London Autumn Pen Show 2024

It’s been nearly a month already since the London Pen Show. Do excuse the lateness of this post, my life has been hectic again. Also excuse the photo quality as I hadn’t gotten used to my new camera yet.

I wasn’t looking for anything in particular at the show but I went in with an open mind and (to a certain extent) wallet. Here is my tiny window into the event…

First impressions: it was busy! Not as intensely busy as the Taipei Stationery Fair I went to last year, but this event was a lot more niche and focused on fountain pens and paraphernalia, so it’s even more impressive.

At the entrance was a ‘Karma Table’ where people could take and leave unwanted items, I’m sure that most of them were inks. I didn’t have anything to leave, so I didn’t take anything either, but now I know a trick for getting rid of unwanted items in the future.

Ink

Undoubtedly my favourite stall was Pick & Mix Samples. Until now I didn’t know anywhere to buy ink samples in the UK (although I haven’t looked in a few years) and blind-buying full bottles is scary, so it was a treat to see ink swatches and buy samples in person! Knowledge is power! They even had some exclusive inks (I think I got a US exclusive Vinta ink? I’m away from home so can’t check).

I was especially happy to try Iroshizuku Kirisame which I had been considering for a while and which I wanted to reach a decision on soon, since it has been discontinued. The verdict: I don’t like it. It’s very cottagecore.

It is worth visiting this stall early in your trip–they advised me to come back in at least half an hour so they had time to assemble all my choices. Of course, if you buy one of their pre-assembled sample sets then this won’t be an issue.

This was the Diamine Ink Studio stand, which I had not heard about and which requires booking in advance. It seems like the service is to help you mix together existing Diamine inks into something you like, then bottle it for you. I’m tempted to book a spot next time. Can I do better than the professionals who already designed Diamine’s one million shades of ink? (Nexer mind mixing, I’ve heard that at the Sailor Ink Studio they don’t ask you much about the colour and more about a story from your life. I’ve thought so much about what story I would tell…)

KWZ had a bunch of pens so you could try writing with their different inks yourself. The founder of KWZ himself was manning this stand, although I didn’t speak to him.

Stonecott Fine Writing was where I impulse bought my single bottle of ink, Venvstas Fumo di Londra. I am very happy with that purchase, it’s exactly the kind of ink I like—a subtly cool grey, no sheen, wet and with some haloing. The hexagonal box and bottle are charming too, like if Caran d’Ache ink bottles were less extra. I had never heard of this brand before but I’m glad I took a chance on them.

There were two or three stalls with Asian ink exclusives as well as some niche Japanese brands. Kong Guys (HK exclusive) went straight on my wishlist, it looks like someone left Prussian Blue in the sun to concentrate to 100x strength. This stall, Pineapple Studio, even had Kamen Rider themed inks which I thought was so charming. The rest of what you see here are washi tapes.

Pens

I’m satisfied with my fountain pen lineup at the moment so I skipped over most of the stands selling pens. Most of this enormous second room was vintage and hand-made pens!

The Kyuseido stall were nice enough to give me a demonstration of their filling mechanism, which I was completely charmed by. Inside the body of the pen there is a little steel rod with three claws on the end, which you use to grab onto the internal workings and manipulate them. And I got to try out a stacked nib in person! This was another stall manned by the founder.

This stall had metal pocket pens with some really unique finishes, which even extended onto the nibs. It took me a lot of hunting to figure out that the pen is called the Pocket Fox, by Shibui North. Next time, I promise to take everyone’s business card (everyone, please print some business cards).

I am a sucker for a pen with a twist mechanism and the one on these Wingback pens was really satisfying. They do fountain pens, ballpoints and pencils.

Another unusual pen maker at the show was Endless, but I didn’t get any photos of them. They make so many different things though, their stall was chock full.

There were very few sellers of your typical mass manufactured pens but I did see one with a bunch of limited edition Sailors and even limited Platinum 3776s (in addition to other pens–those are just the ones I’m into lately). It was nice to see LEs in person. All this time I have been wondering, ‘is that Moonlight on the Ocean Sailor Pro Gear REALLY such a weird yellow and brown color combination? Do the photos just make it look weird?’ No. It really is that weird, the kind of weird that could shine amazingly in the right context…

Paper & other stuff

I have to lodge one complaint against this pen show: Not enough paper!! Not enough notebooks! I did see some Tomoe River notebooks with Hokusai print covers at one stall, which were beautiful. And I bought a lovely hand bound sketchbook from an artist called Clare Dales, which I plan on using for travel stamps on my upcoming vacation.

I also got a pen rest and two-pen roll from the Quill & Owl stall. I wish they had a 3 or 4-pen rest, that is the sweet spot for me.

The Writing Equipment Society almost sold me on a membership! But I’m holding off until my life is slightly more settled and I have more time and energy to devote to the stationery hobby.

No pictures, but Toyooka Craft were there with pen rests and display cases which gave me a mighty craving; and some stall was selling a lot of Galen Leather and other pen cases. This would be a good place to pick up a pen case. I saw some gorgeous embroidered Taccia brand pen rolls too, I didn’t realise they made those things.

Closing thoughts…

I felt pretty out of the loop going in. Partly because it was an impulse decision for me to even attend (I didn’t realise I was going to be in London until the week before) and partly because I think a lot of the stalls were doing their advertising and what not on Instagram or… wherever it is people post things nowadays. I’m not a fan of impulse buying. Now I have an incentive to research a bit more next time (who was it shouting ‘Knowledge is power!’ earlier?)

I think it would be fun to come one year with a goal and budget to buy a single pen from a small maker!