After two very intensive articles, I decided to keep this week's short and sweet. Have you ever heard of the FLAF nib? If your answer is no, I'm not surprised! This silly-sounding acronym belongs to a very special 14 karat gold nib newly engineered by Platinum Pens, the quiet one in the "big three" Japanese fountain pen triumvirate: Pilot, Sailor, and Platinum. It was released with very little fanfare at the end of March, and I've seen almost no discussion about it online. Of course, that only made me more curious to try it for myself, so I could understand what it's all about and share that with you.
FLAF is not a typo for "flat," as Google and my spell-checker seem to think. Nor does it have anything to do with the Florida Air Force, as my jokester friend suggested when I mentioned what I was writing about. FLAF means "float like a feather," and the nib is named that because writing with it is supposed to make your pen feel like a feather floating over the paper. Does it really? I was eager to find out, but first I had to learn a little more about the pen that features the FLAF nib, Platinum's brand new Travia.
The Travia
"Travia” (not "La Traviata"... that's an opera) is a coined name that combines the words "Tradition" and "Via" ("path" in Latin), and Platinum says it's "built on the heritage of writing culture shaped by those who came before us," but "represents an evolving road that extends straight into the future." The Travia belongs to the #3776 Century family, developed by the late writing expert Haruo Umeda in collaboration with Platinum's design team with the goal of creating the ideal fountain pen. Unlike the classic cigar-shaped #3776 Century, however, the Travia adopts a more contemporary flat-top silhouette.
Its design echoes the #3776 Century Decade, a beautiful limited-edition pen that introduced the FLAF nib and was released in 2022 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Century model.
Platinum provides a very helpful visual aide:
The Travia is a longer pen than all three pens that came before it, thanks to a metal crown and an extended barrel that introduces a metal balancer integrated below the threads. While capped, this wide metal ring offsets a thinner metal ring at the bottom of the cap. I love how the two pieces come together to create a very sleek unified look!
The grip section also incorporates metal, which brings the center of gravity closer to the writer's fingertips, so the nib naturally reaches for the page.
This metal ring can also be used as a secondary gripping point for people who prefer to post their caps and hold their pens further back. When held at this higher position, the pen's weight settles into your hand, further enhancing the nib's "light as a feather" smoothness. The metal crown and end finial team up to keep the balance perfect at all times. All the metal elements--crown, end finial, ring, clip, and balancer--are plated with black nickel for a refined, elegant look, and are surprisingly good at concealing fingerprints.
Despite all the metal pieces accenting the resin cap and barrel, which make the Travia substantially heavier than the classic #3776 Century (30 grams vs. 24), the beautifully engineered design feels stable and comfortable in the hand rather than tiring. In fact, I'd compare the sensation to the comforting weight of a heavy blanket.
Contributing to this sense of security is the thoughtfully textured black chrome-plated metal grip section. I never would have guessed it was chrome--it has a porous, slightly grippy texture, almost reminiscent of the resin-infused lava on a Visconti Homo Sapiens! In the soft, filtered light of my usual photo spot beside my studio window, the material is especially beautiful.
The pen is engineered to work in harmony with its distinctive FLAF nib, responding precisely to the user's intentions, while the nib's ruthenium plating enhances the pen's sleek, sophisticated aesthetic. The overall effect is one of understated modern luxury and taste.
Like other pens in the #3776 Century family, the Travia features the screw-cap version of Platinum's "Slip & Seal" technology (famously used in the snap-cap Preppy) which is the industry leader in keeping fountain pens from drying out. Platinum's studies have shown that the Slip & Seal system can keep ink from drying out for up to two years when stored horizontally with the cap tightly closed, at room temperature, in a cool, dark place, and with a full ink cartridge.
I asked our Platinum representative, Bryce, whether there will be more Travia pens in the future, and he said yes--but for now, this is the only model. He also assured me that the Travia isn't intended to replace the classic cigar-shaped #3776 Century. Instead, it exists as an alternative, alongside the new #3776 Century Version 2.0 introduced with the limited edition Demonstrator.
The Version 2.0 pens retain the classic #3776 Century nib, which now features a subtly modernized version of Platinum's Mt. Fuji engraving. At least for now, only the Travia will feature the special FLAF nib.
Well, Knock Me Down with a Feather!
Trying the FLAF nib for the first time, immediately after writing with my own #3776 Century pen, I couldn't help laughing slightly in surprise and incredulity. An obscure opera lyric came to mind, from a scene in Haydn's Il mondo della luna in which the protagonist believed himself to be floating away up to a magical world on the moon:
Vado, vado; volo, volo.
Volo nel Mondo della Luna.
Oh che gusto, oh che diletto!
Cara Luna,
Vengo, vengo, vengo a te...
("I go, I go; I fly, I fly. I fly to the World of the Moon. Oh, what a thrill, oh, what delight! Dear Moon, I come, I come, I come to you...")
I hadn't really known what to expect, but I was delighted by how easy it was for me to feel the difference between the two nibs, even though putting into words what I was experiencing proved more difficult. I wrote somewhat inarticulately, "It glides over the page... It responds to my lightest touch... it's hard to describe.... 'Floating' is a good word... It feels so different than any other nib I have tried!"
I tried to gather my thoughts on a new sheet of paper: "This is the Platinum #3776 Travia with the FLAF nib--float like a feather. It feels like I am walking on air! No lie! But, the tip still feels precise, with feedback to guide me through my flight. Wow."
Soon, I noticed how easily the pen wrote at extreme angles, and grew preoccupied with trying its limits, writing at 90 degrees to the page, then down very low, then with the nib rotated almost completely to one side, then the other side. I can't really explain why, but pushing motions, like the kind that challenge left-handers, felt irresistible. The Fine FLAF nib isn't as pliant as Platinum's regular Soft Fine nib, but it is very responsive, in a delicate, expressive way. (The FLAF nib also comes in Medium, but I only tried Fine for this article, as I wanted to compare it to Platinum's Soft nib, which doesn't come in a Soft Medium variation.)
Platinum says the Fine FLAF nib flexes with less force than the standard #3776 Century Fine, and that the #3776 Century Fine and Soft Fine nibs ”show a bow-shaped curve characteristic," while the Fine FLAF nib "shows a more linear curve response̶--flexing in direct proportion to the force applied. This means the line changes as intended with writing pressure, making the FLAF nib easier to control and fine-tune in feel."
That's a little too scientific for me, but I see what they mean. The nib feels very precise and controlled, but somehow cushiony. I sketched a careful pentagon, then, excited by the grand feeling of creating swooping curves with such a sensitive nib, spontaneously started to draw the long, flexible arms of a brittle star, one of my favorite sea creatures. Each airy flick of the nib as I added the star's tiny spines to the border of each arm felt satisfying and slightly thrilling.
When I later compared a FLAF nib in Fine side by side with Platinum's regular #3776 Century Fine nib and Soft Fine nib, the differences were fascinating. The standard Fine feels wonderfully precise but also smooth, the Soft Fine adds a very subtle bounciness and line variation, and the FLAF's pliancy is somewhere in between the two, but its touch, while still precise and smooth, just feels weirdly lighter than either one. For some reason, it makes me relax my hand more and just feels even more responsive. Platinum hasn't eliminated the nib's tactile feedback that gives you a nice feeling of awareness and control, but the feedback feels different.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying FLAF is magic and other nibs are inferior. It's unique and special, but my biggest takeaway from this comparison was a reminder of how much I like all the #3776 Century nibs.
They are different from both Sailor's and Pilot's nibs--again, not better or worse, but different--and I love my own #3776 Century pen, which I bought after writing an article comparing similar nibs from the "Big Three" Japanese brands. Some of the information in that article is outdated now, but my discovery of how much I like the Platinum #3776 Century isn't.
There is just something about the feel of Platinum nibs that really appeals to me. They are slightly stiffer and crisper than comparable Pilot nibs, with a little more feedback than Pilot but less than Sailor. When I'm writing with a Platinum nib, I especially notice that I can feel the tip more. That may sound strange, but I don't know how else to explain it. Something about the shape of the nib just makes me feel more focused on the pointy part when I'm using it! The flow of the ink and the weight of the pens in my hand also feel especially satisfying.
Platinum will continue releasing more #3776 Century Version 2.0 pens in the coming years, and the remaining stock of the current #3776 Century will soon disappear, but we still have a few pens left, including some with the Ultra Extra Fine (UEF) nib so esteemed by lovers of super-fine, detailed linework.
I'm glad I bought a Soft Fine, because it suits the way I write, but there is something rich and satisfying about all the nib sizes, and now that I've tried the FLAF, I'm adding it to my list of nibs that just have something "extra" about them. I'm also thankful that Platinum made this nib as pleasing to look at as it is to write with. The graceful stylized feather design on each side of the heart-shaped breather hole speaks for itself.
I also love the Travia, and can't wait to see where Platinum takes this new model, although I think it's going to be hard to top this first release! After all, although I love color, I am a big fan of classy black pens...
I know this article has been shorter than my usual ones, but I hope you enjoyed learning about this new pen and nib along with me. Watching the fountain pen world continue to evolve and innovate is one of my favorite parts of being involved is this wonderful, fascinating community.
-Laura P.
I love comments on my blog! Please leave comments if you like the articles, and, if you have any questions about this article, or any of the other blog articles, you can e-mail support@penboutique.com. Thank you!
