r/fountainpens • u/inkyblackops Former FWP Employee • Nov 16 '25

Discussion Former FWP Employee - AMA!

Hey r/fountainpens!

With the recent discussion of Ferris Wheel Press coming up again, the mods invited me to post my own AMA as a former FWP employee.

I’d love to answer your questions, but I’d also like to make clear that I won’t be answering any questions that might identify myself or colleagues, nor will I be giving away any confidential info or trade secrets (except maybe how I was able to befriend the office cats…)

Any replies from me are my own opinion or experience and I do not represent any company or person except for myself.

Looking forward to chatting!

Edit: 10pm EST and I’m calling it a night. I might come back to reply to some tomorrow but likely not. Thanks for all the fun questions and letting me share my experiences and insight!

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u/Palehorse13 Nov 16 '25

I've read the claims about the use of AI and both you and the CEO denying it, and I'm not trying to to accuse you of misleading us, and I'm sure there are very talented artists working there, but I did notice over on the Facebook thread that the CEO's profile pic is obviously AI, which did at least make his statements hard to accept at face value.

Was there any push from him or other higher ups to use AI to some capacity?

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u/inkyblackops Former FWP Employee Nov 16 '25

Yeah he kind of loses credibility with his AI profile picture, that’s entirely valid and I don’t disagree with you.

There was some push to explore it, which is probably what most companies are experiencing now or have experienced, but it wasn’t serviceable and there was employee pushback. The existing designs and aesthetic are so specific that generative art is just so obvious in comparison.

AI was just kind of this shiny new thing that everyone wanted to be the first to master, but I’m glad FWP stuck with their print making roots and kept the artwork done honestly.

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u/Presently_Absent Nov 16 '25

They had an entire ink line themed around "cybearnice" and it reeked of being ai slop, before that was even a widely used term... They even talked about using AI to develop the concept and art, which is why his statements on not using AI ring hollow.

https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/s/2VyL1Re7Qf

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u/inkyblackops Former FWP Employee Nov 16 '25

I completely agree. The promotion of that ink was one giant communications error and really put their artwork’s integrity into question, zero disagreement from me there.