In case you missed it, our HATCH collaboration project with Leonardo and Nibs and Flourishes, the Aster Bouquet Fountain Pen, is making its most awaited comeback this 2026!
But before we share further details about this exciting re-stock, we’d love to give the spotlight to our creative partner, Nibs and Flourishes.
We had the opportunity to get to know her better and learn about her passions and inspirations. Read on and find out more!
Who is Nibs and Flourishes?
(Image of a fountain pen and sample writing by Nibs and Flourishes)
For those new to EndlessPens and/or HATCH, Nibs and Flourishes is actually no stranger to this community. She has shared her huge love for fountain pens and inks and translated her creative concepts to a number of successful projects with us. These notable collaborations include the Leonardo x @nibsandflourishes - Fioritura Viola Fountain Pen, the Tailored Pen Company x @nibsandflourishes - Dahlia Fountain Pen, and the Pennonia Garden Delights Ink Set.
These are colorful concepts connected to another one of her passions which we’ll learn together with her interview below.
Let’s grab a seat, have some wonderful Earl Grey or Chamomile tea as we read more about this delightful exchange. Learn how the creative journey of this dynamic spirit and vibrant person started and where else you can see more of her work and collection.
Know More About the Artist Behind the Aster Bouquet Fountain Pen
Question 1: Your passion for lettering and love for fountain pens and inks are amazing! Aside from calligraphy and journaling, what other sort of arts are you inclined to?
Nibs and Flourishes: My major artistic pursuits are nature photography, gardening (yes, it counts!), and sketching - my garden plants and flowers and seedheads are frequent subjects, and I also sketch garden plans for new beds and renovations of existing beds.
Question 2: Can you tell us how you first got into calligraphy? All the posts you’ve done showcasing it are amazing!
Nibs and Flourishes: When my aunt gave me a calligraphy set for my 12th birthday, she also sent me the classic Speedball Textbook for Pen and Brush Lettering. I became OBSESSED with trying to duplicate as many of the lettering styles as possible. I practiced and practiced in my free time, which as a teenager was more abundant. I eventually switched to dip nibs for a few years when I inadvertently ruined my first fountain pen - I finished the initial bottle of ink so went out and bought…calligraphy ink. Which as most fountain pen users know, is NOT suitable for fountain pens. Hey, I was 13 years old. Live and learn. But I came back to fountain pens later because they are much prettier and more user friendly than dip pens.
Question 3: Aside from your Aunt who gave you the Osmiroid calligraphy fountain pen with several interchangeable italic nib units, which you have mentioned you thought of as the greatest gift ever, who / what else has influenced your craft?
Nibs and Flourishes: I continue to get inspiration on Instagram from other fountain pen people and artists who have interesting handwriting, especially if they use interesting nibs. As I did with that old Speedball textbook, I like to try out others’ handwritten "fonts" and styles, just for fun. To name just one example, @janinescribbles, who has amazing handwriting, inspired me to try architects and fudes, which I now love.
(Image as seen on @janescribbles' page)
In general, proponents of modern calligraphy style helped me see that a more freeform script that doesn't rigidly follow quite so many rules also can be very lovely, and a looser style just felt more natural to me. I am older now, and beyond the point of being willing to spend hours practicing very specific letter forms and spacing and line height and it just felt good to let my style loose, so to speak. So I developed my own style(s), often with angle or width or spacing adjustments to bring out the best of whatever nib I am using. I must admit that the many years of practice do help me, even now, because with lots of practice you develop muscle memory for letter angles, spacing and height, that sort of thing.
My handwriting may not be as precise and "perfect" as it used to be but I don't care. This hobby is about relaxation and fun and beauty and I don't want to be stuck in a box. I find flex writing with its rhythmic variations in pressure and line width to be almost like meditation. Creating loops, and swirls and flourishes puts me in a better place, emotionally.
I also am inspired by Nick Stewart (@quinkandbleach) and the way he uses inherent fountain pen qualities such as interesting chromatography that some inks have, as well as their reactions to bleach as his medium for sketching and "painting." It can be unpredictable, but absolutely beautiful and unlike any other medium.
(Fountain pen ink art by @quinkandbleach as featured in the The March 2026 edition of Leisure Painter and The Artist)Question 4: Do you have a favorite fountain pen and ink besides your own of course?
Nibs and Flourishes: Although I have many favorites, I must choose my Hummingbird pen by Brian Weaver at Ironfeather Creative, which has a cap hand carved to look like a tubular flower as well as an impeccably detailed carved ruby hummingbird on the body. Not only is it a work of art, it was the pen I chose in memory of my mother who passed away 5 years ago of ALS.
We shared a love of gardening, flowers, and hummingbirds, and she taught me how to make nectar for hummingbirds and how to attract them to my garden. When I write with this pen I feel closer to her. I often use it for garden journaling, plant shopping lists and garden to do lists, and garden sketching.
Question 5: What are the top 3 writing tools you can’t live without?
Nibs and Flourishes: I am going to assume you are asking about tools other than fountain pens, because otherwise it would be too difficult!
First would be my Sailor Hocoro Fude dip pen, which I love for ink sampling and for shimmer inks because it is so easy to clean. Second - guide sheets that I can slip under the pages of a notebook, because I really like to use blank paper and guide sheets help me maintain some semblance of order and spacing. Third is Tomoe River paper. It remains my favorite because it makes inks look so vibrant.
(Image of a fountain pen and sketch by Nibs and Flourishes)
Question 6: What skills have you gained from doing calligraphy and other forms of art that help you in everyday life?
Nibs and Flourishes: My pen life does tend to bleed over into other facets of my life! I have been known to use color combinations inspired by my posts or sketches or my garden in my own wardrobe, or in my home.
(Image of a fountain pen and sketch by Nibs and Flourishes)
When I was putting together choices for my kitchen remodel last year, I had to laugh when I realized that the colors I had just chosen for the cabinets were quite similar to the color scheme of my most recent pen purchase at the time, the new Platinum 3776 Shape of the Heart Bluebird. My new kitchen has off-white upper cabinets and muted blue green lower cabinets and champagne bronze hardware! My sofa, as well as my home office, is a muted robin's egg blue.
I have often found my artistic pursuits have cross-over effects and can be mutually reinforcing.
My garden is a natural source of inspiration for me, since gardening is my therapy and flowers make me happy. I got into photography to capture those fleeting moments in the garden, and have found that both photography and sketching make me a better gardener. I am much more aware of light conditions throughout the day and across seasons, and I quickly notice if a plant is suffering from a pest, disease, lack of water or too much water.
If I can't get a decent photo of a portion of the garden, it usually means the design is lacking somehow, usually in color or textural contrast and I should make adjustments. Likewise, gardening makes me a better photographer. I am always looking for interesting light, and how to best capture a plant’s essence in a portrait. I know my photographic subjects well, and it makes me much more aware of what is new and different in the garden each day.
When I enter the garden every morning, the first thing I do is to look for the light. The light conditions in the morning are fleeting so I capture whatever the sun is spotlighting or backlighting at a given moment. Even mundane foliage can look amazing in the right light and 5 minutes later the light will have changed. I have learned to appreciate the photographic opportunities of every stage in a plant’s life cycle, from newly emerged shoots to buds to flowers to seedheads.
(Image of a fountain pen and flowers by Nibs and Flourishes)
Learning to photograph pens was quite another learning curve, as I had to learn to handle artificial light, glare on shiny resin or metallic finishes, and how to compose an interesting square or rectangular spread.
Question 7: You have already shared thousands of posts about pens and inks and to date, you have more than 20 thousand followers in your Instagram account. What do you think nurtured this engagement and successful online community?
Nibs and Flourishes: Posting better than average photos, owning a pretty and carefully curated pen collection, and having decent handwriting certainly helps, but most of all I think what sets my account apart and what people respond to is COLOR!
I've been told that my Instagram photos are pretty unmistakably recognized as mine even before people see the name attached. I do have my favorite colors, but I also like challenging myself to put together color combinations I have never used before or that just hit differently from my usual.
(Image of a fountain pen and sketch by I personally have very visceral responses to color and putting together a great color combination and layout for a photo just makes my heart sing! And I take the time to get the colors in my photos as close as possible to how they look in real life, which isn’t always easy. I think followers appreciate that.
Question 8: How did you first find out about HATCH and how was your experience working with HATCH?
Nibs and Flourishes: I believe my Leonardo Fioritura Viola project was [one of the first] "Hatch" projects, before Hatch even existed. So naturally I was folded into the Hatch family once the idea of Hatch was introduced.
I love the idea that pen people around the world can turn their good ideas for a pen into something others can purchase. I own several Hatch pens and stickers and washi besides my own and there were a few other things that sold out before I could buy them! I hope to collect more Hatch items. There are so many great ideas in our pen community.
Question 9: Related to your HATCH projects, the Garden Delights Ink Set and the Aster Bouquet Fountain Pen, which were inspired by the colors of the flowers in your garden, what are the other key elements/themes that completed your designs?
Nibs and Flourishes: Overall I strive to create something that I personally have wanted to be able to purchase, but doesn’t exist in the market. Because if I want it, generally others will also.
For the inks, I was aiming to create colors that were at least somewhat different from those already on the market. That wasn’t easy! I am most proud of Siberian Iris, because I have dozens and dozens of purple inks and ink samples, and it is different from ALL of them.
The Aster Bouquet colors were inspired by the aster flowers, and I included a bit of shimmering turquoise to represent the sky (as well as my signature color) and the white for clouds. I was thrilled to be able to put a floral themed cap band on the pen, because sometimes a unique band just makes the whole look sing! And the band is different from anything else in my collection.
Question 10: What’s the best way to keep up with you and your work?
Nibs and Flourishes: I can most often be found on Instagram at @nibsandflourishes, though I also have been posting recently on Bluesky (@nibsandflourishes.bsky.social) and Threads (@nibsandflourishes). For those new to Bluesky, I maintain a starter pack of fountain pen people that can be found at https://go.bsky.app/8xxD8zY
(Image of a fountain pen and flowers by Nibs and Flourishes)
How to Order the Leonardo × @nibsandflourishes Aster Bouquet Fountain Pen?
This crowd favorite will be coming back this year (2026)! Watch out for our announcement through our emails and/or socials.
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By Some Folks at EndlessPens
