To know the full story, we want to make sure you get to know where it all started, through HATCH.
WHAT IS HATCH?
For those who have known HATCH, you’re already familiar with the program where we connect our creative partners with our partner makers. But for those of you who have stumbled upon our page by chance, let me give you a quick overview of what we believe in and what we’re passionate about.
HATCH is not just your typical online shop for fountain pens and other stationery products. It is both an avenue and the home of creative people who love and enjoy everything fountain pens and stationery-related. Including fountain pen inks, Washi tape, and soon more!
HATCH is like a door that leads to a curated collection of beloved creations. Born through the mutual partnership and synergy between artisans and creatives who believe in each other’s craft and story, HATCH acts as a mediator, a sponsor, a studio, and a host that features creators and their pièce de résistance (impressive work of art).
HATCH is a welcoming space for those who are inspired to create and collaborate. No matter who you are, as long as you have a clear and well-prepared HATCH proposal, you have a chance to be part of our growing and ever-evolving community.
HATCH is also a channel where we engage, guide and help shape each vision into reality. It’s an amazing journey and transformative process because whatever we launch through HATCH, it is made possible by the creative collective and becomes a success because of the support and love of the fountain pen and stationery community. HATCH is nothing without the people behind it. HATCH won’t be where it is today without you.
THE BEGINNING BETWEEN HATCH AND BENU AND TROUBLEMAKER INKS
At the beginning, HATCH didn’t have as many partner makers as it has now. It all started in 2018 with an idea of creating something personal and sharing it with our community. It wasn’t even called “HATCH” then. But as it evolved through the years, with more creatives and makers collaborating through the program, processes were put in place, our website was improved, and tailored to better showcase each final creation.
Then in 2024, HATCH ventured with BENU and @jane_euphoria for the first time. And if you don’t already know it, we released the BENU x @jane_euphoria Bubblegum Rizz Euphoria Fountain Pen. It was an eye-catching playful pink fountain pen with sparkles and silver trims. Limited to just a hundred (100) numbered pieces, right after the launch it sold out in just a few minutes! it was a massive hit we didn’t expect. Whether it was the personality of the pen or the people that made the pen, we’re sure it was a feat that wouldn’t have occurred without your trust and support for HATCH. It was heartwarming to learn that what HATCH was able to create resonates with you.
As with Troublemaker Inks, who also partnered with us in the same year, we were able to launch the Troublemaker Inks × @pensandturquoisebrown Dream and Nightmare Inks. A fountain pen ink collection lovingly crafted by Troublemaker Inks and designed in collaboration with @pensandturquoisebrown. They were shading inks that offer a bold alternative to the conventional fountain pen inks and were inspired by Pablo Neruda’s poem “Keeping Quiet”. Among this ink collection, the “Dream” and “Nightmare” inks sold strongly because they combined unique storytelling, striking color properties, and the sense of owning part of the creative journey.
While these two projects were launched the same year, they were a separate concept from one another.
This is what sets our most recent BENU and Troublemaker Inks collaboration apart. We made a set with a product from both brands through the creative concept of @the_inkwitch.
SEE THE LATEST HATCH x BENU AND TROUBLEMAKER INKS COLLABORATION WITH @the_inkwitch!
Read the transcription of @the_inkwitch’s heartfelt reaction and review of her HATCH Project, the BENU x Troublemaker Inks x @the_inkwitch Absinthe & Green Fairy Set, featured on our EndlessPens YouTube channel.
Play the video and join us while she shares her journey and the emotions and milestones leading up to the moment the pen and ink set was finally launched.
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[INTRODUCTION]
Hello and welcome or welcome back to the_inkwitch.
My name is Holly and today we're doing something really exciting.
I'm beside myself and I can't wait to show you guys this but I have to do a little bit of an opening, a little bit of an explanation before I can show you the things that I'm gonna show you today.
A little while ago I released my ink, Huron Shores. This was made by HATCH Create and Robert Oster and myself. And this was not actually my first product that was proposed to HATCH. My very first product that was proposed to HATCH is a pen by BENU and it is here.
After a year of planning and designing and creating, I finally have her in my hands and we're gonna explore this and show you today and I'm so utterly excited. We're gonna just jump right into it. And EndlessPens sent me this package and I opened it because I wanted to see the slip cover inside but I did not look at the pen.
I wanted to save that so that you guys would get my very first reaction upon seeing it. So here we go. Ta-da!
Back in 2008, a million years ago I know, I graduated from graphic design and I didn't get a job in my field. It was at the beginning of the recession and unfortunately it's very competitive and I moved on to do different things with my life. But this is the first time that I've ever seen something that I have designed in print. I worked very closely with the HATCH team.
I designed this piece and then they tweaked it a little bit and made a few changes, but ultimately the graphic design is something that I created and I'm so excited to show you what's inside. So, without further ado, I'm going to open the box.
This is the Absinthe pen by BENU and me and HATCH.
Oh, it's a little snug. One sec. There we go.
So, I'm just going to pull this open. Now this is BENU's new packaging so it's a little bit fancy from what you guys may know from BENU from before but we're just gonna open this up and oh my gosh. Are you guys ready? Three, two, one.
Oh my god. I'm gonna get—I'm getting emotional guys. If I start to cry, I apologize but look at her.
This is the very first look at the BENU Euphoria in Absinthe. The shimmer, this is exactly what I pictured when I designed this pen.
Like look at the shimmer inside. It's magical. It's so dreamy and beautiful and perfect.
I'm getting—sorry guys. I'm really emotional because I worked so hard with the HATCH Create team to make this pen and it's beautiful and this is the first time I've seen her so I'm very excited.
We are going to jump into the design process and what we did and what we were inspired by so give me two moments and I will be right back.
[ABOUT THE ABSINTHE PEN]
And we're back. So I'm going to talk just a little bit about the inspiration behind this pen and a little bit about the pen itself and the creative process that we went through to make it and then I have one more product to show you guys. Not one but two products today.
First of all, I mentioned in a blog post by Endless Pens that ever since I was a kid my mom provided me with what I needed to do graphic design and do artwork with. Especially when I was a teen and going into college, I had very very big inspirations in anime and manga art and also with French art. Different kinds of art history pieces but especially Art Nouveau.
I mean, Art Nouveau is just gorgeous. Look at her. I did not paint her. This is actually an artwork by Henri Privat-Livemont and this is actually from the piece Absinthe Robert and this is a piece that has been very special to me throughout the years. I just love it. I love the orange tones in her hair.
I love the green-y yellow tones. I love the colors in the background. It's just a stunning piece and so that's the inspiration behind this pen was the mystique and allure of Absinthe itself but also this artwork.
So Absinthe is a spirit. It's a very special spirit that has been around for a very long time. At one point it was outlawed. This is a spirit that's made primarily with wormwood and the wormwood had a...
Sorry, just look at that. Oh look at that. That little spot right in there. That is so pretty. Oh my god, I'm distracting myself like a magpie.
Wormwood has a property in it that actually can create hallucinogenic properties and so for a while they banned Absinthe because of its hallucinogenic properties and this drink goes back a very long time.
Originally I wanted this to be a BENU Talisman but we ended up going with a Euphoria instead because I just, I personally like the Euphoria better. Look at that green. Oh it's so pretty and we have the gold nib to match our gold trim and the gold shimmer.
I just like the way that this particular pen sits in the hand. It sits really comfortably in the purlicue. You do have these threads here but they're not sharp at all. They're very very matte to the touch and I like the length of the grip section here. I'm a bit of a nib hugger and this is just a very comfortable hold to me which was important for me in a pen.
Look at that. Look at the shimmer through her and then in the dark green here. Something that happens when you pour Absinthe the traditional way is you get what's called a luge. So, Absinthe generally comes in this darker green shade here and then once you prepare it properly, it becomes a little bit cloudy and you get this lighter green shade which is why I chose these colors. The orange and gold shimmers are there because of my inspiration—Miss Absinthe herself.
I'm a little bit all over the place because I'm just, I'm so grateful that I could be part of this project and I'm so excited that you guys are going to get one of these pens.
So a little bit of shop talk.
We chose a steel nib because we wanted it to be a little bit more accessible for people to be able to buy. We didn't want it to be too expensive which is why we did the gold nib. This particular pen is [a] broad and we're going to ink her up today, we're going to do some writing, we're going to just explore a little bit with her and go from there.
So, now that I've talked a little bit about the inspiration even if it was a little disjointed because I'm so excited. Look at that. I can't, I can't with this pen. She's so pretty. Now that we've done a little bit of that we're going to move on to product number two. So I'm just going to put this aside.
[ABOUT THE GREEN FAIRY INK]
Product number two is Troublemaker ink and it's the Green Fairy by HATCH and I love this little illustration they've made of this cute little hamster thing. On their most recent packaging they have these little hamster blobs and it's so cute because they actually have like a little cup here. I did not design that, they did, and it's I couldn't have asked for a better design like that is so cute.
The rest of this box is really cool. This is new packaging for Troublemaker. I have purchased Troublemaker inks in the past and I've never seen packaging quite like this.
Here's another bottle of Troublemaker ink and you can see that they usually have cute little animals on. I like to take the sticker off and put it on the bottle so I can kind of see what it is but I love this little guy. He's so cute. He's a little absinthe fairy potato.
So, the reason why I went with the name Green Fairy is because back when they had hallucinogenic properties in absinthe they used to call it the Green Fairy or Chasing the Green Fairy.
So, oh look at that oh so much shimmer. This is the first time I'm seeing this product too. This is cute. This on the top here [is] Green Fairy and there's my little potato hamster with his little cup again, but look how much shimmer’s in this and look how—oh my goodness, look how perfect the match of those two shades is.
I'm floored guys I'm absolutely floored I could not have asked for a better color match. I couldn't have asked for more beautiful products for this release. I'm really emotional, guys. I'm sorry.
We're gonna swatch this ink. Let's give it a shake because it is a glitter ink and this is, it's a glitter bomb. There's so much glitter in this ink. Oh my goodness…so much glitter is on this. Oh, look at that color, the green color is very much like the green, the dark green parts of the ink and the glitter is very much like the light green colors of the ink.
I'm stunned. I'm floored. Look at this! It's not even dry and it's already perfect, oh my gosh! I guess you guys can tell by now that I love green. With my Huron Shores release and this release, I just—green is one of my favorites.
So this is Troublemaker x HATCH x me and it's the Green Fairy. I'm going to set this aside and let it dry. We're going to ink up the pen and then we're going to get a bit of a writing sample as well.
[INKING THE ABSINTHE PEN WITH THE GREEN FAIRY INK]
When you flip over the top, and you open this up, this is where you're going to find your information so you get this cute little thank you card. And on the back, it reads
“Dear valued customer, thank you for choosing a BENU pen. We're delighted to have you in our community and sincerely appreciate your support. With kindness, the BENU team.”
Oh, that's so sweet and it matches the pen.
Also, here this is where you're going to find the converter and where you're going to find—they always supply an ink cartridge to go in the pen. We’re going to leave the ink cartridge there for now. I don't tend to use them and set this aside. And I'm going to do this right on camera so you guys can see how to ink up your new pen if you haven't gotten any pens before.
So, these pens are going to be available on EndlessPens website. It's exclusive to EndlessPens, you cannot get this anywhere else. And there's going to be a hundred of them. Only a hundred have been made, so you guys have to act fast if you want to get one of my pens.
So, I have the plunger of the pen here or of the converter here, pushed all the way down because then as we push, as we twirl it the way it's going to draw ink up into the body and this piece here attaches in there onto the nib itself. So, then you take your ink and you dip that in as best as you can and then you rotate…there we go. And when you pull it out, there's your ink. So, I'm just going to wipe that down real quick—ta-da!
Look at that, you can see the shimmer, you can see the shimmer in the ink; inside the converter. So, I’m just going to cap this real quick because I think that this is dry.
Oh wow! Look at these guys, look how perfect of a match that is. I am stunned. I’m absolutely stunned, guys! I may have designed this product, but the HATCH team really really delivered on communicating my vision to these two different companies and to getting this ink made.
Like how perfect is that match? I'm stunned, honestly HATCH works magic. You send in your idea and if they select you, they really, really truly work around the clock to get your vision to come to life.
Okay, so the brand is BENU. Oh, it's exciting! I'm sorry. Oh, I'm not quite focused. There we go. So, the BENU, this nib guys, it's so smooth right out of the box, never been touched it's such a smooth feeling nib. It's like butter.
So, BENU Euphoria, the nib is a broad, and my goodness it is a juicy broad guys um I personally find that Troublemaker Inks can be a little bit dry but this particular ink, this is flowing like—if you look at the back of the nib, here you can see all the glitter and you can see the the drops of ink there. It’s so juicy guys. Oh, so the color is the Absinthe, and then it's inked with Troublemaker.
I’m shocked, guys. This is so smooth and the ink is running so wonderfully through this pen. It's not dry at all. I would even put this in a fine–in a fine nib because it's so wet. It's so lovely.
The ink is Troublemaker x HATCH, and the Ink Witch, and it's called Green Fairy. You can see the shading and the shimmer; especially here, in “Fairy”. Look at it, it's gorgeous! I'm so excited.
And I'm actually going to agitate the pen just a little bit. I do this because it will agitate the glitter the shimmer inside the converter and make the shimmer come out just a little bit more.
So, this writing is quite big because I have big writing. But, I'm going to try and write something just a little bit more fine. There we go. Okay, I did try to write a little bit smaller there but I struggled to do that with a broad nib and with my large writing.
It's gorgeous and again I am so shocked and excited at the fact that this ink is so wet. It wrote so smoothly and I really, really enjoyed it. And I'm so excited for you guys to try it!
I'm so excited for you guys to get your hands on this pen. Again, there are only 100 units of this pen. So, when it's released on May the 8th, you guys are gonna have to jump to grab one. If you want one.
I hope to see reviews of this pen. I hope that people love it as much as I do. I hope that I see people enjoying it online. And thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you so much for coming with me on this journey. And thank you for your continuing support on my channel and on the EndlessPens and HATCH Create channels.
I'm excited and I can't wait to see what you guys create with your pens. Thank you so much and I'll see you soon. Bye!
[END OF THE VIDEO]
By Some Folks at EndlessPens
