Editing The Pen Addict 517/transcript (section)

== Introduction ==


'''Brad:''' I had you on the Penatic Members show called Friend of the Show. I can't remember, and I didn't go back and listen to it because I'm terrible at show preparation. Did I ask you where the name Penguins Creative came from? I don't know that I did.

'''April:''' Oh no, I don't remember as well.

'''Brad:''' It's just one of those fun names that happened along the way, right?

'''April:''' I can kind of go over it again, though. I actually don't know if I ever shared it, but it used to be Penguins R Us, you know, like Toys R Us. Because I love penguins. Like, in high school, I doodle penguins. It's my thing. Everyone's like, she's the penguin girl. And then, like, when I brought it back to Taiwan, I went to college in Taiwan, and no one got the Toys R Us reference. Like, the joke didn't translate. So, I had to switch it to Penguins Creative. When it translates to Chinese, it's more, like, understandable because I was doing some doodles online back then, and that name just stuck till now.

'''Brad:''' All right. Well, then, let's start. You said you were doing doodles online back then, but before that, when did you figure out that, you know, you were into this whole stationary thing that we're all, like, so crazy passionate about? When did you realize, like, you had a stationary problem, and you were, like, hunting down all the stationary and you had to have the things? Were you a kid? Was it later in life, in school? Tell me about that.

'''April:''' I kind of interpreted that question a different way, but I've always, like, I feel like I've always had a stationary problem. I was always into stationary as a kid. I grew up in Taiwan. What do you expect? Like, Asian stationary is the thing. It's been top of people's mind, you know, as a school kid, as a high schooler, as, like, a college student, you're always accessing tons of amazing pens and products. But March 6, 2015, I was in the middle of the woods in a long queue.

'''Speaker 02:''' That's when I knew I had a stationary problem.

'''Brad:''' Okay, you got to elaborate on this.

'''April:''' It was a creator's market. So, 2015 was when, like, stationary washi tapes really started taking off. A lot of creators were making amazing washi tapes. And then a few creators decided to do this fun thing where they decided to host a craft fair, kind of like a market thing, in the middle of the mountains, kind of like a nature thing. And it's like an hour and a half away from my house. I had to take the bus. I had to take the bus, took the train, transferred to another bus, walked up this trail, like, up into this clearing in the woods. And then stood in queue, because we all love queuing in Taiwan. That's an inside joke. But I was in that queue for two hours to finally get to that booth where I met Hank Styrie, who's an amazing illustrator and creator in Taiwan, even up to today, to buy a limited edition washi tape. And so that's when I knew I had a stationary problem.

'''Brad:''' You officially win. I don't know what it is that you win, but you just won the stationary internet. You're the winner. That is outrageously cool. And everyone here is going, whoa, she did what? And they're also going, yeah, I'd probably do the same thing.

'''Speaker 02:''' You guys would probably do the same if it's like a special limited edition fountain pen. You'd do the same.

'''April:''' I mean, it was only $50 worth of washi tape.

'''Speaker 02:''' But still, yeah.

'''Brad:''' So at the time you're doing this, you're queuing up in the mountains for washi tape. Are you just using all these things for your personal use? Have you started to publish things online? What was that time like and just the way you were using stationary?

'''April:''' That was truly the beginning of my, I guess, peak stationary journey. I have several peaks throughout my life so far. But I didn't get into stationary as hard as I do now, not until like 2014, the end of 2014. I just came back from like this like grueling grinding job in Thailand. I was working at a factory as like a purchaser. And it was like a six day a week grind. And I did nothing creative. And in 2014, end of 2014, my aunt gifted me a Hobonichi, the English planner. And then that's also when I decided to kind of take a gap year for myself to prep for grad school. I was going to apply to grad school in the US. And for that year with that Hobonichi, I was like, okay, I'm going to write in this every single day and put stickers on them and draw through those so that I really make the best use of my everyday. Or I would feel like none of the days were wasted away. And so around that time was when I really jumped full, like, two feet straight into this rabbit hole on the internet. I was in all these, like, Hobonichi user groups. I was in the Traverse Notebook forum. And I was kind of getting into pens, but still the cheaper ends of things, not the deep end yet. And I was just, you know, using them on a daily basis in my Hobonichi throughout 2015. And 2015, at the end of 2015, around September was when I officially, like, moved to the US for grad school. So I was without a job. I didn't have anywhere I needed to go. I was just, my whole life that year was just stationary.

'''Speaker 02:''' Yeah, I was going to stationary stores every other day.