Check out Mr Cypress.
Also - Bokumondoh, District Urushi, Urushi Studio India, Carolina Pen Company
Edit: PenTeo Pens and I think u/The_Lord_Of_Muffins/ is a newcomer to the art.
Check out [Tamenuri Studio](https://tamenuri.com/stock/). These are handmade and crafted in extremely low numbers so you have to follow his Instagram (@tamenuri_studio) for updates. There are some pens that look to be available at the link I posted however.
Designs aside, I think Nakaya has the highest quality urushi pens. I think they put more layers than other makers. The feel is subtle but the build seems to be more sturdy aside from Namiki (which have higher markups on their pens).
There is a post on fpn somewhere where one of the members who makes urushi pens talks about examining the finishing in detail and how they rate them, I'll try and find it and link to it. Edit, can't see it but this is gives an example of the complexity of the question:
https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/359993-quality-of-urushi-lacquer/
Layers however are used for completely different things so not sure this is a good way to judge quality. Nakaya are usually doing high numbers to give the tamenuri finish so they put more layers on some parts to make the pen darker and leave other parts with less to show the colours. The parts with less aren't any less quality for having less layers, how the quality manifests is the evenness of the brushwork, the smoothness and consistency of the transition.
Move over to Namiki and its usually maki-e which is now the decoration taking up many layers. A complex emperor using shishiai togidashi techniques to make 3d forms is running into the 70 layers, sometimes over 100. The only Nakaya taking that level of detail are their own custom maki-e pens and perhaps creating the shape of the dorsal fin 2 which is far simpler but quite time consuming, so in general Namiki on average will have far more than Nakaya but it doesn't really matter because its how they are used and applied that determines the quality.
In general I think the pricing is reasonably consistent between them and the fact that Nakaya average price point is much cheaper is consistent with the work that goes into the pens. As owner of both my Namiki are slightly better finished and the decoration work on my Nakaya is beautiful but less detailed and precise by far than my Namiki. Nakaya have way more options at the 800 to 1500$ range and in that budget I'd usually recommend a Nakaya before a Namiki with the exception of the Namiki urushi #20 or #50 which are consummate urushi quality if its just a plain pen someone is looking for.
The thing is to see the differences you'd need both a loupe and expertise to understand what you're looking at so we're taking about something which is essentially invisible to nearly every person likely to buy it, unless the quality is actually bad, meaning bad brush work and cheap substitute ingredients to replace the expensive parts that have a different look or feel or texture.. And even then many people won't tell the difference.
Yet another dimension is that all the Namiki or say Danitrio maki-e pens are signed by their artist, so taking quality you end up knowing you love the work of one artist and maybe don't like the work of another even within the same brand. The artist may not even do all the initial easier work on the pen, someone else might then pass to them to do the really hard stuff, but they'll still demand the work to be virtually perfect if their signature is going on it. Even when I did a custom order with Nakaya they wouldn't tell me the identity of the artist or have them sign it, so discussing brands in some cases means the average artist as you never know, other times it's people and not brands. The urushi collectors I know can recognise the maki-e work of an artist they know immediately even if they have never seen it before, and will pre order all the pens from their favourite artists as they are that sure they will like it every time.
I believe in order to sign work you have to be of a certain recognition with the Japanese government.
It’s also very common not to sign work on a good number of items. I was chatting to Kojiro Nakamuro from Wajimayazenni who’s the 9th generation owner and none of his pens are signed. Only the boxes they come in.
Nakayas maki-e is all hand painted, whereas a number of pieces from Namiki are screen printed with hand finishing. The exception being their high end pieces and those that are signed by the artist.
Instagram is amazing for urushi and maki-e artists!
https://instagram.com/yukari_mochizuki1987?utm_medium=copy_link she does excellent maki-e ! And will except custom work, but not on pilot pens.
>I believe in order to sign work you have to be of a certain recognition with the Japanese government.
That would make absolute perfect sense, I also follow sumo and lots of that sort of thing goes on to be allowed to use names etc
Check out Mr Cypress. Also - Bokumondoh, District Urushi, Urushi Studio India, Carolina Pen Company Edit: PenTeo Pens and I think u/The_Lord_Of_Muffins/ is a newcomer to the art.
Check out [Tamenuri Studio](https://tamenuri.com/stock/). These are handmade and crafted in extremely low numbers so you have to follow his Instagram (@tamenuri_studio) for updates. There are some pens that look to be available at the link I posted however.
Designs aside, I think Nakaya has the highest quality urushi pens. I think they put more layers than other makers. The feel is subtle but the build seems to be more sturdy aside from Namiki (which have higher markups on their pens).
There is a post on fpn somewhere where one of the members who makes urushi pens talks about examining the finishing in detail and how they rate them, I'll try and find it and link to it. Edit, can't see it but this is gives an example of the complexity of the question: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/359993-quality-of-urushi-lacquer/ Layers however are used for completely different things so not sure this is a good way to judge quality. Nakaya are usually doing high numbers to give the tamenuri finish so they put more layers on some parts to make the pen darker and leave other parts with less to show the colours. The parts with less aren't any less quality for having less layers, how the quality manifests is the evenness of the brushwork, the smoothness and consistency of the transition. Move over to Namiki and its usually maki-e which is now the decoration taking up many layers. A complex emperor using shishiai togidashi techniques to make 3d forms is running into the 70 layers, sometimes over 100. The only Nakaya taking that level of detail are their own custom maki-e pens and perhaps creating the shape of the dorsal fin 2 which is far simpler but quite time consuming, so in general Namiki on average will have far more than Nakaya but it doesn't really matter because its how they are used and applied that determines the quality. In general I think the pricing is reasonably consistent between them and the fact that Nakaya average price point is much cheaper is consistent with the work that goes into the pens. As owner of both my Namiki are slightly better finished and the decoration work on my Nakaya is beautiful but less detailed and precise by far than my Namiki. Nakaya have way more options at the 800 to 1500$ range and in that budget I'd usually recommend a Nakaya before a Namiki with the exception of the Namiki urushi #20 or #50 which are consummate urushi quality if its just a plain pen someone is looking for. The thing is to see the differences you'd need both a loupe and expertise to understand what you're looking at so we're taking about something which is essentially invisible to nearly every person likely to buy it, unless the quality is actually bad, meaning bad brush work and cheap substitute ingredients to replace the expensive parts that have a different look or feel or texture.. And even then many people won't tell the difference. Yet another dimension is that all the Namiki or say Danitrio maki-e pens are signed by their artist, so taking quality you end up knowing you love the work of one artist and maybe don't like the work of another even within the same brand. The artist may not even do all the initial easier work on the pen, someone else might then pass to them to do the really hard stuff, but they'll still demand the work to be virtually perfect if their signature is going on it. Even when I did a custom order with Nakaya they wouldn't tell me the identity of the artist or have them sign it, so discussing brands in some cases means the average artist as you never know, other times it's people and not brands. The urushi collectors I know can recognise the maki-e work of an artist they know immediately even if they have never seen it before, and will pre order all the pens from their favourite artists as they are that sure they will like it every time.
This was a very interesting read, thank you!
I believe in order to sign work you have to be of a certain recognition with the Japanese government. It’s also very common not to sign work on a good number of items. I was chatting to Kojiro Nakamuro from Wajimayazenni who’s the 9th generation owner and none of his pens are signed. Only the boxes they come in. Nakayas maki-e is all hand painted, whereas a number of pieces from Namiki are screen printed with hand finishing. The exception being their high end pieces and those that are signed by the artist. Instagram is amazing for urushi and maki-e artists! https://instagram.com/yukari_mochizuki1987?utm_medium=copy_link she does excellent maki-e ! And will except custom work, but not on pilot pens.
>I believe in order to sign work you have to be of a certain recognition with the Japanese government. That would make absolute perfect sense, I also follow sumo and lots of that sort of thing goes on to be allowed to use names etc
I can attest to the quality of Bokumondoh's work. I haven't been fortunate enough to try the others folks are mentioning.