Visconti’s Creator: Dante Del Vecchio

Dubbed the ‘rock star of pens’ by Forbes, the co-creator of Visconti, Dante Del Vecchio, is a titan of pen design. Using his artisan skills, love of pens (he’s a collector himself) and a nose for the market, he not only co-created Visconti but holds 18 patents and is now the chief designer at Florence pen designer Pineider.

In the past, he’s brought limited-edition fountain pens to Italy from Japan, used innovative new manufacturing techniques to make celluloid ‘ultra resin’ barrels or lava-based compounds and called on high ideas – unity, art, maths – to create pens you can use every day. He’s also a technological innovator, with patents including the High Vacuum Power Filler system (1993), the travel inkwell (1997), and the Double Reservoir Power Filling system (1998).

Fun fact – Del Vecchio himself jokes that he has terrible handwriting!