Yianni Giannaris, 16, may be a teenager who’s grown up with laptops and electronic technology — but there is something about a finely crafted writing instrument that speaks to his soul.
Yianni is a familiar face to the many longtime customers of the Hellenic Snack Bar and Resturant, owned by his family in East Marion.
When Yianni, who attends Mattituck High School, was six years old and shopping for kindergarten, even then, he knew he needed a pen fit for the occasion — and his parents bought him a Parker pen.
And now, the young man, who lives in Cutchogue, has taken his unique eye and artistry and launched his own business, North Fork Signature Turnings.
“My father — Hellenic owner George Giannaris — had taken me to a woodworking show in Edison, New Jersey when I was eight,” he wrote on his website, nfpens.com. “There was a gentleman there, who was demonstrating in his booth, how to make a pen out of wood by turning it on a lathe. I was captivated and asked my dad if he would buy me everything I needed to start making my own pens. He told me that he would, but that I was too young.”
Two years later, Yianni said, the pair attended another woodworking show in Springfield, Massachusetts. “I eagerly looked for a pen turner, but the show was a small one and nobody there was making pens. On the way back home, my dad stopped at a woodworker’s store. I asked him if he would buy me what I needed to make pens and teach me how to use a lathe. I have been making pens and other turnings ever since.”
Since that day, Yianni has honed his skills and crafted pens and pencils from materials such as driftwood, antlers, and a barrel stave from Martha Clara Vineyards.
The calling to create, Yianni said, came during childhood.
“I have always had a fascination with woodworking. Growing up, I would follow my father around in his woodshop for hours, watching him create elaborate furniture and other pieces.”
And despite an electronic age, Yianni said his focus is on fine writing tools.
“I have always been drawn to a quality pen. I’m not sure why. Once, while I was at my grandparents’ house, my grandfather gave me a Parker pen. Its fluid movement across the paper grabbed my attention. Expressing my thoughts through writing suddenly became easier.”
And, Yianni said, each pen he crafts is unique and timeless. “I am drawn to the pens I make because I feel personally connected to them. Each one has its own history and unique character. I believe that this personal connection people have with these pens are what draws them and makes them unique from others,” he said. “There are no two pens that are alike. ”
Each of the pens he’s created for his business tells a North Fork story — one pen was crafted from Aldo’s Orient Espresso coffee beans; another is crafted from antlers found by Rick Coffey of the Coffey House Bed & Breakfast in East Marion; one is made from applewood trimmings from Briermere Farms in Riverhead; and another, from spalted maple wood found at Santorini Beach in Cutchogue. Yianni will also craft pens from an old piece of furniture or wine barrel that has personal meaning.
While the process of creating a pen is not complicated, Yianni said mastering the craft to produce consistent, high-quality pens takes time and patience. He purchases the metal components for the pens online, then chooses his material.
Next, he cuts the material with a band saw, cutting the “blank” into two pieces, for the top and bottom sections of the pen.
Yianni also uses materials including a drill press, brass tubes, a steel road, chisels, and a lathe to help create the pen, also sanding the instrument for a smooth surface that the finish can be applied to.
“After applying a finish for the pen, it is taken off the lathe,” Yianni said. “The final step involves mounting the components on the blanks using a pen press. This process can range from one and a half hours to ten hours depending on the material used to make the pen.”
Yianni inherited his love of woodworking from his father, who developed a calling for the craft in his teens, he said. “In our basement we have a professional woodshop. They made it very easy to begin making pens.”
His parents George and Maria, Yianni said, have fully supported his dream. “Though my dad helped me begin pen making, both my parents have guided me and have helped me make the right decisions to pursue my dream. They are always supporting me and helping me with any struggles I have. They are just as happy to see me pursue my dream as I am.”
His father, Giannaris, is a proud dad, asking friends to stop by his son’s booth at the Greenport Maritime Festival last weekend. “Here’s that tear-jerky moment — you know the one, when your kids are no longer kids and they are blowing your mind away?” he wrote on his Facebook page. “My oldest son Yianni Giannaris has become quite the accomplished wood-turner. He has been making fine, handcrafted writing instruments for the past few years.”
On Thursday, he added, “In all honesty, I am blessed. Nature, nurture and God is the combination here. It wasn’t the initiative, passion or the achievement that moved me; the immense joy came from working next to him. Sometimes I looked over at him and thought, ‘Is it normal for me to like this kid, as if he were not my son, but more like a friend?’ That elevated me to a height indescribable –one I never expected from a father son relationship, in particular, so early on. It is hard to imagine Yianni not being passionate about woodworking, because I have the same passion.”
Despite his youth, Yianni said he’s found a lifelong passion. “No matter how many pens I make, I will always be enamored by their beauty. I will look at my thousandth pen the way I looked at my first.”
And even if he’s unsure of what path his future will take — he has an interest in possibly pursuing mechanical engineering and has plans to work toward a degree in that field — he said the pens will always be a place where he finds creative inspiration.
“I am sure that even if I stopped selling pens, I would always make them as a hobby. They bring me great satisfaction and joy,” he said. “I believe that one is born with the joy of working with wood. It connects me to the outdoors and nature in general. I never get bored of the beauty I see in wood through its spontaneous grain patterns and elegant tones. It also brings me joy to watch other’s expressions as they witness one of my handcrafted writing instruments for the first time.”
To order one of Yianni’s pens, which range in price from $65 to $125, go to nfpens.com and also, “like” his North Fork Signature Turnings Facebook page.
