Stationery

Pens, pencils, markers, notebooks, and more

I have an obsession with stationery. Despite working in tech and living a very digital life, I prefer the feeling of writing on paper. I’m fortunate enough to live in a city with some incredible stationery stores, and I can spend hours looking at pens and pencils. Anyway, here are some of my favorite items and other things I just think are cool:

LAMY 2000

I just bought this pen in Toronto. It’s pricy, but it’s widely considered to be one of the best fountain pens around. Lamy has been making it since the 60s and it has that timeless bauhaus/modernist design. One of my favorite features is how the piston blends in seamlessly with the body. When I first held one I didn’t even realize it was a piston filler and the there was a knob on the back. The hooded 18k gold nib is also stunning and wonderful to write with.

TWISBI Vac Mini

For years, the Lamy Safari was my recommendation for a good starter fountain pen, and I still highly recommend it because it’s a great value and looks awesome (I own a few of them!). However, I think TWISBI has become my new favorite “value” brand when it comes to bang for your buck. They offer excellent pens with ink filling mechanisms that are usually only found on more expensive models. Their ECO pen is cheaper than the Lamy and it has a piston filling mechanism, where you suck up ink by twisting the end cap. If you’re willing to spend a bit more, the Vac Mini is my favorite TWISBI model because it has a vacuum filling mechanism where there is a plunger that creates a vacuum in the ink chamber and the pen basically fills itself. These fancier filling mechanisms allow you to store more ink in the pen and keep the ink from drying out because they’re closed systems. The Lamy uses disposable cartridges or a converter that turns it into a piston filler, but with a much smaller reservoir. This is a really good guide to the different fountain pen filling systems.

Pilot Vanishing Point

This is one of my favorite premium pens because it has a retractable nib and a really nice system to prevent leaking and ink evaporation. It also has an 18k gold nib, which just means it’s a little smoother and springier than steel nibs. It’s basically a luxury fountain pen with the convenience of a retractable nib, which makes it great for everyday use. It’s very thoughtfully designed with details like the pocket clip on the reverse end so the nib points up when it’s in a pocket to prevent leaks.

Kakimori Frost

I wanted to recommend a refillable rollerball pen here because they give you the fun and variety of using different inks, while having the more familiar ballpoint tip. I generally prefer liquid ink filled rollerballs to oil or gel based ink pens because they write smoothly and consistently. I bought a refillable rollerball pen years ago that I like a lot, but I couldn’t find it online, so I’m recommending this Kakimori model which came up in my research. It looks really nice, but I haven’t had a chance to use one yet.

Kaweco Liliput

Kaweco makes a lot of great pens, but I especially love the ones that come in a variety of materials like copper and brass. The Liliput is their tiniest fountain pen and it feels really nice to hold. It’s small but has a great weight to it. I have the brass model and it developers a cool patina with continued use. It’s honestly not my favorite pen to write with, but it just feels so nice to hold and play with. Be careful though, it has a tendency to roll off any surface you put it down on.

Pilot Iroshizuku ink

Some people are really crazy about trying different inks, but I tend to pick one and stick with it until it runs out. These inks from Pilot are super premium and come are offered in a set of beautiful colors inspired by nature. The bottles are also stunning.

Sailor Ink Studio

This is the ink I’m currently using in my TWISBI. Unlike the Iroshizuku inks which come in pretty standard colors, Sailor Ink Studio offers a variety of curated hues in tiny little bottles. They also change out their set of 100 inks from time to time based on customer feedback.

Noodler’s Baystate Blue

Noodler’s is known for making affordable, well performing inks. I love how the packaging looks like someone just made it in their kitchen. This blue ink is part of their vintage line and based on inks used in Colonial Boston and it’s super vivid. It’s also been known to stain basically everything, so be careful if you try this one. Noodler’s makes a large variety of specialty inks including anti-feather ink meant for writing on newsprint paper, bulletproof inks which are resistant to water and other solvents, and fast-drying inks that are dry to the touch within 10 seconds.

Pilot FriXion Ball Slim Biz

I love all of the FriXion products, so I had to include one here. They contain a special erasable ink that’s heat sensitive and disappears when you rub it with the pen’s “eraser” end. If you prefer the feel of writing with pen, but still want something completely removable, then you’ll love these. Also, the eraser end basically never wears out because it’s not truly erasing, just using friction to create enough heat for the ink to react. I really like this Slim Biz model because it’s very slender, but has a durable metal body.

Pentel Sharp Kerry

My dad had one of these when I was kid and I was always fascinated by it. Just a really beautiful looking mechanical pencil that’s not that expensive.

Pentel Twist-Erase III

Most mechanical pencils have tiny, crappy erasers, if they even have one at all. This one has a big one hidden in the body that you can twist out as it wears down. Probably my favorite cheap mechanical pencil.

Paper Mate SharpWriter

Actually this might be my favorite cheap mechanical pencil. Adam Savage actually did a video about it last year, but it seems like the design may have changed for the worse. It’s still a classic design.

Tombow Mono Zero

This is an awesome precision eraser. It’s 2.3mm and great for just erasing what you want.

Midori PATTO

Midiori makes great notebooks, but this one is really cool. It’s pocket sized, has a spiral bound top, a durable cover, and the pages comes stuck together on two sides. That last thing may not seem like a positive, but the idea is you can always open it right up to the last used page and you just peel it up to get to the next clean page.

Rocketbook

I have mixed feelings about this product. It uses the Pilot FriXion pens and plastic pages to make a reusable notebook. The pages wipe clean with a damp cloth. They also have a whole app for scanning the pages and stuff. I like the idea of a reusable notebook and this is the best one I’ve tried, but the pages do kind of wear out after a while.

Pica Deep Hole Marker

This isn’t really a stationery item, but it’s a cool marker so I’m including it anyway. They have a long, thin tip, great for marking up stuff like drill holes for a TV mount. I keep one in my toolbox.

Dotgrid A5 Notebook

These are my favorite notebooks, they have great paper and a nice tight grid. Best of all, they have a lot of pages. The only issue is they come from the UK and shipping is expensive.

KAI Paper Scissors

KAI makes the best scissors I’ve ever used. I used their fabric scissors all the time and they cut like a hot knife through butter. I haven’t actually tried these paper scissors, but I can only expect they are just as good as their other products.