The BENU Tattoo is the perfect pen for when you need people to know you are rock ‘n roll but it’s winter and you work in an office

"Let's get some time on the calendar to sync up on this," but make it fashion

You have tattoos. A lot of tattoos. 

You’ve been collecting them for years, which means you’ve gone through all the phases:

• tattoos that hold a lot of meaning but look like blotchy garbage because you got them when you were young and too afraid to tell the artist that the portrait they were doing of your grandma looked like a California Raisin

• a tattoo on the inside of your finger that looked good for like two weeks but then most of the ink fell out and now it just looks like you were messily eating a Hostess cupcake and forgot to wash your hands

• a meme tattoo that made you very popular on Instagram for two weeks but will require fifteen minutes of context to explain for the rest of your life

All the usual stuff. 

And although you’d never say that your tattoos are part of your identity, you’re always remiss when they’re covered up—which means that when winter looms large you can’t help but feel hopelessly boring.

Historically, you only had three options for dealing with this:

• Don’t dress appropriately for the winter and make it incredibly obvious you’re trying to show your tattoos, which means you have to choose between looking boring and looking desperate for attention

• Get “job-stopper” tattoos on your face or hands, which you can’t pull off because your skill set is only really commercially viable in an office setting

• Get a wild haircut or dye job, which is less permanent but has the same office job problem

But now you have a new option: the BENU Tattoo. 

The BENU Tattoo is the perfect pen for when you need to show your rock ‘n roll side but it’s winter and, like, you work in corporate procurement or something. 

The pen is crafted in a black resin base with a variety of contrasting colors to set off traditional tattoo designs. The tattoos have a raised texture that both provides tactile interest and reminds you of that tattoo you have that healed really poorly because your friend convinced you that tattoo aftercare instructions were a plot by Big Aquaphor. 

The cap of the Tattoo is oversized and posts easily and securely. That said, most writers will find posting unnecessary as the barrel of the pen is substantial and well-balanced, exactly like how you feel your back piece finally looks after three cover-ups and a round of laser.

In a workforce where it is increasingly common for workers to have a tattoo but you have a lot of them and want to make sure that everyone knows that even during sweater weather, the BENU Tattoo is an elegant solution for showcasing your counterculture interests without requiring an awkward conversation with HR. 

The BENU Tattoo is a cartridge converter pen that features a steel #6 Schmidt nib available in a variety of widths; the version shown was a Broad that was worked into a sharp italic by Pendleton Brown. It has been discontinued but you can try your luck on eBay here.

Fun Facts

If you’re familiar with the current BENU line, this one feels like the body and heft of the Euphoria with the texture of the Skulls ‘n Roses.

Pretty much this entire post was written at a Swiss folk metal show. (Folk metal is like viking metal but with accordions. Viking metal is like regular metal but with vikings.)