Lamy Linea Fountain Pen Review

The Lamy Linea is an aluminium-bodied fountain pen with an interesting herringbone pattern. It takes standard Lamy converters and cartridges and standard Lamy nibs.

This pen has many similarities with the pur, the st and the Logo, so let’s start there before going on to the differences.

All but the highest end of the Lamy range use the same nibs. Whichever pen you buy, the feel of the nib on the paper will be similar. There is of course some variation from nib to nib (independent of the pen you’ve bought) but on the whole the experience will be the same. This is no bad thing, Lamy’s steel nibs are quite good and very good value, and it means you can build up a collection (from extra-fine to a humungous 1.9mm italic) and move them about from pen to pen.

The Linea barrel shares many characteristics with the aforementioned pens, too. They are all slim and straight aluminium tubes with (other than the Logo) ribbed plastic sections. They are all extremely well made with satisfying clicks when closing or posting the cap and not even the slightest hint of a wiggle or wobble.

So much for the similarities, what is it that sets the Linea apart?

The clip is a bent strip of metal, very shiny, very clip but not perhaps as durable as the sprung clips of the Logo and pur.

The section is plastic, unlike the Logo’s, and it’s a little shorter than the pur’s. (I’ve not used the st but from what I can tell it’s identical to the Linea in every way but the finish.) I do not like the section. I don’t like the look of plastic sections with metal bodies and I don’t like how these feel when I hold them. The Linea’s section is too short for my fat fingers, too. It isn’t a deal breaker and it might be more of an issue for me than it is for you.

The most obvious difference between the Linea and the rest of the Lamy range is of course the herringbone finish. It’s very well done and it’s a striking effect. It’s hard to resist constantly twirling the pen in your fingers, watching the light on it shimmer and bounce about. It feels organic, which is an interesting contrast with the clean industrial lines of the pen as a whole.

The Lamy Linea is a fine pen. If you’ve already got one of the other similar Lamy pens, is there enough of a difference here to justify buying this too? Probably not, except for the fundamental fact that you can never have too many pens. However, if you are picking your first Lamy (or, indeed, first fountain pen), this should be on your shortlist. It’s got a very special finish, it writes well (and gives lots of nib options) and it’s extremely well made.

This review was first posted on The Pen Company’s blog. The Pen Company sent me this pen for free so I could write the review. This review reflects my own views and which were not influenced in any way by The Pen Company.