Making the Pen
The Grovemade Pen was designed for your desk. With an all-metal seamless body, it’s heavy and feels good in hand, and it has a dedicated solid stand that gives it a place to call home. Come behind the scenes to see how the pen is made.
Exploded view illustration showing the pieces that make up the pen.
Exploded view illustration showing the pieces that make up the pen.
From Raw to Refined
The pen begins its life as a solid bar of metal, otherwise known as a billet, in brass, aluminum and titanium. We work with a vendor in Vancouver, WA who specialize in a process called Swiss Screw Machining. There they take our solid bars of metal, and use our design and engineering specs to turn it into two forms: the pen body and the dial.
Why Swiss Machining?
Usually, circular metal forms are made with a lathe. The material is held at one end, spun extremely fast, and cut to the desired shape with a cutting tool. The accuracy is limited, however, when cutting long shapes, because the piece is only held at one end—there's a slight wobble that is introduced as it spins. We needed something more precise for our pen, so we found experts in swiss machining. With swiss machining, the piece of metal is slowly fed out and machined at the same time. The tool cuts much closer to where the material is being held, yielding an extremely precise finished product.
Back to the Shop
After machining, the aluminum pens are sent off to get their black anodized finish. Our titanium and brass pens have their raw machined profile preserved, maintaining the crisp details of the design. It's an uncommon, rigorous approach, but we think the result is worth it. Our vendor partner assembles the black and titanium pens, and then sends them to our workshop.

The brass pens are assembled in house, first being given a hand polish until they shine. Taking the finished body, we then insert a spring and Schmidt Rollerball P8126 ink cartridge, screw the movement piece onto the back, and prepare to add the dial. Using a special jig we created specifically for this part, we press fit the dial onto the movement, ensuring the alignment is just right.
Production manager Victor Nguyen doing final assembly on the Grovemade Pen.
Brass pen bodies, ready for assembly.
The Pen Stand
With the pen fully assembled, it’s time to put together it’s companion, the pen stand. Comprised of two main parts, the pen stand starts off as a solid bar of metal and a solid chunk of wood. The metal is sent to our manufacturing friends on the outskirts of Portland where they cut it to size and shave out a small portion of the inside of the cylinder with a CNC lathe specifically designed for metal. Back in our shop, we're already hard at work making the inside wooden portion. Using our own CNC mill, we cut the wood down to shape, hand sand and hand finish it. Once we receive the metal bases, we put the pieces together and add a laser-cut cork foot for protection.
Finally, the pen and stand are ready to head out the door, destined for a desk where it will live right where you need it for a quick jot or considered doodle.
The wood element being inserted into the aluminum body. The pen stand is internally made of mostly metal, giving it a solid presence.
Black and walnut wood pen stands being assembled.
Mighty Mighty
The pen is available alone, or with the matching stand in walnut or maple, to coordinate with your specific work environment.
Black minimalist pen with twist top used to extend tip.
Black minimalist pen with twist top used to extend tip.

Black Pen
$90

Starkly minimalist black pen set upright in walnut wood and metal stand.

Black and Walnut Pen Stand Set
$140 $165

Starkly minimalist black pen set upright in maple wood and metal stand.

Black and Maple Pen Stand Set
$140 $165

Brass minimalist pen with twist top used to extend tip.
Brass minimalist pen with twist top used to extend tip.

Brass Pen
$100

Starkly minimalist brass pen set upright in walnut wood and brass stand.

Brass and Walnut Pen Stand Set
$160 $185

Starkly minimalist brass pen set upright in maple wood and brass stand.

Brass and Maple Pen Stand Set
$160 $185

Titanium Pen
Titanium Pen

Titanium Pen
$150

Titanium and Walnut Pen Stand Set

Titanium and Walnut Pen Stand Set
$220 $245

Titanium and Maple Pen Stand Set

Titanium and Maple Pen Stand Set
$220 $245

Further Reading

PRODUCT HIGHLIGHT
The Grovemade Pen
Bringing old school class back to your desk, with a modern twist. When paired with the pen stand, it stands out on your desk, easy to grab when you need to jot something down.
READ MORE
DESIGN STORY
Designing the Pen
We dipped our toes into designing a pen back in 2015, but didn’t feel it fit with our lineup at the time. Fast forward to the launch of the Desk Shelf and a new focus on the workspace.
READ MORE
PRODUCT HIGHLIGHT
Pen & Stand Lookbook
Made for your workspace, but equally at home in the kitchen, on the credenza, or at large; the Grovemade Pen & Stand weren't designed to be hidden.
READ MORE