SCRIBO La Dotta Bamboo Limited Edition fountain pen

There is a moment, in the quietest months of the year, when nature seems to hold its breath. 

It is in this suspended interval that, according to Japanese tradition, the shōchiku-bai, known as Pine, Bamboo and Plum take place representing the Three Winter Friends.

Plants that withstand the cold without yielding, symbols for centuries of moral strength, perseverance and a wish of good fortune for the year to come.

Shōchiku-bai is a recurring motif in Japanese art and aesthetics.

Each of the three plants embodies a fundamental virtue:

– Bamboo (take): flexibility and moral integrity
– Pine (matsu): longevity and inner strength
– Plum (ume): renewal and a beauty that endures the cold

With LA DOTTA Bamboo SCRIBO opens a trilogy that will accompany three years of artisanal work: a journey in which material, gesture and meaning intertwine to shape a more mindful way of writing.

LA DOTTA Bamboo Limited Edition inaugurates this journey with the purity of an ancient symbol, one associated with the ability to bend without breaking, to remain steady even as the wind shifts and to look toward the future with renewed hope.

In Japanese culture, bamboo is a silent teaching: an invitation to resilience, to inner integrity, to balance in times of transformation. Its essential elegance becomes a visual narrative, matter turning into meaning.

The creation is entrusted to Urushi master Takeshi Matsuyama, a guardian of a natural lacquer that demands slowness, precision and an absolute dedication to the art of time.

Born in Yamanaka and raised watching his father at work, Matsuyama-san has devoted his life to preserving the classical techniques of Japanese lacquer art. His craft is shaped by a balance of discipline, spirituality and deep aesthetic sensitivity.

For him, Urushi is a silent dialogue with time: every layer requires slowness, breath and devotion. Every gesture becomes memory.

«Creating objects that have been regarded as works of art for centuries means preserving an inheritance. It is a responsibility that invites us to maintain both technical integrity and the spirit of those who came before us.»
— Takeshi Matsuyama

In the hands of Takeshi Matsuyama, technique and vision find their balance: from this encounter the surfaces and decorations of LA DOTTA Bamboo are created.

The surface reveals the material texture of the Ishime finish, inspired by the hardness of winter earth, while the Maki-e decoration, crafted with gold and silver powders, draws the bamboo motif on the body of the pen like a natural ideogram.

The nib of LA DOTTA Bamboo holds an intimate detail: a dedicated engraving echoing the bamboo motif, created exclusively for this edition. A discreet sign, visible only to the one who writes, conceived as a gesture of good fortune. A silent tribute to the strength that bends without breaking and to the beauty of the written gesture. 

Each piece belongs to a limited edition of 68 samples, and each progressive numbering is pantograph-engraved on the ring of the filling system, together with the name “Bamboo Limited Edition”. 

The signatures of the artist and of SCRIBO, the latter engraved in katakana in a delicate dialogue between Italian identity and Japanese culture, appear on the cap.

The ritual continues in the packaging: a handmade wooden box closed with a cord in pure Japanese style, conceived with an essential aesthetic in which nothing is superfluous. 

The fountain pen is wrapped in a pen pouch made from kimono fabric, a gesture of protection and good fortune that evokes the slow, reverent rhythms of tradition.

LA DOTTA Bamboo presents itself as an invitation to begin the new year with clarity, resilience and inner momentum.

It is the opening of a trilogy that already hints at its next two editions: Pine and Plum, emblems of timeless and ever-shifting virtues.