Dario Octaviano
Pencrafter

"...simply admiring wood is very therapeutic for me...I don't even have to work on it."

As a young boy growing up in the province of his native home of the Philippines, his free time would often times find him eagerly carving whittled spinning tops, home made darts and slingshots. Though a very simple scene to picture in one's mind it was the start of his passion and great love for wood and woodworking.

Being from a humble home with eleven other siblings, there was never the opportunity to pursue this passion as he was growing up. His life after graduating from college took him to another world, Civil engineering and computers. Though his chance of working with wood was put on hold, his passion for this art continued. He later found the opportunity to start working with wood again, initially by woodcarving, and in early 2004, with the purchase of a wood lathe, his dream of woodturning was realized. This catapulted him into the art of which he is currently, deeply entrenched.

His early woodturnings began with the creation of wooden bowls and vases but was later re-directed to the art of penturning to which his free time is now devoted to. Self-taught and together with the shared knowledge of other pencrafters whom he now considers his friends and mentors, he strives to produce handwriting instruments of only the highest quality and prides himself in meticulously providing a pen that can be treasured for years to come.