place — at least on paper — I had written my first business plan,” says Branson.

“It’s amazing how your ideas can take flight, so long as your write them down and share them with others. And as you can see from my story, a business plan doesn’t have to be a lengthy, well-thought-out proposal — it can be as simple as some notes in a notebook, or a scribble on the back of an envelope.”

And for the prestigious Italian writing instruments house Montegrappa, this alchemy between idea and paper, clearly demonstrated by the example of Richard Branson, has been a passion for more than a century.

At Montegrappa, they agree that there are other things whose enigmatic nature can be compared to a blank sheet of paper which, when looked at superficially and materially, is worth little. But they know that nothing compares to paper as an object that contains an infinity of possibilities, activated by the writing instrument that transfers thought from the mind and heart to the blank page.

That is why Montegrappa creates with in mind the alchemical exhilaration that many of us feel when our ideas flow freely, with all the expressiveness that only the hand can convey on paper, unlike the keyboard and the screen.

Hardly anyone understands this alchemy better than the artisans behind the world’s most inspiring writing tools.

Montegrappa, through generations of artists and artisans who have been in the service of leaders, visionaries, and connoisseurs, has determined that the mind is more capable of virtuosic thought development when the hand holds a proper pen.

It is no coincidence, if we look at it from the point of view of fate, that during the First World War, one of the most innovative and influential writers of the twentieth century, Ernest Hemingway, found himself in the very same estate as Montegrappa’s historic headquarters in Bassano del Grappa. Hemingway remained faithful to these writing instruments for the rest of his life. It was a time when portable reservoir pens were a technological sensation and a vital tool for connecting families separated by war.

But we can only wonder how a Nobel laureate would view today’s time in which words are devalued due to their overpopulation in public space, which the digital age has dramatically increased. And it reduced our time, turning it into a valuable resource, that is, a luxury if you have it.

And while contemporary society claims to place a high value on time, symbolically and through the astronomical prices of the instruments made to count time; objects designed to make time count for more are rare.

And even though pens are used less these days, it is certain that when we write with them, they are worth more than when they served as a today’s keyboard, virtual or physical.

It is said that paper tolerates all, but this is even more true for the screen of electronic devices, where anything can be written and instantly appear in the public domain.

That’s why Montegrappa doesn’t see pens as a relic of the past, but rather creates instruments that will provide discerning writers with the modern luxury of slowing time down, of enjoying writing, of an intimate relationship with thought in an ideal way.

And as all Montegrappisti know, what was once just a simple working implement has alchemized into a sign of recognition for those who have something valuable to say.