In general I am not a fan of ball point pens, but the magnetic cap design of the KOSMOS pen intrigued me. Rather than pressing a button or removing a cap, the KOSMOS pen by Stilform, a design studio based in Munich, allows you to pull back on the cap, which is then held in place magnetically. It is a simple but effective idea.

Stilform clearly care about design, and the KOSMOS pen is certainly the best designed ballpoint that I’ve used. That design does come at a price; my aluminium model cost €50, but a titanium bodied model is also available at €100. The aluminium models come in five colours, three of which are intentionally similar to Apple’s MacBook lineup.

Aside from the magnetic cap, one of pen’s best features is barely mentioned in Stilform’s marketing: the pen rolls very little. I suspect they’ve weighted the body on one side, but I couldn’t tell where after playing with it for a few minutes. I was a little disappointed to find that it didn’t always roll to show the logo, which is engraved near the top of the pen. I think the engraving could be a little deeper, but the rest of pen’s design seems to call for minimalism.

Before I received the pen I wasn’t sure which part of the pen actually moves when you shift the cap. The cap screws onto the black segment that initially separates the cap from the body, and both of these move when the cap slides — the refill always stays in place. I’d like the cap to screw in a little tighter, although only because I fiddled with it repeatedly this week! When I did unscrew the cap I found that the spring inside it would often come loose and fall out; I think a grove near the end of the cap could solve this problem.

The pen is loud. Not to write with, but with the snap as you shift the cap in and out of place. By way of comparison, it is much louder than closing the lid of my AirPods case and certainly louder than any other retractable pen that I’ve used before.

The included Stilform cartridge let the rest of the pen down. I initially found that I had to apply a lot of pressure — a lot more than I would apply with other ballpoints — to get a consistent stroke. Thankfully the cartridge is a standard (it is the same ISO G2 cartridge that Parker include in their ballpoints), so it can be easily replaced. Otherwise, the pen is a very comfortable weight and I didn’t have any issues writing with it for a few hours.

As much as I like the elegant design of the KOSMOS pen, I’ll continue using fountain pens for regular writing. At the moment I’m carrying it in my backpack for situations where I have to write on paper that ink would bleed on.

Later in 2018 Stilform will release the KOSMOS Ink, a fountain pen with a removable magnetic cap. I’ve pre-ordered the pen, and I look forward to seeing their ideas applied to other stationery.