OHTO ballpoint pen

Metal ballpoint pen with a 0.7 mm tip

(5.0)

18 €

Tight margin · see where your money goes

Color:black

Variant

Some people have a favourite song. Our boss Ivan has a favourite pen. The Japanese Ohto GS 01. We first heard about it from him, so it's best to let him explain:

“What I love most is how perfectly balanced it is when I write. It's comparable to branded pens costing €50 or more. The fine metal tip lets me write more precisely than other pens. The aluminium body means the Ohto survives being carried around all the time. And the design. Pure Kenya Hara.”

We don't really get it, but Ivan clearly does. Otherwise we wouldn't be ordering them all the way from Japan.

Important note: the pen only comes with black ink. So for signing bank contracts, you'll need to change pens. Or banks. Don't change the pen. It's great ;)

We have nothing to hide

Radical transparency is one of our values. So here is exactly what it is made of and where the money you pay goes.

Where your 18 € goes

Tight margin

Purchase price6,06 € · 34 %
What we pay for it.
Marketing2,20 € · 12 %
Advertising. We count 15 % of the price excl. VAT.
Logistics3,00 € · 17 %
Warehousing in Orava, packing and a shipping subsidy.
VAT 23%3,37 € · 19 %
The tax we pay to the state.
Running the company3,37 € · 19 %
Salaries, support, new products and profit.

Carbon footprint

Every product we make has a footprint. We calculated it for the whole of 2025 and divided it per item: DEFRA 2025 emission factors, transport by parcels, services and marketing by spend (GHG Protocol). We keep refining the method together with our suppliers.

≈ 0.6 kg CO₂e per item. Roughly like driving 4 km by car.

Production0.09 kg · 15 %
Materials, printing, binding and cover.
Running the company and marketing0.43 kg · 72 %
People, software, ads and energy, divided per item.
Transport to us< 0.01 kg · 1 %
Materials to production and finished products to the warehouse.
Transport to you and packaging0.07 kg · 12 %
Parcel and box.

What we do about it

We print in Slovakia and Czechia. No air freight. Our warehouse sits next to the printer in Orava, so finished products do not travel for nothing.
We do not shrink-wrap diaries one by one. We use bulk packaging to cut down on plastic.
We ship in recycled cardboard and, when we can, in boxes our suppliers sent us goods in.
For trips and small transfers we book shared transport and BlaBlaCar.
We print to pre-orders. If something does not sell, it does not end up in the bin but in our outlet or in schools.

What you can do

Order more things at once. One parcel instead of three.
Choose a pickup point or locker instead of home delivery. So the courier does not drive out for a single parcel.
Buy second quality and sale items. We also work with production seconds. Everything usable is cheaper in our second quality section. You save money and rescue something that would not get a chance elsewhere.
Buy only what you will really use. The smallest footprint belongs to the diary that never had to be made.

See our climate plan