This year, Lamy released not one, but two rounds of special edition Safari and AL-Star pens. Because 2024 marked my first full year as a Lamy retailer carrying all of the special editions (plus now with a dedicated space to have them all easily accessible for comparison), I thought it might be fun to take a look at all of the fountain pens together and discuss my favorites from what seems like an especially busy year for Lamy.

Lamy Safari Special Edition 2024 Releases — From left: Pink Cliff, Violet Blackberry, Piña Colada, and Cherry Blossom

Ranking My Favorite 2024 Lamy Safaris

The 2024 Lamy Safari releases kicked off with “Pink Cliff” and “Violet Blackberry” back in February. Featuring dark navy and violet barrels paired with pink and purple grip sections, these two pens marked something of a departure from the recent trend of more traditional releases. While I found the contrast refreshing, I’m sure it wasn’t for everyone. The more recent “Piña Colada” and “Cherry Blossom” hit stores in June, and once again featured two-toned pens but with a completely different look. I’d rank them as follows, in terms of personal preference:

Piña Colada. I love yellow pens, feel the color is drastically underutilized across the pen industry, and let it be known that I will buy any Safari with a yellow clip.
Pink Cliff. A blue-grey matte barrel offset with an eye-searing pink section? Somehow it works. The matte texture lifts this one over Violet Blackberry for me.
Violet Blackberry. Two different shades of purple makes for a great looking Safari, but if given the choice, I’m always going with matte texture over gloss.
Cherry Blossom. A really nice looking pink pen, and I definitely dig the red clip, but this shade of cherry blossom pink isn’t really my thing aesthetically. The new “Autumn Pink” AL-Star, on the other hand….

Lamy AL-Star 2024 Special Edition Releases — Four AL-Star fountain pens from left: Fiery, Aquatic, Autumn Pink, and Sage Green.

Ranking My Favorite 2024 Lamy AL-Stars

Sage Green. This one’s simply beautiful. I love the transparent green section and the tone of the barrel goes well with the black clip and nib. There’s not much more to say here other than this pen looks really good.
Aquatic. Same as above. While the fountain pen is shown here for demonstrative purposes, I’ve been using the .5mm Aquatic AL-Star mechanical pencil, as I’ve tried to explore different formats of popular models that I’d previously only used as fountain pens.
Autumn Pink. I have a thing for muted pastel shades, and while the Sage Green is definitely my favorite, Autumn Pink is a somewhat unique take on a color (pink) that’s hard to pull off. I expect both of these particular AL-Star pens to do well.
Fiery. What? This is T.G.S. and the red pen with the black clip comes in last place? First of all, it’s really not last place since this was a darn good batch of AL-Stars. For me it comes down to the red being slightly too pink for my personal preference, and the muted pink of “Autumn Pink” being slightly more interesting to look at. But again, these are all great looking pens.

Favorite Lamy AL-Star and Safari Releases: Pina Colada and Sage Green — The two winners, at least for me.

So What Are My Personal 2024 Favorites overall?

If I had to pick two pens from the 2024 releases, I would choose the Piña Colada Safari and the Sage Green AL-Star. I definitely felt a bit of a disconnect between the Pink Cliff/Violet Blackberry and Piña Colada/Cherry Blossom Safari releases - there really wasn’t a consistent theme other than all four pens feature contrasting sections and barrels - but at the end of the day the yellow on the Piña Colada pushed it over the top. Sage Green takes first place out of the AL-Star releases, as I really love this color. (Tom’s Studio uses a similar “Sage” aluminum in both their fountain pens and the Lumos series.) I had a more difficult time choosing, however, as I enjoyed most of this year’s AL-Star colors.

Lamy Safari and AL-Star 2024 Releases Overhead

Takeaways and Where to Buy

Every year I look forward to Lamy’s announcement of their special editions, and while I’m probably on “Team Safari” in terms of which pen shape/model I prefer to use on a regular basis, it’s close, and this time the AL-Star won the design battle. After years of different blue tones and very light neutral colors, Lamy built on the success of Lilac and Petrol and took the AL-Star in a different direction with brighter shades that work well in brushed aluminum. The matching clear sections and black trim look sharp, and I’ll likely choose one of each color to keep in a different format (i.e., a Sage Green fountain pen, Aquatic mechanical pencil, Fiery rollerball, and Autumn Pink ballpoint). Viewing the Fiery and Aquatic releases alongside Sage and Autumn Pink also makes me consider them differently, as I personally think they look better as part of a four-pen set than as a somewhat staid red/blue release.

We have all of the Lamy Safaris and AL-Star’s in stock at our shop, along with curated selections from Lamy’s regular lineup. I was also pleased to see that Lamy decided to release a mechanical pencil in both the Sage Green and Autumn Pink this time around. You can check them out online or in person, as our physical store will be open this weekend!

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges from the T.G.S. Patreon Program.

Lamy takes a lot of criticism - some fair, some not - about a perceived lack of “risk-taking” in their product line, especially when it comes to special editions. Frankly, Lamy tends to err on the side of caution, releasing pens (ahem, Safaris) certain to sell well among a broader, more casual audience even if they don’t excite the pen enthusiast crowd. As a longtime Lamy fan, this year’s Safari release is a welcome departure from what Lamy typically does, and I hope it signals the beginning of more experimentation with color.

Two New 2024 Lamy Safari Designs: “Violet Blackberry” and “Pink Cliff”

This year, Lamy appears to have specifically responded to criticism of their recent limited edition “Strawberries and Cream” Safari release for failing to mix and match colors. This time, not only have they given us multicolored Safaris, but these have radically different barrels and sections, including one pen with a hot pink section that caught me totally by surprise with how good it looked.

Lamy Special Edition Safaris Pink Cliff Violet Blackberry Uncapped on Tray — I love that one of the two pens is glossy and the other is matte. Many enthusiasts strongly prefer one of the two Safari finishes, and I’ll take a matte Safari any day.

“Violet Blackberry” features a two-toned purple finish, with a glossy muted dark violet/eggplant barrel and a brighter, matte section in a tone of purple that I assume is the “blackberry” portion of this pen. Paired with a black clip and nib, both colors make for a nice combination. That said, I’m partial to the second pen “Pink Cliff.” (Shocking, right?) Despite finding the name a bit confusing, I’m all over this one, which pairs a matte slate-blue barrel with a bright pink section.

Lamy Special Edition Safaris Cap Finials — Each pen has a cap finial to match the section. The colors look much more vibrant (and honestly better) in person than they did in the early promotional photos that Lamy released. I hope that once people see these pens in person - or see retailers’ own product photos - the pens will get more attention.

Two New Matching Inks for 2024

As I mentioned up top, I consider Lamy to be at their best when they release darker inks. Their lighter tones tend toward undersaturation, but their standard blue-black remains a favorite, and past limited edition inks such as Petrol and Dark Violet command steep prices on the secondary market. Though perhaps not quite as unique as those two tones, this year’s “Cliff” and “Violet Blackberry” releases return to that darker palette. I would describe “Cliff” as a dark navy with subtle red/pink sheen, and the more conservative of the two options. “Violet Blackberry” will get the most attention - it’s a super-sheener ink that lays down a dark purple line when wet, but a gold sheen takes over almost immediately. Despite the heavy sheen, the ink seems to behave well, and my initial swatch didn’t have issues with smearing after it dried. Longer term testing will be required, of course.

Lamy Special Edition 2024 Cliff and Violet Blackberry Writing Sample — I love the base tones for both of these inks. As you’ll see in the next picture, the gold sheen appears as the ink dries and will cover most of the purple, in the same way that the greenish sheen on Dark Lilac did in wetter pens.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

Though the color combinations are somewhat nontraditional, I really enjoy what Lamy has done this year. So far, Pink Cliff is my favorite of the two pen designs, mainly because of the matte finish. The juxtaposition of the blue-grey and “hot pink” will also annoy people at work - even better! (j/k) And while I can’t yet declare a favorite between the two inks, I suspect I will lean towards “Cliff” because I’m a sucker for really deep blues. That said, I’m absolutely inking up both this morning into their respective matching pens, and plan to write with them for a while before declaring a winner. I’m not normally a fan of the so-called “sheen monster” inks, but I might enjoy Violet Blackberry if keeps up the good behavior.

Since the TGS Curated Shop is an authorized Lamy retailer, we have stock of all of the new Lamy Safari pens, including fountain pens and rollerballs. We also have limited stock of the bottled ink, though we can probably get more if it sells out quickly. When I visited with Lamy at NY Now earlier this month, I didn’t get the impression that supply was overly limited, though the cartridges are not yet available.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program.