The Show's ANALOGS series is about people who make things by hand — and what those things tell us about those people.
I took a video on my phone on July 16, 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.
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.
The pen is called the Decograph, designed by a company called Karas 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.
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.
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.
"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 …" said Bill.
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.
"We were always trying to work towards making our own product, instead of just making parts for other customers," said Bill.
I'll admint, I was a little disappointed. 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.
"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," said Bill.
"So the goal is not, 'How do I make the best fountain pen,' necessarily. It’s, 'How do I make the thing well?'" I asked.
"Yes," he said.
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 70% 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.”
"My name is Tamara Rowland, my pronouns are she/her. I am the owner of WRYT 365 Custom Pens."
"And we are in your garage/workshop?" I asked.
"Workshop, yeah. This is the workshop where the magic happens! It’s nothin’ super fancy, but it’s mine, and I love it," Tamara said.
Tamara also started making pens by accident, but her story is a little different than Bill’s.
"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," said Tamara.
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.
"I actually went through life, most of my life, paranoid that people could read the thoughts in my head," Tamara said. "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. "
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.
"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," Tamara said.
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.
"I needed an escape. It changed from being an escape to being a true act of meditation," she said.
Around this time, Tamara took a woodworking class, and decided to try making herself a pen to journal with.
"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,'" she said.
It took a few tries, but when Tamara finally made a fountain pen that worked, she could feel the difference.
"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," she said.
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.
"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," Tamara said. "And I love, like, revealing, that art, you know? I love revealing what’s on the inside, that’s not shown outside.
REPORTER'S NOTE: Special thanks this week to Show producer Amber Victoria Singer.
