RUNO & DUNN Pen Case: A conversation about the development process
A conversation between dunn CEO Arakawa and Runo. The story of how the clasp pen case started as a prototype and was completed. After much trial and error, the interior materials were devised, and it was finally commercialized. The importance of leather and handcrafting is discussed.
Arakawa: Well, thank you very much. I think we should start by talking about why we decided to create this product ( the RUNO & DUNN clasp pen case ) in the first place.
Ruu: That's right. It's a glass pen box . Is that a dunn product?
Arakawa: The Dunn Glasspen Box is still about a year or two old. It's a box to store glass pens, made two years ago in 2022.
Ruu: Yes, it was made using a dunn product. They had some leftover thin leather, and they asked me if I wanted to play with it, so they gave it to me.
Arakawa: That's right. You originally made the leather ones with your own hands, right?
Ruu: I originally made bags using leather craft. I also made Ruu bags using other leathers. It was more of a hobby. Then, I happened to receive some thin genuine leather from dunn, so I thought I'd try making a Ruu bag. At first, I made some with genuine leather inside and out, some with cotton filling, and some without.
Arakawa: Oh, is that so? Did they make one without the cotton?
Ruu: I also made one without any filling, because it could hold more. So when I showed it to our leader (Arakawa), he said, "We could make this into a product."
Arakawa: Yes, it was like a prototype. That was about a year ago. The prototype was shown at an event exactly one year ago.
Ruu: I think it was at a notebook market in Kyoto. At the time, I had a prototype made entirely out of genuine leather, both inside and out. I asked a lot of people, "Which is better, with or without cotton?" People who use fountain pens told me that it would be better if the inside wasn't made of genuine leather.
Arakawa: I think I heard that lacquered leather doesn't go well with it. In fact, leather is tanned with some kind of paint, so it's possible that the paint could transfer to it.
Ruu: So we went to a fabric store to see what would be best. In Esaka, for example.
Arakawa: I went looking for something! Something velour-like.
Ruu: Right. So I tried making one out of velour, but it didn't work very well.
Arakawa: So you thought it would be better to try something with a proven track record, and chose Exaine.
Ruu: I ended up at Ecsaine. But Ecsaine is expensive, isn't it? (laughs)
Arakawa: That's true (laughs). But for a pen, Ecsaine is definitely better. You decided to make it with this, and it finally took shape as a product. It has a more product-like feel to it.
Ruu: That's right. Originally, Ruu's fabric products had a strong handmade feel to them.
Arakawa: One of the concepts behind Ruuno is "carrying a fountain pen casually and using it every day." When I thought about a product that everyone could use, I thought it would be good to make something that is highly reproducible using genuine leather. Back then, Ruuno was still making everything by himself!
Ruu: Yes. I've started to outsource some of the sewing. I didn't think I had the time to make leather items myself.
Arakawa: We thought that if we could create products based on Ruu's ideas, create a brand called RUNO & DUNN, and take responsibility for making and selling them, it would become another brand for Ruu, and we could make a profit in ways other than being handmade.
Ruu: It's only been a year since then. It went by so quickly after we decided to make it.
Arakawa: That's true. But the final details took a really long time.
Ruu: Yes. Now we can ask others to do everything, like sewing the leather and attaching the clasps, but we had to buy or order each item one by one. It took a lot of time.
Arakawa: But the key point this time was that we were able to find good leather.
Ruu: That's right. We used the same leather as the glass pen box that was the initial inspiration. The lineup has in common the fact that they are used to store writing implements.
Arakawa: I guess that's true. But even though we said we wanted to make it look like a finished product, it took quite a bit of work, even with this product. We just tried to avoid using Ruu's hands as much as possible, but the manual labor of the outsourced workers was incredible.
Ruu: I'm really grateful. It has a handmade product feel to it.
Ruu: I'd like to do something like a collaboration with someone in the future.
Arakawa: That might be interesting.
Ruu: I'd like to try that someday. I'd like to make one that's black on the outside and red on the inside. Like a Thinkpad. It's like a red button.
Arakawa: Thinkpad! That brings back memories, the red button. I wonder if there's an Exaine with a red interior? I think there probably are.
Ruu: There are a lot of reds out there. I think something vibrant would be good. There's something like Ecsaine, but black and red would be good too.
Arakawa: I think it's the same with cloth Ruu, but with fountain pens, ink stains are always a concern, but since Exaine is made of synthetic leather, is that better?
Ruu: Of course, when it gets dirty it's hard to tell because it's black.
Arakawa: Do you have an idea of what kind of pens you would like included?
Ruu: That's right. I think it's a gold pen. See, the nib is antique gold, right? It looks like a frame. It feels like a stage, doesn't it?
Arakawa: The stage. I see. That's good.
Ruu: It gives me an image of a jewel box or something.
Arakawa: It's easy to carry around. It's cool to just pull out your RUNO & DUNN.
Ruu: I think a chic black pen, like the classic "the fountain pen," would also suit you.
Arakawa: Yeah, yeah. That kind of thing. But the blue one Imaru-san has is also cool.
Arakawa: Originally, Ruu's example was one of the uses, but you could put things other than scissors, umbrellas, pens, etc. in it, right?
Ruu: Yes, if it's a small one, I can put things like sewing supplies or cosmetics. I can also put other tools in it. The RUNO & DUNN bag has a cushion inside, so it doesn't stretch as much as the cloth one, so the amount of things you can put in it might be limited.
Arakawa: It would be nice to make your own note cards to put in RUNO & DUNN.
Ruu: Ah, I see. That's a good idea, isn't it?
RUNO & DUNN Clasp Pen Case