The Pen Addict 673/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	673
Title:	Majoritively
Release Date:	July 9th, 2025
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 673
Audio File:	Audio Episode 673
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 673
Length:	4646 min <br />0.767 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 673. Today's show is brought to you by Enigma Stationery. My name is Myke Hurley. I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad.
Hey, Myke. How's it going? Oh, no. What's wrong, Brad?
Nothing. I can't even pull off that joke. So I was sitting here... What is the joke?
I always answer the same way. I was like, hey, Myke, how's it going? I'm excited to be here. Well, I wouldn't say that. Last week, you said, are you questioning your own existence or something like that, you said to me. So, you know, you always find some way to spice it up. I don't know if this one was spicy, but like, this is literally how much I enjoy recording this show with you and for all of our listeners. I was like, oh, I'm going to, when I talk to Myke today, when we go live, I'm just going to be like sad Brad for a second, just because it's different. And it's like, you know, I've been thinking about this since yesterday. It's like, thinking about the intro since last night, it's like, oh, tomorrow, what am I going to do? I'm not sure I've ever experienced sad Brad. I've existed. Maybe.
There's different levels.
The time, like what, episode 20 something that we were on a break episode, I was pretty sad. That was probably, yes. You know what? That's the saddest I'm looking for, but that was so long ago. I've forgotten. That was like 12 years ago. Like you should know, I've experienced angry Brad, disappointed Brad, like grieving Brad, but it's like a different kind of sadness. But yes, the sadness that I'm looking for exists in the archives going all the way back to like 2011. I want to say 20, yeah, like episode 27 or something weird like that. I can't even remember. Who knows? We don't talk about those times. So sorry for bringing us down. I'm actually, it's, I brought us down because I'm actually, it's, it's fake, right? I'm really excited to talk about pens, right? I like, we do this literally every week, 673 times now, and I'm still excited, just as excited every time. So I had to pretend, you know, maybe something had changed, but you know what? It hasn't changed for all these years. And I'm really happy for that. I thought you were going to say 673 times a year, which would have been extreme. I mean, I just do that in private, like at home. Yeah. Like a couple of times on my desk, we do a little bit of celebration. I'm out of candles. Like that's a lot of candles. I was like, I'm keeping the candle industry afloat for all these celebrations.

Transition to business and news-related topics.

Can we just get on with the show? Myke doesn't know what to do. No. I don't know what to do with you today. I'll just keep going. All right. I got, let's, let's talk business. Let's, let's talk business-y links first. News types links instead of stuff type links. So this was news to me, although I think other people like knew this and it just hasn't, I just missed it or something. But, and this is a U.S.-based, you know, issue that Montegrappa's U.S. distributor was Kenra Industries, our good friends over at Kenra who are frequent sponsors. They've been longtime friends of mine for, gosh, who knows how many years now. And they were the, they're just distributor of, you know, Estabrook, Aurora, Y Studio, Ferris Will Press, Montegrappa up until now. And I just saw in my friend RB's St. Louis Pen Show recap at Gathering of Curiosities. And I'll put a link in there if y'all aren't following. Gathering of Curiosities early. Shout out of the week mention. You should, you should be following RB's blog. Mentioned like a little quote in there, just a little, little side nugget. Jimmy told me that since Montegrappa recently, recently lost its U.S. distributor. And I read that and I was like, huh, that's news to me. And so I reached out to Kenra and it's true. And like, it doesn't necessarily mean anything yet for at least the U.S. market. And again, this is a U.S. distributor shift, but I thought it was an interesting piece of news. One, because we just went down Montegrappa's product listing last week, which, you know, talking about all their fancy pens. Two, I'm a very big Montegrappa pen fan. Like I like some of their lower level entry level pens. I have several that I just adore and always like what they do as a company. I think they make really, really excellent stuff and they do it majorly, majorly, majorly? A lot. Majoritatively? They do most of it in house. There you go. You found it. You found it.
And I just find like these little tidbits interesting to where they, it's not like necessarily Kenra lost the distributorship. It's that Montegrappa is moving to a no distributor in the U.S. model. So they're going to be selling themselves. They're going to be, apparently. So like, I'm interested to see how this plays out. And on top of that, like the reasoning is, when I reached out to Kenro, I got some details, but the short version is Montegrappa got a new individual investor with deep pockets and they are able to like direct some of this change somehow. Like, I don't know the full details. Like, I know who it is and they've been in like luxury pen business before. It's no one I'd ever heard of. No one, like I could even find really on the internet. Right, but you know them now and you've looked at them. I know them now. You know, the back story. You know, it's, it's, I love my friends at Kenro. Yeah. They're, they're a sponsor of the show and also good friends and they do good work. It surprises me though, that sometimes there are brands that like big brands that use any kind of distributor. I feel the same for like Sailor and stuff. Like why, it just seems weird to me in 2025 to just not sell yourself, like do it on your own. I don't know. I agree. I agree. And like, we'll have to find the episode. Like I've had Bryce on from Luxury Brands. They're a big distributor in the U S you know, we've done interviews with different distributors. I've had carry on when Carrie Yeager fountain pen day and now true fade pens was formerly at Kenro. Like we've talked about distributorships. It's always been like you, like you think about it, like on the base level, it's like, Oh, this is real normal. They're helping them get their product out. But then you, then you, when you think about like the next layer is like, well, why does that company need that anyway? So there's lots of pros and cons and it's interesting discussion. So anyway, one of the things apparently Montegrappa is going to be doing that I did get a tidbit from is they're going to be looking into the boutiques, um, which range in our industry from like the small Lamy boutiques, right? We've seen those, some of the big cities in the U S up to like the larger scale, you know, uh, Montblanc boutiques that, you know, I just talked about my trip to Vegas. I have a feeling Montegrappa feels they're in the latter category, uh, as opposed to the former, uh, they're, they feel, I think Montegrappa feels they should be more in the Montblanc range as opposed to the Lamy range.
We'll see if they can deliver that. I mean, no one's, I'm, those are words I'm making up. Like no one's telling me that, but, um, that's kind of the gut feeling, uh, I get out of this. So I doubt it changes anything from a consumer perspective, right? Montegrappa still has pens to sell. They're going to make sure retailers have their pens. Right. And then pricing changes.
They have traditionally been like pretty, you know, forward on changing prices. Yeah. I, so one note I didn't put in here, but I did put on, um, in refill the pen, I think members newsletter that I write every week, um, almost in relation to this topic. Um, Edison Pen put out a post where the, um, their gold Yavo nibs are essentially doubling in price. Like they've tried to try to hold that down for years. Like they, they were basically didn't move with every price change that was required and just kind of absorbed and absorbed and absorbed. And now they've absorbed enough to where they're just basically going to have to double it. Um, so yeah, I think a lot of companies are just going to continue to, to have some pricing pressure going forward. And I, I do actually think that's a real issue in our hobby right now. Yeah. I mean, I wondered if like, if you're going, if you're no longer using a distributor, you may actually be able to bring the cost down, but they probably wouldn't do that. And they would just take the profit. Yeah. Right. Because there's no longer, there is no longer a cut needed in the middle. Right. Yeah. Maybe. But then you're going to, if you're telling me you're going to invest in brick and mortar retail. You need that cut. As your, as your alternate. I mean, realistically, I mean, businesses are going to business. They're not going to bring the price down. Are they? They're just going to take the margin. And that could be part of the reason they're doing this. Right. It's like, we should have that margin and then we can control our own destiny. But yeah, it's, it's fascinating. Fascinating. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you mentioned, you know, the, the retailers are going to raise the prices, not lower them. I do want to give a shout out to Edison that they're very transparent about this. And in the past, when things have changed and they've been able to get them cheaper, they've actually lowered the prices of some of their pens, right? They do it right. And, you know, that's, that's a rare thing. And that's why, you know, they have, they have so much respect as a brand and as a company. They're like super transparent. And, you know, when we need to raise the prices, here's why. And if we have an opportunity to lower the prices, we're going to do it. And they'll be put very public with it. So pretty neat. That is a flexibility you get as a small business, right? You can make decisions. Exactly. Exactly. No, probably no Edison boutiques coming to the Grand Venetian shops in Las Vegas, I'm guessing. Well, if you see them triple the prices, maybe they will. Okay. Okay. We'll look out for that. I'll, I'll, I'll text Brian when we're done and, and see. You should say Myke said boutique is coming. Why not triple the prices and get a store in Vegas? You could be going to a Pelican hub in 2025 in Las Vegas. Allegedly. I don't know if there's a Pelican hub in Las Vegas, but they're all over the world. We got the, the notice came out kind of this week. So Pelican's purse, Josh, Joshua is always, you know, has all the, the full details on Pelican's news, news and updates. So it looks like the hubs are going to be happening. People were kind of curious because the, I think in the past, the announcement has come out in May for September hubs.

Discussion shifts to Pelikan ownership changes and community events.

And this year, the hubs are in October, late October, October 24th. So the announcement just came now. So people have just been curious. It's like, Hey, is this going to happen? You know, Pelican changed ownership a couple of years ago. And it's like, Oh, is this going to continue to happen?
And it looks like it is. So there's going to be some updates coming into that. I know that's a big deal for a lot of communities for stationery lovers to kind of get together that may not have pin shows or like, you know, maybe they had a pin show in February and now they can get together in October and everyone can kind of meet and greet and share pins and have food and drinks and just hang out. And it's a, it's a great thing that Pelican has done over the years. So we'll, we'll see how this goes. And if it continues on, I hope it does. They're usually pretty generous with like some door prizes and some giveaways. These, you know, it's ranged in the past when, um, things were, you know, a lot more stable and they were more flush with cash. They would send out literal bottles of ink to almost everyone who was attending hubs. And now, you know, it's, it's down a little bit in, in how much they can send out, but the size of the hubs has also grown, um, like in volume. So it's still pretty neat that they have this buy-in from around the world to use this date, get together and, um, you know, celebrate fountain pens, uh, specifically Pelican. But it's not, uh, it's not limited to that by any stretch of the imagination. So check that out. That's some, uh, some cool news to come out because I know people have been wondering who, uh, attend every year. Very nice. Next up, this link just came across my Instagram feed. Um, Kaweco has an in-store product at their Nuremberg store where they worked with an engraver. Um, gosh, what's his name? I already forgot it. Uh, Alvaro de la Cruz engraver.ad and where Alvaro has been engraving various items for years, took 10 of the bronze sports. So Kaweco's pocket metal pen, right? They do a lot of different materials in there. I have a stainless one. I'd say the brass is the most popular one. And, um, so, uh, Alvaro de la Cruz, um, did some engraving on these pens. They're doing 10 of them. When I first saw this today, uh, I didn't read it clearly. And my initial, uh, what I thought I was reading is that Kaweco were teaming up with tennis player Carlos Alcaraz to do some kind of celebratory pen. That's what I originally thought this said. Um, but it didn't, it's not even nearly that. Uh, but that's where I was today. I would be into that actually. Like I'd be, I'd be cool with that too. They probably make more than 10, I'm assuming. That's what, that's when I questioned it. Uh, yes. I was like, that seems odd. Why would you do it that way? Uh, yeah. So this, I can kind of like somewhat put this in with like the price increase question. We're talking about Montegrappa. Like this is the kind of thing I do like to see that, like, I'm sure this is very expensive, right? Because it's handmade. But like, this is the kind of thing that I do find interesting, even though it's probably going to be like super costly. Like they're not even listing the price here. Who knows how much this is? Uh, I imagine it's high hundreds of dollars. Um, but you know, we'll see. But regardless, like this is what interests me these days is seeing pen platforms have their standard products and then do something a little bit extra with it. And I don't necessarily mean like a limited edition. I look at someone like Stanford pen studio who is doing a lot of hand painted work on fountain pens, which is something I enjoy. It's like a fountain pen plus type of experience, right? To where you can have, you know, like I can have all the sailors in the world I want, but maybe I want a painted sailor with maquiez on it, you know, something like that. And like, is, you know, those are the type of things I'm looking at. It's like, if I'm going to spend up, I want like a really unique experience. Um, you know, if I'm going to spend that much money, when you see like the basic pen prices going up into like two and $300 from what we could get before for like $150, you know, I still might spend $300 on a pen, but not as frequently. And if I do, I want it to be even more special. So then I'm looking at something like this Kaweco stuff. And I've actually become like a little bit more patient these days on like what pens I buy, right? They really have to strike a certain chord, um, you know, and, and price does, does play into that, um, you know, a pretty sizable amount, you know? So, um, anyway, I wanted to put, put this out there because I think this is really neat to see a brand working with an artist, even if it's in like a super small scale, most of us will never see this pen outside of Instagram in our entire lives, but I'm glad it's done and I'm glad it exists. Right. So like, that's why I just kind of wanted to shine a light on it. And it looks on top of it. It looks amazing. Right. It looks really, really spectacular. It looks like some real cross, crossmanship has gone on here. Yep. Yep. And if you actually, like, I've never heard of, uh, engraver AD before, but now if you go follow him on Instagram, it's like, oh, he's been engraving these Kawecos since last year. It's like, it's like, you know, it's literally right out there. Um, all this cool work he's doing. And so now I follow them and see what they come up with next. It'd be pretty cool. So it is him that's doing them. Cause I wondered if like, maybe he just came up with a design or something, but no, he's actually doing that. No, I think these are hand. I think these are handmade. Yeah. And then. And engraved. Kaweco is selling them. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Just like a, for the, a local, local shop.
I mean, I'm, I'm assuming that's their home shop. Uh, you know, I don't think I have many like Kaweco shops. Or it's like the flagship store or something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Makes sense. All right. This episode is brought to you by our friends over at Enigma Stationery. Enigma Stationery offer unique items made from in-house designs alongside top brands with hard to find imports. If you love fun and brightly colored illustrations that delight your inner child, you're going to love Enigma's newest brand partner, Sakura Dragon. That's all one word. Cindy is the artist behind Sakura Dragon. Wait for our cute, adorable, wonderful designs available across washi tape, stickers, stamps, and more. In addition to being a personal favorite of Michelle's at Enigma, Sakura Dragon's items are beloved by journal enthusiasts, art makers, and anyone who likes to go on adventures to imaginary places. I mean, that should be everybody. Uh, check out all of the new Sakura Dragon stock as well as everything that Enigma has to offer by going to enigmastationery.com slash penaddict. And if you want a free gift and free U.S. shipping on orders of $50 or more, use the code penaddict25 at checkout. That is enigmastationery.com slash penaddict and the code penaddict25. Our thanks to Enigma Stationery for their support of this show. You know, so like what I may not be spending on pens these days, I'm definitely spending on like, you know, stickers, washi, ephemera type of stuff. And, you know, I just got an Enigma order a couple weeks ago. I love this stuff. I was just, uh, just organizing it all yesterday. And this is the kind of stuff that just makes me smile. It's like, I got a lot of pens. Like, I'm good on pens for a while until something like really, really crazy jumps out at me. But getting, you know, just the fun stuff that other companies are curating, like an Enigma Stationery and putting those, you know, out there and available for someone like myself. It's like, I'm all over this stuff. So, it looks really good. I really like this art style. It's like, it's like a fun, I wouldn't know like character wise how to describe it. But it, all of the art looks water colored.
Yes. It's really nice. That's what I was going to say. And I was looking at like, they, like, I love postcards, right? So, they have these, like, I'm looking at this Curator Dragon Mochi Shop postcard. Like, these look spectacular. Like, you know, I will buy like a handful of these postcards for sure. Just because I like that type of stuff. So, yeah. It's great. It's great.

Introduction of the "Shout out of the week" segment.

Thank you, Enigma Stationery. All right, Myke. We got our shout out of the week. Shout out of the week.
DWR D-Net. My friend Derek over on YouTube.
Long time Stationery community member has ramped up this YouTube channel, Myke. And he is doing a bunch of interviews. What are we up to like 15 or so interviews with a lot of different makers and creators in our space. You know, people that our listeners might know. You know, Corolla Salas, aka From Corolla. Gentleman Stationery Joe. Anna Reinhart on there. So, go check that out. And recently, I was giving Derek a hard time about the Plotter Mini 5 video that he did. So, he just did a video called the Plotter Mini 5 as a wallet. And I wrote in our show notes, Myke. And I wonder if you could come up with an answer to this question or this comment that I'm going to have if you have something similar to what I have here. I call the Plotter Mini 5 my favorite unused product that I own. I mean, I have one of these too. And I had a great time customizing it and putting it all together exactly how I want it. And then it's like just sat and I look at it.
Just because it's a beautiful product. It's just not a format that I want particularly. Yeah. But what it did make me realize is I actually would really dig a full-size one.
Yeah. So, I love my full-size Plotter. Like my... Well, mine's not full-size. A5, I consider it full-size. That's what I mean, full-size. Yeah. I have a narrow Plotter that I use just all day, every day. Like that product I'm great in, which is what made me buy the Mini 5.
And the Mini 5 as a concept just, you know, lights up everything in my brain for something awesome that I want. But I've never just really dialed it in for how I could use it. And I do think I would get more use out of it if I implemented it as a wallet.
Because... It's a good idea. And that was kind of the idea when I bought it. And then I just... I've set it up, taken it down, set it up, taken it down. I've considered it selling it like a couple of times, you know. And then I was like, every time I think about that, it goes in the sales stack. I was like, I just love this too much. I don't... Even if I'm not using it, I just need to keep this. Like it's just one of those products I can't get rid of, but I also don't use. So I might try it again as a wallet while I was watching the video. I had mine out. I was kind of looking at how Derek was setting his up and looking at what I could do, you know, to make it useful for me. So we'll try. Like I've always been a front pocket wallet holder, wallet carrier for, you know, probably 30 years or more. And this would fit that. It's honestly not that much bigger than my wallet right now. I carry a very small wallet.
And I don't know. I could probably make it work. So I might look at it again because it's especially getting ready to travel a little bit more.

Focus moves to a new product, the "Ink Thrower" nib holder.

Like the pen show stuff, pen stuff. This is a great product to carry around. So one product. I don't know if you could travel with it, Myke. But what about a nib holder called the Ink Thrower, which I just launched? You could travel with it. I don't think that nib holders are your typical travel stationery. But, you know, it comes in all sizes. Yeah. TSA compliant. Who knows? Right? You know, your mileage may vary. But I did a collaboration with Turnt Penco and River City Penco. Turnt Penco, Tim helped me make a material that met the idea that I wanted to make with this nib holder. And then River City Penco makes great nib holders that I've used several of his over the years. So Rich over at River City, I got them and myself all together to make a product I wanted to use. Right? So it's always fun to make a thing you want to use yourself. Right? Like, that's how I make, that's how a lot of things come to be. A lot of, like, collaborative products that I work on. And this, it came out spectacularly. Like, I got, this is one of those times, and I do this a lot. And I know this is my product, so I should, like, really, really like it. But I opened up the first one and pulled it out of the little sleeve it shipped in. And I just, I went, holy, you know, I said words we can't say on here.
Like, that was my instant reaction. But, like, I know, like, I made it. So I should be, I hope I'm happy with it. But it was, yeah, it was, like, a really reactive visceral reaction for me. So I'm looking forward to this. Basically, the concept, like, with nib holders, if you're not familiar with them, it's just a way to put down a lot of ink on a page, right? I don't necessarily write with them. But they're good to dip into ink bottles, do ink samples with, do a little bit of drawing or coloring. They're very easy to clean to where you can just, you know, write with a bunch of different inks in one sitting. You know, you could just write and clean it, dip it in water, clean it off, dip it in the next bottle, and just keep going. So it's become a very popular idea these days. Again, this goes into that broader concept, again, at the beginning. Like, individual pens are getting very expensive. What are other things we can use to play with the things we already have? Like, a shelf full of ink that I already have, right? Like, this is an expensive product, right? But it's also different than, you know, maybe a lot of pens that I have. And I can do things differently with it, right? I think $100 in this hobby is not quote-unquote expensive anymore. Yeah, well, if you don't know what it is and you aren't familiar with this type of thing, you could see that. But yeah, for like what this is, like, I'm good with this. And also, I guess you do have to, you know, your BYON on this one, you know? Yeah, BYON. Yes, yeah. Like, it doesn't even chip with a nib because, like, the nib that I use, the nib alone was $50, right? Right, okay. But you can use less expensive nibs, right? You can use, like, a $5 nib in there. But, you know, it's just one of those things. I've enjoyed seeing people experiment with ink. I've gotten roped into that. And I wanted to make a product of my own to use for myself. So, yeah, it's really, really good. So, I'm enjoying it. They're available for sale.
I only made 50 of them. Like, this isn't a push to, like, sell a bunch. I've sold, you know, more than half of them. So, like, they're not going to be around forever. And, you know, maybe there's a round two. Maybe there's not. Who knows? So, it's just, like, a small little personal project that I wanted to do. And it came out great. So, for you, this product is, like, it's for testing. Like, you're not trying to do calligraphy or whatever. I know. I actually don't like writing words, letters with the nib. I could probably practice and do a little bit better. But I'll do ink swatches with it. Sure. And then I will, if I'm going to do some writing, like, if I'm then going to write, like, say I use Orochizuku Toro, which is a recent ink review I've done. I'll do all the swatching and different coloring and, you know, put a lot of ink down on the page. And then I'll grab, like, a black pen, like, a very fine nib black pen, like, or, like, a fineliner and write, you know, Pilot Orochizuku Toro under that. And so, like, that part's consistent. So, I don't know. That's just one of my little particular nuances. But, yeah, you can totally write with these. When thinking about the shape of the barrels, you have three shapes, is there one of them, or is there any consideration into making the product work the way you want it to? Or is it just you just like the shape? Yeah, you just like the shape. There's not too much difference in there. The only difference is the, like, the concave grip section. Like, there's one called the Slim, which is actually what I thought I was going to do all of them in Slim. But then as I talked to Rich, I learned, like, what's the most popular one. So, the Slim is just a complete straight edge, just like a brush, right? It feels most brush-like when you hold it. But then the two contour shapes, there's a standard one, and then there's a mini one, which is, you know, about an inch shorter. They both have, like, a dedicated grip section in there, which a lot of people like. And that's actually the one I'm going to use for myself. So, I stole one of these for myself. I had to make sure to do that before they all sold out. I mean, it would kind of suck if you made a product for yourself and then ended up not getting one. Well, I also like selling them to people, too. Like, other people have them. There's a lot of things I don't have that I've sold. But this one I had to have. Like, I made this one because I wanted it. It's specific. Yeah, it's like, you know, if you did, you know, your fourth version of a collaboration pen or whatever, then maybe, you know, it's like, I like the design. I don't need to own one or whatever. I prefer to sell it. But this is more specific as like a product that you wanted that didn't exist in the way that you wanted it to. Yep. They're really cool looking. Do you have, I know you've kind of written in the post, but do you have like a specific nib recommendation for somebody that wants to do it like you do, right? So, to buy the ink thrower, to throw ink, what nib would you recommend that they check out? I prefer the Kakamori nibs. I'd say that's also the most popular, right? I'm not, that's not something like unique. The only thing with the Kakamori nibs, like when they came out, they've been hugely popular. We've probably talked about them several times on the show. They're $50 a pop, right? That was, it was a real interesting product when it came out because we went from our basic calligraphy nibs or comic nibs, like the Zebra G nib is a very popular shaped dip pen nib. And those are like $3 a nib, $5 a nib. They don't last necessarily, they last forever. They're made to be more disposable. But it was a very inexpensive way to get into dip pen inks. And then Kakamori came out with this bullet, stainless steel bullet nib. Even though it was so expensive, it just kind of really hit the mark for what people were looking for. It's basically a glass dip pen idea, right? Made in a metal nib, right? This one's stainless steel. They have a brass one. You know, they have things like that. So this is, I don't want to say this has become the default or the de facto because of the price. It's like, again, it's pretty expensive for that, but it is so enjoyable. And it works how I want to want this type of pen to work. I can get a lot of ink when I dip it. And I'm not writing calligraphy with it, right? So I don't need like a flexi nib to be dipping these pens. So yeah, it's just great. So that's the other option is the Colorverse Shuttle. Those just came along beginning of this year, late last year, beginning of this year. Same concept as Kakamori. I prefer the Kakamori in feel over the Colorverse. The Colorverses are a little bit sharper, right? But it's all kind of a feel thing. You have to test. This would be a good thing to test out, like the different types of nibs. But that's the good thing is they're interchangeable, right? You're not stuck with one. So you can pop in whatever you want. And I guess one of the benefits to using a pen like this, like a nib holder, that's what I'm looking for. Thank you, Myke, for doing that for yourself. Good work. Is they're very easy to clean and very easy to change. So if you're trying to test out a bunch of inks, you can do it easily without having to like clean out a feed. Right. Yeah, it just gives you, it just, we like, I guess I'll speak for myself. I don't want to say we, but I look for a variety, right? This is why I like a lot of different colors of inks. And, you know, even if I have like three inks in front of me and I'm trying to decide, maybe I want to put one of these in a fountain pen, I can grab this dip nib, test them all in the span of like five minutes and, you know, kind of, you know, see what I'm feeling and pick them out like that. So it's just a fun, easy way to test inks. And you can do this, you know, a lot cheaper than, you know, getting something like the ink thrower and a Kakamori nib. Like you don't need $150 setup to test inks. Like you can get just your, your basic Tachikawa like holder and nib for like 10 bucks. Or, you know, platinum and sailor have started doing, you know, less expensive, like dip nib type of thing. So this has just been a fun thing to see in the community over the last several years, the exploration and explosion of fountain pen inks and characteristics and testing and seeing what all of these inks do and how different people use them. So it's, it's really, really been fun to see. All right. You good? You good with that? You, you quizzed me a lot there, man. Oh, you know, it's not what you're up to. Yeah, it was good. Well, what I was up to aside from dropping the ink thrower this week is checking out the international stationery of the year awards. Okay. So I followed this Instagram account called a Bungu store. No, and I don't, not Bungu box, Bungu store.
And it's a pretty big account. Like how many followers they have? They have a lot of followers. Like I'm not totally familiar with their game, but they, they're literally a store, right? 760,000 followers on Instagram. I think they're a store that appears to sell Japanese goods outside of Japan. Yeah. So they sell a lot and like, um, you know, they pop up in my feed every now and then. And recently they popped up with the ISOT awards, which is the stationery of the year awards. So I wanted to go over, this is different than the, um, like the different, uh, voting. Um, I forget the name of it. The, the vote we do like at the end of the year where the stationery fans will vote on their favorite products of the year. And they'll do like a top 40 or top 50 pins. This is a little bit different. This is more like that red dot category where there's a, there's a group. Uh, I was trying to actually find more on like, who is the ISOT panel who is voting in this and things like that. And I couldn't really find that, but, um, they did pick out some award winners this year. And I always like seeing this because it's usually what we're going to see next, uh, like in the rest of the world. Right. Because most cool stationery, and this is definitely a stationery award, not pin awards, right? There's what, and we're going to talk about like 10 products. There's one pin in here. Yeah. Uh, to talk about. So they had one, two, three, four, four categories, and then a grand award winner. So I'm just going to go through these real quick. Uh, and maybe have a couple of comments. Like the very, the very first, uh, one is the functionality award, the first award. So there were two products that won the functionality award. Number one is the max Vimo 11 flarm a flarm stapler. That's literally how it's spelled and how they said it in the video. I looked at it very, very much. I don't know what that word means. It's not the flame stapler. Uh, it's not the farm stapler. It's the flarm.

Examination of a specific product, the easy effort stapler.

Yeah. To lave. Um, so I was trying to understand what it offers that would make it win the award. And I'm still not there. I've been looking at this. So it's supposedly an easy effort stapler where the, the, the clinch, the, the closure is flat. So it's, um, you know, it's just supposed to be maybe like a low profile staple. That's easily easy to put in the paper. So I don't know. I'm not going to spend too much time on that. This might just be one of these things that like, you have to use it. Like I might be the case for a lot of these. You have to, you have to exactly. Yeah. There'll be a few that are this category. Uh, next up the zebra, zebra blend you, which is not a zebra blend variant that I've seen before. And it took me a minute to figure out what this is. Like I could tell it's different looking than the classic blend. And it has a metal nose cone for starters, which this is a quiet pen. So I'm, they must have it like really like decked out up on the front end to, to keep that quiet. But the real, I guess, selling point is the gigantic clip that it has on there, even bigger than the zebra Sarasa clip clip. This thing is chunky and huge, and I don't like it whatsoever, but I guess it clips on things that are big. Um, I, I just can't imagine this is a better pen than like the stock blend, uh, unless you like really need this clip for some reason. Um, I don't even think it's particularly good looking. Like it's fine. Uh, it's, it's just very extreme. Like it literally looks like if they put like the flarm a stapler on top of the zebra blend, this looks like what we have going on here. It's like, this is like a combo meal situation. I don't really know what's going on. Don't like, uh, the design award, uh, as this is different from the functionality award, the zebra blend is not winning design awards. If I'm a voter here, this one's interesting, Myke, the sun star Terra Suno clip. What this is, is basically a binder clip that has an extra stage in it. Right? So you, if you've closed your binder clip on your pages, you can then flip up the top part, a piece on the top of the binder clip that now lights up those pages. So it's got like a, basically like a book light inside the clip. I'm kind of in on this. Like, I don't need this, but like, sure design innovation, this could be useful in situations. Like I, this, I understand. I can, you know, grasp this in my head, why this product exists. Like I'm down with this. Right? I think it's kind of, kind of cool. Like this is neat and unique and just kind of fun. Surprise entry, Myke. Can I just stop on that one for a second? Yes. Before we get to my, my favorite product.
This, the, the light on the clip feels like a hat on a hat to me. Yes.
You're not wrong. Like, I'm not saying this is like, from the imagery, our light is weak. It's very weak. I was a little bit concerned. It looks like you can illuminate the top line. It's like, so how helpful is this? It went like three lines down the page. Yeah. Not great. That's not counting like the area, like where there's nothing written. Like, I agree. It's not as good as like a book light, but like, I'm with you, Sunstar.
Next. Are you ready for the next product, Myke?
I was surprised to see this here. The IA notebook. I'm not surprised. I am because all these other products are retail products. Is the IA notebook showing up at the Bungu store or whatever store you're going to shop at in Japan? Like, is it on the shelf there? I, I don't think that it is. That's what made me like in relation to every other product on here. It looks like a standard retail product. Yeah. This, this just showed up as like, Oh, design award. IA notebook. Like I, I get it. Like I'm in on the design award. Sure. But it, it, it, it felt like an outlier as far as like what the role is of the, of these products. I think IA has got some good lobbyists. I mean, they're a Japanese company, right? I mean, they're, they like the software company is in Japan, right? So they know people. Um, because like the next, the next product design award product is the, uh, utility knife, right? Like SDI, Rapia utility knife. Cool. You know, little exacto blade knife looking thing. So there you go. Um, sustainability award. Like I certainly can't speak to like, you know, what the features of all of these products are. It's the Yamato Kami clip. Um, which is just like, uh, it was just like some different like types of clips. Like I, like, I don't know what necessarily makes them sustainable. I assume it's how they're made. It seems fine. Yeah. Yeah. How they're made. Like the Carl remake ring note set. It looks like a little notebook with, you know, like the clip is a sticky note for what I could find it to be. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So like the Carl ring note set is like one of those notebooks with the more soft type binding, right? We've seen some of these types of different bindings in these notebooks. And then the, the Doya Choco pen, I'm assuming is just made from the, based on the imagery in the Instagram video that they had, uh, it's just made from like, uh, you know, the chocolate harvesting, like remnants from the beans and things like that, you know, just like a recycled, uh, fibrous, uh, barrel to, to go around the pen or the pencil. So trend award, um, I, I can see all of these like winning the trend award, the Carl mini craft punch set. So we like our little stamps and ephemera to put in our journal. These are basically shapes that punch out of your pages, right? I wouldn't necessarily want a bunch of holes punched, you know, in the shape of like, you know, like a sumo guy on my page, but you know, why not Myke? Why not? Um, this is, it's heckin expensive for like six, like mini stamps. Um, it's, I'm assuming this is in us dollars in this. Yeah, it is a $54 for six, six like punch stamps, which are like, what are these half inch stamps? Probably like pretty small, pretty small. Um, but yeah, cool. Cool. I like, I at least understand that the Canon selfie QX 20, um, you know, if you're, if you're a journal or sometimes you like to print your own pictures and stickers and things like that. I'm looking, it looks like that type of device, uh, like a digital device to add, um, different ephemera into your journal. And then the last trend award was the Hagoromo Oshigato Techo, which both Myke and I were like, we need to find a link to this because it looks like your standard, almost like monthly calendar. Um, you know, a five size ish, but I couldn't quite figure out what the features were that set this apart other than maybe a layout or format change that would put it in the trend award. Um, you know, we'll, we'll dig around a little bit more. I, this one, I'm actually probably the most curious about just to, just to see what the format is.

Announcement of grand award winners and honorable mentions.

All of this leads up, Myke, those were, those are the winners who did not win the grand award. They're like the honorable mentions. Yeah. Those are the honorable mentions. Cause they're all three of them in each category one. Yeah. Um, so what did win was the Kikuyo Saxa scissors, right? So scissors won the grand award. So take that other stationery scissors, Myke, we did a whole episode on scissors. Scissors are important. Scissors are fun. They're functional. Did I tell you, I got my big scissors by the way. No, you didn't heavy scissors. Ooh, nice. They're big and heavy. They're nice. They do the job, but boy, oh boy, I wouldn't call them comfortable to use, but they're beautiful. Yeah. You need a leverage type situation to get through some of the paper you're dealing with. So that's why you need that. They're doing what they need to do, but, uh, they are, they are heavy. They're, they're a weapon. Yeah. Yeah. Probably not TSA approved. Absolutely not. No.
So what threw me off, like, I'm glad the scissors one cool, great functional is that I didn't think this was a new idea. They're ambidextrous scissors. I thought I already had a pair of these from Kikuyo from like years ago. Um, you know, where they work equally as well, right-handed or left-handed, because that is a thing with scissors, right? You know, there can be right-hand leaning scissors where the shape of the handles, um, is designed to fit a right-handed user in the blade, uh, angle on one side is, it works better for right-handed users. So this is, these are made to use ambidextrously, uh, which is great. Like all scissors should be made like this. I, I, I'm curious. I'm going to have to go find my scissors now to see. Um, I, cause I thought I maybe had these, but if not, uh, these look fantastic. Like I love the titanium coated blades. I have one of their, the Kikuyo pairs. That's not, uh, the sax. I forget the other model, which model do I have?
Um, I don't know. It's a different model, but anyway, that has the titanium coated blade, which actually does make a difference. You pay a premium for that, right? The standard ones, like looking at the Kikuyo sax of the standard words are 11. You get the, you get the, the coated, you know, fancy blade ones. They're 14. And then they have like some really like higher end ones that are $26, which I don't know what the difference is there. They're made of steel.
The stainless steel blades rather than titanium. Yeah, maybe. So anyway, I, I, I love scissors. Okay. Yeah. I thought you said, I thought you said maybe that's why I was like, so they're stainless. So they're stainless steel blades. Uh, and it, they are, uh, food safe and they have a water repellent coating on them. So not titanium. Gotcha. So kitchen scissors, there you go. Like you said, um, cool. Like I'm, I'm totally down with scissors winning the grand award. Um, this is always fun for me to look at. Like, this is my realm. This is where I like to, to play around in as far as, um, you know, products go. I think there's always interesting stuff. Do I need any of these things? Like, no, I definitely don't need the zebra blend. You, um, I do have the, I notebook. I'll review that eventually. Uh, I just haven't dug into it yet. Uh, I was, I was just going through my review queue and I was like, Oh yeah, I need to, I need to get into this, but, uh, just not ready yet. I got, it's a commitment, right? Like no big notebook reviews are a commitment to me. I don't just jump into them and, you know, like use a few pages to test and then throw them to the side. Like I need a plan. Um, so that'll be coming, you know, it'll happen sometime soon, maybe this fall or whatever. Once I start carrying it and using it a little bit more, but anyway, good stuff. I always like to see what, uh, these, uh, these awards are up to. And now I look forward to, uh, later in the year, we'll get the crowdsourced, um, cloud crowdsourced pen list, which is always my favorite. Right. Yeah. It's like the O N 33. I am totally butchering like the name, but like, I, I just, uh, again, not prepared, not prepared to mention that on this show, but we try to cover it every year because it's something I enjoy because there's, there's always surprises in it, right? This is how I discovered the zebra blend existed like four or five years ago. It won this award or the vote. I should say award. It won that vote. And I had never heard of that pen. And like, I love that. Like that excites me. I was like, Oh yeah, no, I have something, something to look forward to. So pretty cool.
All right. I got a bunch of links in the show notes and many of those products as I could find. And there was one where I said that it was a sticky note. It wasn't, it was a clip, but when I Google it, there was a product called the, uh, Yamamoto Kami clip, which is a sticky note set, even though it's cool, but it's, it's, it's, it's, Oh yeah, sure. Sure, sure. So, you know, these things are confusing to find and most of these things I can't find, but I've got links to them and you'll find those links in your podcast app of choice or over on the website, you go to really. Dot. Fem slash pen addict slash six, seven, three. Uh, if you want to find Brad online, it's really easy to do this. You go to pen addict.com, go to spoke design.com, go to twitch.tv slash pen addict, and you can find him as pen addict on social media. Uh, you can find me over here at relay. Uh, you can find my writing over at the enthusiast.net and you can find my products at cortex brand.com. Uh, I would like to thank Enigma stationery for their support of this week's show. And most of all, I would like to thank you, Brad, for joining me as you do every week. Uh, and actually doubly, most of all, thank you to our listeners for listening. We'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.