Aurora

Founded 1919 · Turin, Italy · Isaia Levi

Aurora built the first wholly Italian pen, and still manufactures in the city where it began. Its name was chosen for what it means — the dawn that follows the night — in a country coming out of the First World War. It makes everything in house: body, nib and ink.

History

Isaia Levi, a Turin textile merchant, founded Aurora in 1919 with the intention that Italy should stop importing German and American pens. By the thirties the house had a catalogue of its own, with models such as the Optima. In 1947 it launched the 88, designed by the industrial architect Marcello Nizzoli — the same man behind the Olivetti typewriters — which sold more than seven million units and became the Italian pen par excellence. Aurora never moved abroad: it still produces in Turin, and is one of the very few houses in the world that makes its own gold nibs rather than buying them.

Iconic models

88 (1947)
Designed by Marcello Nizzoli; more than seven million sold and the silhouette that defines the Italian pen.
Optima
An Auroloide resin body with grain that never repeats, and a piston filler; the current flagship.
Ipsilon
The house's entry, in resin or metal, with the same nib made in Turin.
Talentum
A conical cap silhouette with contrasting finishes; the most contemporary proposal.

Worth knowing

Aurora makes its own gold nibs, which almost no house does: most buy them from a handful of German suppliers. It also makes its own ink, Aurora Black, which among collectors has a reputation as one of the blackest there is.