One day ahead of schedule, Pelikan announced today via their Facebook page the winner of the contest to design the Edelstein Ink of the Year 2018.  Submissions were received throughout early May and a colorful array of inks ultimately made it into the top 15.  Those lucky designers will receive an Edelstein ink of their choosing.  A jury met on May 25th to narrow that field down to just 3 candidates.  While it is not clear just which colors made it into the top 3, those winners will each get bottles of the last three Ink of the Year colors.  That brings us to today’s announcement.  After taking those three and analyzing the feasibility/marketability of the colors, Pelikan has selected an Olive-Green submitted by Johannes from Cologne as the winner of this contest.  It seems that the ink has yet to be officially named after a gem stone as they are simply calling it Olive-Green on their Facebook page.  Johannes will get a Souverän M400 with his choice of nib for his winning submission.  The Pelikan’s Perch sends out heartfelt congratulation to Johannes and all of the top 15 finalist.  

This Olive-Green color will mark the 7th release of the Ink of the Year Edition.  It will likely be available in 50 mL bottles as well as cartridges as has been the case with the last several releases.  I would anticipate availability sometime in the Spring of 2018.  I like the choice of an Olive-Green ink and am excited to see how this design translates to the real world.  It would be nice to get some shading/sheen out of it but only time will tell.  I do think Pelikan’s chemist have a great base to work off of and hope to be wowed.  What are your thoughts on the new Ink of the Year 2018?

Simulated writing sample

Before closing out this post, let’s take a second to ponder that the 2017 Ink of the Year remains, as of yet, unannounced.  I don’t know if there will be any significance to this but 2017 does mark the 30th anniversary of the M800 and the 20th anniversary of the M1000.  Perhaps that may play into the next color somehow.  Also, we have yet to hear about another M205 release based off of Ink of the Year 2016, Aquamarine.  This has been rumored since we were given the Amethyst M205 last year.  We learned of the Amethyst exactly one year ago today so it may not be a long wait for news of an Aquamarine inspired fountain pen.  Check back as I’ll post an update as soon as one becomes available.