The Metaverse of Colorverse Ink

The young South Korean ink brand is changing our perception of fountain pen inks through a universe of unique colors.

- NICKY PESSAROFF

Forget for a moment the new definition of "metaverse" that refers to a virtual reality environment in which users can interact with one another. Forget as well that glib phrase "that's sooo meta"-shorthand for a mimetic element of pop culture. Instead, focus on the original definition of the metaverse, the one based on quantum mechanics. That last metaverse is the one in which South Korea's Colorverse Ink operates.

In the definition of "metaverse", as it pertains to quantum mechanics, each choice we make creates an infinite number of realities based on those alternative choices. Following that theory, somewhere in the metaverse is a universe in which Colorverse CEO Baek Young-ki never founds Colorverse and remains a brand manager for a South Korean distribution company of stationery products.

Thankfully, in our universe, Baek founded PLNBEE, the parent company of Colorverse Ink and Nebula Note, in 2017. In our universe, Colorverse burst onto the scene like a previously unknown comet, changing our conception of the universe of fountain pen inks through refined chemistry and intelligent marketing. In our universe, Baek took his passion for color and the written word, created a brand, and changed the spectrum of the ink industry.

"Above all, the core value of the Colorverse brand is human happiness," Baek says in his first interview for an English-language magazine. "There is a saying in Eastern philosophy that each human is a small universe. Just as our universe is infinite and mysterious, humans are also mysterious and precious beings that cannot be fully realized only through digital or scientific technology."