So what’s the big idea? EDC, or Every Day Carry - the gear you carry with you all the time. It has to be right. That means different things to different people - but if you’re the sort of person who cares deeply about those everyday items in your pockets or bag, BIGiDESIGN are with you, and should probably be on your shortlist. They make a variety of neat little tools and accessories, but it is, of course, the pens that most interest us.

They are titanium, tough, beautifully made, and they look good in a simple and utilitarian way that we find very appealing.

If there’s a single pen that gives you more choices of refills to use than the Ti Arto EDC, we don’t know what it is, and we do know quite a lot of pens. BIGiDESIGN lists over 750 refills they have tested, and in our testing, we struggled to find much that didn’t fit. They’ve achieved this thanks to some very clever design tricks.

For the variety in length, there’s an adjustment at the back of the barrel - the end section can be screwed up and down, changing the length of the barrel to fit the refill you’ve put in. It can extend out long enough to use standard ‘euro-format’ rollerball refills, which gives you a lot of choice right there. Screw it down so the pen is shorter, and it can use the most commonly used standard for good quality ballpoint refills - ‘Parker-style’ G2 refills. This gives you a lot of choices for ballpoint refills, along with some smaller gel ink refills. Many other refills fit within the length range too, giving you even more options.

Then there’s a little clutch mechanism, like a clutch pencil uses, at the very tip. This does two things. Firstly, it can hold even smaller refills in place, down to tiny little D1 ‘multipen’ refills. They won’t push against the back of the pen, but the clutch holds them firmly enough. As a bonus, it eliminates the slight rattle that many pens have at the tip, by holding the refill at that point. This is one of those things that doesn’t bother most people, but some find really annoying. If it bothers you, you might just love this pen! Even if it doesn’t, it’s rather nice when it’s not there.

It’s made from titanium, too, which helps to keep it strong and light, while looking good.

9.5mm wide at grip, 11mm wide body. 96 to 118mm long, depending on adjustment, 136mm long when posted. 111mm to 132mm long capped, depending on adjustment. Weighs 24g without refill, or just 16g without the cap.