A pen maker wants to make a timeless piece out of this Philly landmark
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Photo: Courtesy of Roots & Jones
From Mount Vernon to Wrigley Field, Ryan Jones has crafted pieces of American history into fountain pens.
- His collection includes a Civil War-era oak that once stood outside George Washington's estate, a beam from San Diego's historic Hotel del Coronado, wood from Churchill Downs, and Wrigley Field seats.
Why it matters: There's one iconic landmark still on the Kentucky master pen maker's bucket list: Independence Hall.
Driving the news: Jones is bringing that pitch to Philadelphia this fall, where he'll debut his new George Washington Commander Pen at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show for the nation's 250th birthday.
- Nearly 200 artists will fill the Pennsylvania Convention Center for the show's 50th anniversary, featuring everything from ceramics and jewelry to woodworking and textiles.
Catch up quick: As a college senior studying finance at the University of Kentucky, Jones asked his grandfather — a gifted woodworker who handcrafted toys for his grandkids every Christmas — to teach him how to make pens.
- The two spent hours inside his grandfather's Louisville barn, where Jones crafted his first pen — among his most cherished items today.
- About five years ago, the woodworking duo launched Roots & Jones, a business that creates custom pens from wood sent in by customers from "all over the country, all over the world," the 29-year-old tells Axios.
- The pens range from $200 to $1,500, depending on materials and customization. Locally, they're sold at Pen and Paper in Bryn Mawr.
How it works: Jones cuts five-inch wood blocks, glues brass tubes inside and shapes each pen on a fast-spinning machine called a lathe before pressing the hardware into place.
- That final step requires precision: It can crack the wood and force him to start all over.
- He's broken hundreds of pens over the years.
What they're saying: Jones tells Axios it took an "act of Congress" for him to get the green light to create his George Washington pen. First, he had to convince the Mount Vernon Ladies Association his work was up to snuff.
- After delivering the organization more than 50 pens made from wood at Washington's Mount Vernon estate, Jones was finally granted access to a Civil War-era oak that had been in storage — one that American Revolutionary soldiers had carved crosses and insignias into.
That project sparked his next idea: creating a pen that commemorates America's birthplace.
The bottom line: Independence Hall, hardwood from the Sixers' arena, one of Bryce Harper's broken bats. The possibilities are endless.
- "I think it would be super cool," he says. "So if you have any connections to the people at Independence Hall, it would be a great story to tell."