Tamara Rowland never thought she’d end up making pens. But like a few other things in her life, the truth was inside her all along.
The Analogs is a production of KJZZ’s The Show in Phoenix, Arizona. This episode was produced, written and edited by Sam Dingman, with additional production by Amber Victoria Singer. The cover art is by Claire Lawton. The Show’s executive producer is Amy Silverman. Special thanks to Tamara Rowland.
Transcript
Sam Dingman From KJZZ’s The Show, this is The Analogs — stories about people who make things by hand, and what those things tell us about those people. This is Episode 2: A World Of Swirls.
[ANALOGS THEME MUSIC PLAYS]
Sam Dingman [ON VIDEO] OK, Jake! I have to be kind of quiet because Adrien is asleep, but check it out!
Sam Dingman I took this video on my phone on July 16th, 2020, at 11:36 p.m. It was the depths of the quarantine, and my then-fiancee Adrien and I were staying in a small cottage on a friend’s farm. The cottage had no doors, and I stayed up much later than Adrien, so I’d made a habit of tip-toeing around at night. Usually I just sat at a desk in the living room and wrote in my journal. But on this particular night, I had to film this video to send to my brother Jake, because I had just gotten a very exciting package in the mail.
[PAPER RUSTLING]
Sam Dingman [ON VIDEO] Are you ready for this?
Sam Dingman In the video, I’m holding a cylindrical metal case, with the letter “K” etched into it. I unscrew the top and reveal … a fountain pen.
Sam Dingman [ON VIDEO] Whoaaaa. OK, I gotta figure out how to open it.
Sam Dingman The pen is called The Decograph, designed by a company called Kara’s Kustoms — that’s what the “K” stands for. Jake and I had been texting about the Decograph for weeks. Jake is actually the whole reason I got obsessed with fountain pens. He was into them way before me. When I asked him what he liked about them, he said this thing that I’ve never forgotten. What’s really beautiful about fountain pens, Jake told me, is the nib — the bottom part of the pen that the ink flows through. The nibs are soft, and that means that when you start writing with a fountain pen, the nib subtly changes shape based on the way you hold it. Which means the way the ink flows is dictated by the writer’s hand. Which means that when you write with a fountain pen, the words come out in a way that only you can write them.
Which means that in the days leading up to the arrival of my Decograph, I was so excited that I’d been texting Jake screenshots of the status of the shipment. And In that video I sent him the night it finally arrived, I filmed myself using it to write the words “Hello Jake” in my journal.
[SOUND OF PEN SCRIBBLING]
Sam Dingman [ON VIDEO] Oh my God, it’s so good!
Sam Dingman I have a confession to make: I came up with this entire series, about people who make and use analog tools, as an excuse to talk to Bill Karas, the founder of Karas Kustoms — makers of the Decograph. Not long after I moved to Arizona last year, I discovered that Karas Kustoms is located in Mesa, just twenty minutes down the road from the radio station. And going to visit Bill was one of my very first story pitches for The Show.
Sam Dingman And just so I make sure I’m pronouncing it correctly, is it Karas?
Bill Karas Karas, yep.
Sam Dingman Karas, OK great.
Sam Dingman And so, last spring, I pulled up outside a low-slung, dark stone warehouse in Mesa, and knocked on the door. Bill came out and shook hands with me — he’s a soft-spoken, serious guy, with glasses and a shaggy, graying beard. We sat down in his office, which is decorated with automotive posters. That’s how Bill started making things — he used to tinker with old cars, back when he was a teenager.
Bill Karas I cut the top off my dad’s Karmann Ghia, turned it into a convertible, so it was a little … That car never saw the road, so it was a learning experience, pretty much.
Sam Dingman As he got older, Bill got better at customizing cars, and eventually went into business designing and building machine parts of all kinds. And now, that’s what his company, Kara’s Kustoms, does. They build tools and parts for everything from bandsaws to airplanes.
It turns out the whole pen business happened by accident. One of Bill’s employees noticed that pens were having a resurgence, and suggested Karas Kustoms should try making one. Bill was intrigued — not so much by the idea of designing a pen, but because he was looking for a way to have a little bit more control over his business.
Bill Karas We were always trying to work towards making our own product, instead of just making parts for other customers.
Sam Dingman OK, OK, um —
Sam Dingman Now you can probably hear a little bit of disappointment in my voice there, right? I had such romantic associations with the Decograph, and I guess I was hoping Bill was going to say he started making pens because he wanted to help writers write words that only they could write.
Bill Karas Uh, I wish I could say we did that. Honestly, no. No, definitely not … I’m not a pen guy. I have to think about what we’re gonna do for business, how we’re gonna make money, how everybody’s gonna get a paycheck. And the pens are a good way to do that.
Sam Dingman So the goal is not “how do I make the best fountain pen,” necessarily. It’s “how do I make the thing well?”
Bill Karas Yes.
Sam Dingman To Bill’s credit, he recognized that people were craving good quality pens, and he figured out how to make them. These days, he told me, pens are seventy percent of Karas Kustoms’ business. But I was really hoping my visit to Karas Kustoms would give me that same feeling I had the night I first unboxed my Decograph. And when I got back to the station, I think Show producer Amber Victoria Singer could see it on my face. Because a few months later, she emailed me and said, “I think I found someone else for you to talk to.”
Tamara Rowland My name is Tamara Rowland, my pronouns are she/her. I am the owner of WRYT 365 Custom Pens.
Sam Dingman And we are in your garage slash workshop?
Tamara Rowland Workshop, yeah. This is the workshop where the magic happens! It’s nothin’ super fancy, but it’s mine, and I love it.
Sam Dingman Tamara also started making pens by accident, but her story is a little different than Bill’s.
Tamara Rowland I am a transgender woman. And I came out as a transgender a little over two years ago. … Over the last number of years, I’ve done a lot of journaling and introspection. Just sitting down and writing my thoughts, and reflecting on my past, and thinking about my future.
Sam Dingman It was a big deal for Tamara to start journaling. Growing up, she knew there was something different about her, and she was terrified that someone might find out.
Tamara Rowland I actually went through life — most of my life — paranoid that people could read the thoughts in my head. … That led me to a life of repressing and pushing away all those thoughts and feelings — saying, if I adhere to this expectation of what society thinks I should be — this perfect man and father and husband and all that — that those thoughts will go away.
Sam Dingman As she got older, Tamara did get married to a woman, and they had two kids. And as she got further and further from the person she knew she really was, she tried to tamp down her feelings with alcohol. It got to the point where she was drinking every day.
Tamara Rowland You know, I was desperate — I was — basically, I didn’t wanna go on. I couldn’t reconcile my insides with my life, you know, and I had thoughts that I don’t wanna continue with this life. But if I go away, they’re gonna find out.
Sam Dingman Thankfully, Tamara got help for her drinking. She went to a rehab program, and while she was there, they suggested that instead of trying to wash her feelings away with booze, she should write them down.
At first, she couldn’t bring herself to write the truth about everything she’d been through. But the more she kept at it, the more she came to treasure her writing sessions.
Tamara Rowland I needed an escape. … It changed from being an escape to being a true act of meditation.
Sam Dingman Around this time, Tamara took a woodworking class, and decided to try making herself a pen to journal with.
Tamara Rowland I’m like, “I wanna make a pen for me. I think there’s some meaning here, this personal connection that I’ve found. Like this is mine, and these are my thoughts goin’ through it.”
Sam Dingman It took a few tries, but when Tamara finally made a fountain pen that worked, she could feel the difference.
Tamara Rowland When I’m writing and I’m journaling for me, I reach for that fountain pen. … People who really get into fountain pens can be very particular about the feel between the nib and the paper. Because to them that’s their connection to the words that are flowing out. And it can be very personal.
Sam Dingman Before long, Tamara had made a few dozen pens, and she decided to start selling them. She builds her pens in small batches, spending hours in her garage, working under a pride flag and a large rack, where she stores her kids’ bikes for when they visit.
Some of Tamara’s pens are made of wood — she likes ironwood and maple in particular. But she also makes them out of colorful resins, which she mixes herself. In its raw form, the resin looks sort of like corn syrup. Tamara adds dyes and powders to it, and then, once it hardens into a form resembling the body of a pen, she turns it on the lathe. That, she says, is her favorite part.
Tamara Rowland It can come out of the mold, and it can look pretty plain. Here’s one that looks mostly green, with a little bit of gray in it, or silver. But once this is turned, it’s gonna be a world of swirls inside there. … And I love, like, revealing, that art, you know? I love revealing what’s on the inside, that’s not shown outside.
Sam Dingman The Analogs is a production of The Show, on KJZZ 91.5, in Phoenix, Arizona. This episode was written and edited by me, Sam Dingman, and produced with Amber Victoria Singer. The Show’s executive producer is Amy Silverman. Special thanks to Bill Karas and Tamara Rowland — and to you, for listening.
Next time, we’ll travel to the top of a mountain, and meet the self-proclaimed savior of fonts.
Sky Shipley I got to referring to this building as “The Chapel” because typefounding is practically a religion for us. … It’s the perfect name for this place. It’s mysterious, it’s true, and it’s memorable.
That’s next time on The Analogs.
