The Pen Addict 394/transcript
| The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript | |
|---|---|
| Episode: | 394 |
| Title: | Who Better Than Us? |
| Release Date: | January 22nd, 2020 |
| Hosts: | Brad Dowdy |
| Guests: | No guests this episode |
| Additional Information | |
| Official page: | Episode 394 |
| Audio File: | Audio Episode 394 |
| Podcast page: | The Pen Addict 394 |
| Length: | 6161 min <br />1.017 h <br /> minutes |
| Previous Transcript | Next Transcript |
Retro 51 Shutdown News
Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 394. Today's show is brought to you by Harry's. My name is Myke Hurley. I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad. Hello, Myke. I'm not rushing. I'm not wasting any time today because I expect the majority of the audience want to know what we think about Retro 51 shutting down, because that is the news that came in over the wire last night from the Retro 51 blog. I want to read a quote from the open letter from the Retro 51 team. With the new year and the new decade, it's also time for something new for a handful of the Retro 51 team, retirement. Retro 51, as you know, will be making some changes and going on a sabbatical. What does this mean? We are still trying to figure it out, but there is a potential for new ownership. A Retro could come back of a new business plan that we feel will thrive in the ever-changing retail market. It is also possible that the Retro 51 brand will be retired. So that's where we are right now. What is it? By the end of March, there will be no more products made. Is that correct?
Brad Dowdy: Right. I mean, they have further plans through July, June, July. Right. Pull up the site, but just that paragraph alone is a lot to take in.
Myke Hurley: There's a lot of things happening there.
Brad Dowdy: So we don't get this type of news in our little realm of the world. Companies come and go, stores open, stores close, but to have just such a core company in the things that we use and believe in and enjoy and have fun with, to drop kind of this out of nowhere.
Myke Hurley: I don't remember. Because from the outside, they seem very successful, right? Like every pen that they sell that has a limited edition will sell out, right? And you would assume that if you're running your business correctly, that would mean that you would turn on a profit, right? Because you would be aware of that. But what it seems is just that, and it's kind of an interesting thing, a bunch of the team, they've finished. Like they're done. They want to retire. Which is a perfectly valid thing to want to do. But then there are a bunch of questions.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, I mean, I have a little bit of an insight of the structure of Retro 51. The owner is an older gentleman. His name's George. He's very quiet. He's very, like, behind the scenes. He came from successful businesses before Retro 51 to before founding Retro 51. And he's just, like, the private owner of the company. And over all the years that we've worked with them, and I've been a fan of the brand. I've met him in person once. He's written me a couple of letters. And we've had a phone call for him. He's always just been, like, super thankful for, you know, what we say about the brand. Like, he just wanted to reach out and say thanks. But I never worked with him, right? Like, I worked with a lot of people at a lot of different companies. But as the owner of Retro 51, I never worked with him. Some of the people I did work with had been there for 20-plus years. And they'd been, you know, retiring. And George is, you know, he's not, like, crazy old. But, you know, he's an older gentleman. I'm sure he's ready to wind it down. He's had a successful business life, right? Yeah. He's had a very good life. You would assume. Yep. And I know some of the employees that I work with had been there for 20-plus years. And they were retiring, too, you know. And I guess it was just one of those things that was time. So I first kind of got wind of it last week when I was talking with them about some upcoming projects. Because I always do stuff with them. And we're going to talk more about that in a minute. And, you know, my normal contact there was like, hey, this all sounds awesome. We got some things coming out next week. So let's get back together next week. Just hang tight about a week. And we'll talk again then. Let's set up a call. I'm like, okay, that's cool. It's like I didn't think too much about it. Because when I've shipped designs to them before, they've held me off. Because we've come close to like similar designs in the past, right?
Myke Hurley: So they have a pipeline, right? Yeah. And they get stuff out. And then, yeah.
Brad Dowdy: Right. So their pipeline is pretty long. Like they know like the rest of their time, you know, the next six months or so, they know what's coming out. So they'll say, oh, we have this announcement coming. And just hang tight on that design or whatever. And so I didn't think too much about it. And then I went to the Philadelphia Pen Show. And some of my friends in the business started asking me what I knew. And I'm like, huh, that email just became a lot more interesting. And so I talked to a couple people this weekend. They were under the same impression that I was that something was coming. And that's probably what it was, that they were just going to close down. But the weird thing was, was it just going to shut down? Like, you know, go off into retirement and, you know, sunset the company. Were they going to sell the company? Or what was actually going to happen? And this letter didn't really clear that up. The way I read this, and I would wager you read it the same way, is I just think they're done. Like, I think they're just, like, going to finish out the rest of this year. Unload all their, you know, finish all their current projects. And then just hang a sign on the door and say, you know, thanks. Thanks for everything.
Myke Hurley: Like, the idea of saying that you're retiring and then saying Retro could come back of a new business plan that we feel will thrive. Like, that doesn't make any sense, right? Like, those two things don't seem to make sense. Like, the people that are retiring are surely not going to go away and retool and come back, right? Like, that just seems very unlikely. But the thing for me is, like, it just seems so interesting to just do this. Like, this is what you do. I mean, if you're proud of your thing and you don't want it to be ruined by somebody else, then, yeah, like, I get it. Like, close it down. But this is a brand which has value. And if you just want to retire, then maybe there's some benefit in trying to sell that or license that brand and the intellectual property to somebody who can carry it on so you make more money. But maybe if that's not what you want, like, if you don't care about the money but you care about your legacy, right, then maybe you don't want to sell it. The reason I'm saying this is because I'm desperately interested in seeing how much it will cost to buy this company.
Brad Dowdy: Totally. I would think we both are. Yeah. And that's what I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around. You know, like, I get exactly what you said. You know, if you built this company out, how long have they been around? It's got to be 20, between 20 and 30 years, I'm guessing. You know, and they're well-liked, well-respected.
Brad Dowdy: You know, there's value in selling the company, even if we don't know the business side of it. You know, could they be, you know, is there debt? Like, they talk about the ever-changing retail and retail market. You know, are they not making a profit anymore because of, you know, whatever goes on, you know, on the backside that none of us know about. But the value in just their design catalog has to be immense, right? I mean, and their licensing. And I would think, if nothing else, like, sell it off and then be done with it, right? Like, you don't have to sell it and be part of it for the next three years. You know, you could just sell it off and say, we're out. And I would think they would have suitors lined up at the door.
Myke Hurley: Oh, I mean, let's be real. Like, if they were thinking about selling this, or probably right now, I'm sure they're having to bat away people with sticks. Like, oh, Brad and Myke over here who want to buy Retro 51 would probably be at the back of the line. Yeah. But, like, it is something, like, I know it's just maybe a super weird thing to be talking about in public. But, like, I would 100% consider this if I could afford it, right? Or if we could afford it, because I have a little experience with making things now. You know, you have way more than me. Owning a brand like this, if, you know, if we could find a way to get the products made, like, I know I could sell them.
Brad Dowdy: I think that's the least of the worries. Yeah. Is actually getting it made. Yeah. Now, I mean, you know, they, like, I keep coming back to the ever-changing retail market with the new business plan statement in here. But it just tells me that, like, it's tight, right? Mm-hmm. So, there would be changes, but maybe they're just not willing to make those. Maybe those changes, they feel, like, wouldn't add value to the brand. Like, if you have to have a 50% price increase.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. Or it might be the case of, like, the company can't be run at the size that it's at. And they don't want to change that. But, like, a four-person outfit might be significantly different to a 15-person outfit as to what the company can afford. And, or, like, if your entire income wasn't based on this brand, right? Right. Like, imagine a world in which the Pen Addict podcaster owns the Retro 51, right? Like, we don't, not all of our income would be based on selling these pens because we both have many other businesses, right? And that, like, we could maybe make a much smaller profit, right? And it still makes sense for us. This is a super weird conversation to be having in public. But, like, it's just, like, something that's been batting around in my head. Like, if they want to sell this brand and they want a good suitor for it, there is no one better than me and Brad, right? Right, right, right. Brad, I could finally become the spokesperson I've always wanted to be.
Brad Dowdy: Oh, my God. That's right. You could finally become the spokesperson for Retro 51. Yeah, I mean, I would be hard-pressed to find any better suitors than us to carry on the brand. But the problem is, you know, it's at a different scale, I think, from if they were, the retirement being zero and, you know, the selling it to someone else who's going to carry on the brand being 100, like, we're down in, like, the 20 range, right? Like, there's, as far as, like, who would be able to operate a business this size.
Myke Hurley: We would only be able to take over something like this because they want people they can trust, not the highest bidder. Right. Because we would not be the highest bidder. Exactly. Exactly. But if the thinking is, like, oh, I want someone to give the keys to that will run the kingdom well, like, with respect, you know, we are those people.
Brad Dowdy: Right. But anyway, this is... It's worth finding out an answer to, at least for our perspective. Yeah, I would love to know.
Myke Hurley: If anybody out there at Retro 51 would like to contact me and Brad to talk about this, we'd be very, very welcome. But anyway, moving back from this, like, super weird hypothetical, I'm really just so sad about this, right? Like, you know, I don't know if there are many more people that love Retro 51 and their products more than I do. Like, I own more Retro 51 pens than I own pens, right? Like, over 50% of my pen collection is Retro 51s. Like, I absolutely adore the products of this company. And, you know, I even got a new one, like, yesterday. You know, the one that looks like the Great Gatsby that we spoke about a few weeks ago? Yeah, oh, so good. I have that one now, too, right? Like, I'm so sad that there won't be more pens from this company, especially because I never got to make one. And we were going to.
Shift to Pen Show Plans
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so let me dig into this next paragraph, and then we're going to elaborate on that. So this is the second important paragraph in their goodbye letter. It says, The plan for this year is to stay in business for the next six to nine months as we wind down. We will keep inventory of a select product group through March. Plus, we have plans for five to six new popular designs yet to come. At the same time, Retro will be working with dealers to produce their own exclusive designs. So 2020 will be filled with several unique and fun Retro designs. So, yeah, it sounds like you have everything in the pipeline is going to continue to come out, but there's probably no new projects in the works, which makes sense. So we've been talking about our pen addict events for this year since, I don't know, Myke and I decided on this probably as early as ever, probably like back in September.
Myke Hurley: So we were going to do this last year, but yeah. Oh, we had a scheduling conflict. My travel couldn't work out, so we didn't do it.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So what we wanted to do was, aside from the Atlanta pen show, go to the Dallas pen show, visit Retro 51 and make a Retro 51 for backers of the project. So we had that in the plans this year. That's actually why I had been talking with Retro 51 recently when all this came out. And now we're not. Like, I think it's as clear as that.
Brad Dowdy: This is the part where I don't know the words to say because I'm super confused as this just all got finalized yesterday. And now our plans for the Kickstarter, the Retro 51 event, and the Retro 51 design we were going to make for the Kickstarter, which wasn't finished, so we weren't in the queue.
Brad Dowdy: It's now off the table. So we're starting from zero, and this is where I'm a little bit lost in this whole thing. This is where yesterday's news really messed me up.
Myke Hurley: We are starting from scratch about 10 days to two weeks before we should have the Kickstarter campaign live to make sure that we can get the money in time for April. So we're at a bit of a loss right now about what we're going to do. And so one of the reasons that one of the many reasons that we wanted to do a Retro 51 was so the onus was not on NOC this year to produce a reward. And change it up. Yeah, and to do something new, but that was also a thing of like, okay, maybe it's time we start working with other people in the community and we start making other limited edition products, right? Right. The first of those was of course going to be a Retro 51 because of how much we love that company and how they have been so woven into the history of the show, right? That it just made perfect sense that the first company that we would work with outside of NOC would be Retro 51. But now we don't really... Because as well, it wasn't just that we were going to make the pen. We were also hoping to go to their factory and like shoot video of making it and like behind the scenes at Retro 51 and all that kind of stuff. So we can't do that now, which makes things very difficult. And much love to Dallas, right? But like that was the reason we were doing the Dallas Pen show. So that reason has changed now. And depending on what we now do for the campaign, it puts the second show up in the air again. Now we haven't... It's kind of funny. Me and Brad have not actually really spoken about this yet. We were deciding to have some of this conversation on the show today. Like we've had some very brief conversations.
Brad Dowdy: Because this really just all happened last night.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. And so we don't really know what to do. So of course we do in Atlanta, right? Like that's a lock, right? But we now need to decide what we're doing for either the second show or the physical reward and both. Yeah, both. Right? Because I would love to go to Dallas, right? Because I have friends in Dallas who I can spend time with. And it's like a great reason. Plus the Dallas Pen show is a perfect time for me because I'll already be in America for the second annual St. Jude Podcast-a-thon. That's happening. We're doing it again. And like the Dallas Pen show is basically within a week or two when I'll be in Memphis. It's like it's perfect, right? I can go out for that, jump over. Brilliant. And then also there's an added benefit there of it reduces the cost for the podcast-a-thon because I can fly out to America on... I'll already be there, right? Right. So it's like it all balances out, right? So it's... So we don't know what to do now. So like, yes, we can do Dallas, right? Like, why not? We'd love to.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah.
Reward Campaign Dilemma
Myke Hurley: But then what do we do for the reward for the campaign? Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That's what I got to work on. So, I mean, it feels to me like the Dallas schedule is just so good for what... We'd already made decisions around this schedule, right? It just really, really works. My money is that we stick with Dallas because I'm... You know, anything before. We've done D.C. We've done San Francisco.
Myke Hurley: I want to do Chicago but can't do it this year. Yeah. Because Chicago would mean that I have to stay after Atlanta, but I can't this time because I have something I need to be home for in the middle. It's too soon.
Brad Dowdy: It's a big gap this year. Some years are two weeks between Atlanta and Chicago and then it works better. Yeah. So, now it just... The hardest... The easiest decision is to stick with Dallas. I'm not saying that's what's going to happen, but I'd say that's likely. The hard decision is now...
Myke Hurley: Because there are other benefits. But if we then come up with a physical reward, which is somehow tied to a place and that place has a pen show, right? Like, it could change again, right? Mm-hmm. Because then there's, like, the video component.
Myke Hurley: There's, like, usually a second video, right? And we weren't planning on doing a live show in Dallas.
Brad Dowdy: Right. Yeah. It's just... It's the way the Dallas show is set up with just a two-day show and a long first day. It's really not feasible to have, like, a live show starting at 930 at night on a Friday night. And that's kind of our only option. So, we were going to forego that in lieu of, you know, making a little behind-the-scenes documentary. Mm-hmm. So, I don't know. We have a lot of friends in Dallas, a lot of other friends in Texas. There's other makers in the area.
Myke Hurley: Maybe this is now, like, an open challenge to the pen addict listenership. Like, if you make a thing, contact us, I guess. We've really lost, and we do not have a lot of time to work out what to do now. Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: Well, we have Tactile Turn. We have our buddy, Will. Mm-hmm. Tactile Turns in Dallas. We have our buddies at Studio Neat down in Austin. I know that's a bit of a haul, but it's still Texas-based, you know. I don't know. I don't know. We'll figure it out. But part of the show today is me and Myke going, I don't know what to do, which is pretty rare for both of us. Yeah. We're usually pretty good at getting things done, and this really threw us for a loop. So, it's more than just Retro 51 news. It's really affecting, like, what we're doing. Our plans were for this year.
Myke Hurley: It would have been much easier if it would have happened, like, three or four months ago. Like, it would have been like, oh, okay. Right. Well, let's get back to the drawing board. Yeah. You know, Brad, do you have any ideas for a product you want to make? And it's like, oh. But, like, we don't have any time. Like, it's very difficult because we have no idea and no time to come up with new ideas. And, you know, of course, we can always run the Kickstarter a little bit later, but then it's a case of, like, we go out of pocket for things, which is fine. Yeah. But it becomes much more complicated. Things just get more and more complicated the later we leave it. So, it's best to just take care of it. And then it's like, oh, yeah. Oh, boy. What a mess. But overshadowing, well, alongside of all the mess, it's just a sense of, like, loss. It's, like, so weird.
Brad Dowdy: It's going to be weird not having retro in our life.
Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm. It's so strange. I want the company, though. Like, that's what I want. Maybe the Kickstarter could be us raising the initial capital to buy Retro 51. Oh, my God. Could you imagine? That would be fun, huh? Make a little documentary about that.
Brad Dowdy: Founders pack.
Japan Plans
Myke Hurley: Oh, my God. And, like, okay, so before anyone says anything, it's too early for Japan. We're not doing Japan this year.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Myke Hurley: We have a plan for Japan.
Brad Dowdy: It crossed my mind. It crossed my mind, but it doesn't make sense.
Myke Hurley: It's not now. We have plans. We've spoken about these plans. I really think that that is 2022. It gives us time. And then we can do it to celebrate 10 years. And we can do it big style because it's going to cost a lot of money, right? Yeah. So, like, that's big style 2022, like, Tokyo. But we're not there yet. And so, yeah, I think that we're still very much focused on Dallas. So if you're in Dallas and you're upset because you think we're not going to be there, then we still might. I think it's still very strong that we'll be in Dallas. I think that's fair. Of course, like, we could do a Kickstarter campaign that's just the video. And we would make enough money. I know we would. But that doesn't feel enough. Oh, no, definitely not. You know?
Brad Dowdy: We can make a product in time. I mean, we can always make a knock product. We can. Which is fine. Like, I have stacks of knock products. I have no doubt about that. I'm just trying to do something different. I just want to do something different. I agree with you.
Myke Hurley: Like, you know, we've been doing this campaign. Is this going to be the fifth time, maybe? I don't even know how many times we've done it now. It would have been a good idea. It would have been, like, a fun idea to change it up a bit. But so if you're wondering where's the Kickstarter campaign, we don't know. And I guess we'll follow up over the next couple of weeks.
Brad Dowdy: Keep wondering because we are too.
Myke Hurley: But if you have ideas, we want them. Tweet them at us. Email, like, hello at penaddict.com. I'm Myke Dowdyism. Please tweet at us. Let us know your ideas. If you're a company that wants to get involved this time, go for it. We will say you can look at our previous campaigns. You'll make some money, right? Like, so, you know, it might behoove you to be involved in this project. We need ideas. We don't really know where we're going right now.
Brad Dowdy: Yep. I think I'll email Will and I'll email Tom and Dan when I'm done or sometime this week. And just say, kind of give them an idea.
Myke Hurley: Good starts.
Thanking Retro 51
Brad Dowdy: Before we continue on, I just want to say thank you, Retro 51. Retro 51. It was a joy. I hate that it's goodbye. Maybe it's not. It feels kind of like it is with all the retirement talk. It feels like we're done.
Myke Hurley: I think it's goodbye for Retro 51 as we know it. Because it just, you know. And you know what? Like, go for it, right? Like, you deserve it. You've built an incredible company. No one should have to work forever. Do it. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. And I echo Brad, like, one of the reasons I'm sitting here right now is because of that company. Like, they sparked in me a love of a different kind of design and an individuality. And I absolutely love this company. Like, the amount of pens that have been built on the back of this pen is unbelievable. Like, there is an entire industry of pens made around the Schmidt refill now, which nobody would care about if it wasn't for the Retro 51. Right? Like, that's how people know about that refill is because it's used in that pen. You know? Like, there are so many friends of mine who have said, what pen? Oh, I'm thinking about getting a nice pen. I know you like pens. And I tell them to get the Retro 51 and people still say to me, like, oh, I got one of those retros because of you and it's so good. And like, I know because it's a well-made pen with a wonderful refill. So, you as a company will be, like, devastatingly missed. Yep. So, I guess thank you for increasing the value of my collection.
Brad Dowdy: I didn't think about that until people started mentioning that. I was like, oh, well, maybe, I guess. I don't know how that works.
Myke Hurley: Now they won't be available anymore. I guess we'll all apologize to Schmidt because Schmidt's bottom line is about to implode on itself. You know? The real losers here are Schmidt. Yeah. Yeah. But thank you. And if you want to sell the company to me and Brad, please, you know how to get in touch with us. We would love to buy your company.
Brad Dowdy: Not a joke.
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Brad Dowdy: I do. I mean, did you see how good I looked in Philly this past weekend? Oh, no, you didn't, because you weren't at the Philly Pen Show.
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Brad Dowdy: You could smell how great I looked. That's really interesting. That's what Harry's does. But that's what it is, right? It goes completely through the internet. You see how good that Brad looks and you can smell the great smell. You know me, all the great looks. So, yeah, I mean, Harry's razor travels in my Harry's dop kit with my Harry's hair paste and my Harry's shave cream. So, yeah, I'm all Harry's dop.
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Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.
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Harry's Razor Offer
Brad Dowdy: So I was actually for real, Myke, at the Philadelphia Pen Show this past weekend. It was a trip for me to go to a pen show and not actually have to work. So no knock booth, no pen act events, no Myke there annoying me the whole time. Oh, yeah.
Myke Hurley: Getting the nose, needing help of everything.
Brad Dowdy: No, no. You're more of a help to me than anything else. But yeah, it was a chill time for me or planned to be, and it turned out that it was. I think Philadelphia might be the kind of perfect pen show for first-time attendees and experienced users. It kind of has enough stuff for everybody, but not too much to be overwhelming, like walking into the DC pen show for your first time. Yeah. Would be. The hotel was great. You know, it was in the show floor was essentially in two kind of, you know, conference room ballrooms. One large, one small to medium size. I'd say it's, you haven't been to Raleigh, but I'd say it's maybe just a tick smaller than Atlanta. Okay. Seemed like, but still like pretty good, really good crowds. Very busy. The hotel setup itself was awesome. They had big, huge, sprawling bar set up with, you know, lots of chairs, lots of tables to where we could all spread our things around. The location of the hotel was smack in the middle of downtown. So we could walk everywhere, you know, to restaurants and, you know, bars and whatever we wanted to do. Albeit it was, it was freezing and it's, it's snowed. So we didn't get out too, too much, but you know, like on Friday of the show, you know, I went into the show, 9 a.m. Kind of mingled around, saw some stuff and, you know, spent a few hours talking to everybody and tried not to buy too much, which was a big challenge I'll get to in a minute. And went out for lunch, like physically left the building, the hotel and walked, you know, five blocks or so and ate lunch. And it was enjoyable. It's like, I never get this experience.
Myke Hurley: It was such a thing.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it was wild. It was wild. And I did that multiple times and left the hotel to do things and go places. And it was super enjoyable. So that's one of the things that I've missed, you know, with working pen shows. Sometimes we'll go out at night. Sometimes I'm just too tired and just want to sit at the hotel and do nothing. It was, I was oddly not tired once this entire show. And I stayed up later than I normally do and slept terribly the entire time and was up reasonably early in the morning. And it was just such a different physical feeling than working a show. So even though I walked a lot more and, you know, was mingling around a lot more, I guess it just didn't have that stress of working a table and having to be on and like selling things the whole, the whole day. Like just even like the slowest show working behind the table just exhausts me. Like it's just tiring. And I kept expecting to get tired or something, you know, just while I was walking around the show and seeing everyone and doing everything and, you know, walking around to lunch and things like that. I was never tired. I was like, this is weird. So, um, I was shocked at how quickly the time flew by, like the days, like the show hours went by very, very quickly, even though I was like in the room the whole time. Um, you know, I was surprised at just how fast it became, you know, two o'clock, then five o'clock, you know, these, the time just jumped all the way around. That was a new experience. Um, but yeah, it was, it was just great. So I would thoroughly recommend not just the Philly show, but any show where you can just take advantage of all the cool stuff the hotels have going on. If you're, you know, not everything I'm saying translates if you're just there for the day, right? Or if you already live in the town, but for people who travel to pen shows for multiple days, which looked like a pretty good number at the Philadelphia show, you know, it's so great to take advantage of other things, not at the pen show, which makes your pen show experience even better.
Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm.
Brad Dowdy: So I got to see, um, you know, a couple of events that they had at the show. One of the things was Ian Schoen had a shop tour, which, um, you know, he handled that much better than we handled our initial shop tour at Knock all those years ago. There was a signup sheet and it closed down, so it didn't get to be too many people. That's my man. Yeah, yeah. But that was fun. Um, I just posted some images up on Instagram this morning, just a few behind the scenes shots of Ian giving us a tour. So that was fun. Um, I got to host a table at the pen mixer on Saturday night. Usually I host the event and I'm sending all people around to different tables and doing different things. This time I got to sit at a table and just kind of, um, hold court and I shared some of my favorite pens. I brought some unique things for, uh, unique pens for people to try, like my M90, which is a pen that not everyone gets to see. So I brought those and my Nakayas and my King of Pens and, um, my Milky Way, you know, just kind of my favorites or my collection that are the most unique out of all the pens I have. So that was fun. And, um, yeah, it was just all around a good time. It was easy. Like I, it was simple. I enjoyed it. Um, the one thing that I enjoyed the most, I think was when I did buy stuff, I didn't have to carry around too much because I could just run and drop it off in the hotel room and come right back down. I was like, Oh, you know, usually the underneath side of our table, it's packed with bags and backpacks and, you know, no one takes the time to go bring it up to the room cause we're too busy working. And it ended up just, just, just being a catastrophe behind there. And, um, it just, uh, it worked out so nicely this time.
Myke Hurley: What did you buy then?
Brad Dowdy: Um, I bought some things. Of course you did. Not, not too much. So the buying of things really escalated from the moment I walked in Friday morning because I usually don't have the freedom when I walk into a pen show to go shopping. You know, when I walk into a pen show, I'm setting up a table and I'm getting ready to sell things. This time I walked into a pen show and I was like, Oh, I can go do anything. So I basically just browsed around. I went over to Franklin Kristoff. Um, not because I was looking for one of the prototypes, but they had to show special ink that I wanted to grab a couple of bottles of. Um, so I did that. The problem was I was over there getting the ink that I specifically wanted. I started thinking about, well, I need some things to give away for the blog. I need, you know, probably a pen to just to test out. Let me see what new stuff they have. And this is like 10 minutes after the show's opening and I'm already like considering spending like, you know, hundreds of dollars. I'm like, okay, I see how people get in trouble doing this. I need to rethink, need to rethink some of the things I say from being on this side of the table at this event. Um, it is super easy to spend all your money in the span of 10 minutes. Um, so I didn't, I bought my two bottles of ink and then I left. Um, and then I went to go see Ian, who was Ian Schoen, just, he was across the room. Um, just to, you know, say, Hey, and see, see what's going on. And he says, Oh, I have something for you. I'm like, great. And then that's when he breaks out the Yovo nib section for the pocket six that I love so much. And I just reviewed and, you know, I reviewed, I made in the review, I made a point that it uses, um, Bach nibs and nib section fittings and that I would much prefer Yovo. And he's like, Oh, look here. And he had made a whole tray of like 50 or so to sell to people at the, at the event, which I know they got snapped up quickly. And he's going to have them online for sale in a month or two. I think he said, um, so I was like, well, he's given me this new nib section. I could just put it on the pen I already own. Um, how about I just buy another pen to put it in? Cause that's what you do, right? Like, you know, someone gives you a part, you need a new pen to put it in.
Myke Hurley: Well, you don't want to sully the old pen or sully the new part, right? Right, right, right.
Brad Dowdy: So he had all of his, you know, different wild colors that I'd love so much and you love so much. And, you know, uh, I'm just looking at all this mix and match stuff on the, on the table. And I found one that I like, and I was actually trying not to buy it right then. I was like, well, how many of these pens do you have? And it's like, oh, just these two. So that's when I decided that I should buy that pen because there's only two of them and I'll be upset if that one's gone later. So that's one of those situations where, yeah, the totally FOMO. But if that's the one I really wanted and there's only two of them, I should buy it now. If there were 10 of them, I could decide later, you know, shop around and, you know, there'd probably be some left. So, um, that was my second purchase. Well, I bought the ink. That was my first pen purchase. And that ended up being the last thing I bought that day because I knew right then just those two tables, the specter of spending a lot of money at Franklin Kristoff hit me. And then actually buying a pen hit me and I was like, this could go South pretty fast. So I spent the rest of my morning just talking to everyone and looking at all the pens. Like I just went table to table looking at all the pens. You know, I got to talk to Ryan Krusak and I got to talk to Matthew Martin and I got to inspect, like they each had new stuff to bring. And I saw a bunch of people buying all their stuff and, you know, I got to check out all the great new designs that they had. And I talked to all the, the nib grinders that were there and, you know, they were mostly sold out from the get go and online, um, online signups, which was great for them. So business was good for them. Then I got to see all the retail vendors like drum ghouls, you know, who was there, Myke Fountain Pen Hospital. So I got to say hey to Steve, who, uh, was such a gracious host to us, um, a year ago, year and a half ago. Now when we visited his shop, um, so, you know, and, you know, my friends from Kenro and luxury brands and all the individual sale sellers like Paul Arano. And, um, so I just spent that rest of the day just kind of hanging out, getting a good idea of what I wanted to buy on Saturday. Like what I really wanted to come home with, what I wanted, what I needed, what I was going to use to review things like that. Kind of laying the groundwork for Saturday because that would be my last day, um, at the show. So Saturday came and I was back down there at nine o'clock. Like it was really cool to not have to get up too early and worry about making sure I eat before I go work. So I just kind of lingered and got up and was down at the show at nine again. Franklin Kristoff had, you know, I went to over to the Franklin Kristoff table again, but this time for something specific because the night before in the bar, I got to test out their steel flex nib, what they just introduced, I think in the past month or so. So it's like a $25 nib and I got to test it out in the bar the previous night, which was great. It was a really fun, fun bar scene. Got to hang and test out a bunch of stuff. And, um, I said I wanted to get one of those. So I got one over there in the morning and kind of like Ian Shone's new section, needing a pen. Well, that nib needed a pen, Myke. So I bought a Franklin Kristoff pen off the prototype table. I bought, you know, the a hundred and something dollar pen for what I really wanted was the nib, but I actually have a plan for this. I'm going to give that away, but I'm going to review the nib first. So we didn't necessarily buy it for me. But again, it was, this was part of my planning, you know, waiting out most of Friday to get the things that I knew I needed on Saturday. So it worked out. So like that was, uh, that was cool. So that was the first thing. And then I knew I wanted some of the new sailor manual ink, which, um, just launched like when the past few weeks here in the U S that really neat inks, really good colors. Um, you know, better price points, better capacities for, uh, sailor inks than some of the recent releases. So I went over to drum ghouls and I grabbed like three of those inks and I grabbed like one of the individual color verse ink bottles and I'm setting behind the table, setting them up behind the table. Cause I want to look at all the pens and stuff. And I'd already looked at all their pens yesterday and they have like, you know, they have everything that I want, right. From your basic pilots and sailors to your, you know, Dana trios and all kinds of crazy expensive stuff. And this one pen popped out to me on the table. I was like, well, that's a big orange pen. And I didn't see that yesterday. And you know what that big orange pen was, Myke?
Myke Hurley: I think I can guess my friend. The biggest orangest pen of all.
Brad Dowdy: The biggest orangest pen of all the sailor 1911 Royal Tangerine King of Pen. Now you own this pen and I chose not to buy it last year in Atlanta, right? That's when it launched and you were there and you bought it immediately. That was like insta buy. Like you walked in, walked over to Dan Smith and came back with the pen. Like done.
Myke Hurley: Cause I knew I wanted it and I wanted to make sure I had it. Same reason of you, like you were just saying, right? Like I know I want this pen. I know there's not many of them. I know it's going to be popular. I want it. Mm-hmm.
Brad Dowdy: And I passed, you know, just having some, attempting to have some discretion in purchases. And then I kept seeing the pen. I kept trying it. I tried yours. Like when we were getting San Francisco and I was like, I really enjoy this pen. And I think I've even mentioned to you, I was like, yeah, I probably should have bought this pen and didn't really think too much of it. Didn't try to hunt one down. But when one randomly crosses your path like this and you've been eyeballing it and thinking about it for a while, well, let's just say it came home with me. So, um, I got that and I took it over to Gina from a custom nib studio who put a stub nib on this pen and it's just glorious. And apologies to, uh, Gina. I will now spell her name, her first name right from now on. It's G E N A not G I N A. Um, thank you for those who corrected me and my apologies to Gina. But one of the things she did that was pretty cool while I was sitting there, she was, um, putting the grind on this King of Pen. She had, you know, one of those little lab racks with the plastic vials in it with nibs in them. And they were all pre-ground nibs on Yovo steel nibs. She just basically had pre-ground nibs that you could buy. So I bought one, a broad architect nib to go in the shown design. Yeah.
Myke Hurley: That's a really good idea.
Brad Dowdy: I don't know how many she brought with her, but there were only three left on Saturday morning when I was sitting with her and I bought one of them. So I'm sure she sold them all. It was a great idea. So I bought the nib, got the nib work done on the King of Pen and picked up an extra nib that I wanted, which is why I like the Yovo nibs because I have so many of them that fit in so many different pens. So, um, aside from that, you know, I picked up a couple other things to give away another shown pen to give away, uh, that Ian, uh, donated to the cause, which I appreciated. I grabbed an Esther Brook to review, uh, from Kenro Industries on loan from them. So, you know, I just picked up some few things like that, mostly for the blog and giveaway purpose purposes. So for me, I bought the new shown design pocket six and the King of Pen Royal Tangerine, and that was plenty.
Myke Hurley: Sounds like a solid show for you there.
Brad Dowdy: It was just fun. Like I, everything about that show is easy, right? I mean, I'm sure if I was working in it, I'd feel the same. Like the crowds were big, but not overwhelming. The hotel space was great. The location was fantastic. The prices weren't outrageous for hotel rooms. Um, the only real issue is it was so cold outside that the hotel heat was on full blast. So it was extraordinarily hot. Um, the ballrooms that we were in were upstairs. Like, so there's like a, a ground level and a mezzanine level. We're in the mezzanine level. So all that heat just rises and it was pretty stifling, but you know, all you have to do is run outside for about 30 seconds and have a, you know, 15 degree wind chill. And, um, that'll, that'll cool you right down. So, um, it really wasn't, it wasn't too bad, but, uh, it did just like dry me out. You just like, I could not drink enough water. It was just kind of, kind of stifling from that aspect that like the only negative, if the only negative I can say is like the heater was a little aggressive, it was a pretty good show. Yeah. That's not bad.
Myke Hurley: You can, yeah.
Brad Dowdy: So good crowd, good people, good attendance, just flat out. Good. Loved it. I would, it was a really great way to kick off the pin year. Like I can kind of slow roll into it, right. You know, where I didn't have to work, but I got, I got my feet wet and getting back into the show scene and you know, I'll, uh, I'll, um, get back into it with, uh, Baltimore here and another, I don't know, it's only like five, six weeks away, something like that. So where I will be working and doing other events, but, uh, now I'm ready for it instead of like sweating, sweating the details of getting to a pin show for the first time and, and being anxious. Like I get anxious about that stuff, but, uh, this was a good way to get it started.
Myke Hurley: Do you think that you're more likely to attend more pen shows this way?
Brad Dowdy: Very more likely. Okay. Like I could see, like, I couldn't, I can't do a lot cause there's only so much I could travel, but I could see either doing something like this show every year being that one or doing maybe up to two per year. You know, that's just kind of the, what I'm playing in my head or at least mixing up one every year to just go travel to, um, because it was such an enjoyable experience. Like, yeah, I, I definitely want to attend at least one show a year where I don't work and can just hang out. And it was just, it was great. It was, it was healthy, healthy for the soul.
Pen Show Experience
Myke Hurley: Speaking of, uh, fancy King of pen and pen shows.
Brad Dowdy: He, he, he, he, he, I saw this and I was wondering.
Myke Hurley: So at the San Francisco pen show, I took a, took a walk over to the table of our friend, Mr. Jonathan Brooks and handed him my, uh, pro gear King of pen, which was, has the Navy grip section and the Navy finials and, uh, rhodium, I think trim. Yeah, I think so. And I handed it to him and I said, I want you to do something to this pen. I don't really know what he showed me some previous designs. I told him that I liked a honeycomb pattern that he did. And then I put it in his hand and last week it came back to me. Uh, Jonathan posted some pictures on his Instagram, which I'll put in the show notes. What he delivered to me was something I never could have expected. It is very beautiful, very subtle. Uh, what Jonathan, cause I, when I saw one of the in progress pictures and Jonathan had painted in a rushi, there's like gold honeycomb pattern on the clear barrel. And I was like, okay, that's interesting. Like I wonder where he's going with this. Right. And then what he ended up doing is, so he's painted these honeycomb patterns in blocks kind of, uh, it's not the entire pen isn't, you can, you can see it in the in progress photos that are on the Instagram posts that I put in. Uh, so they're gold. And then he covered the entire thing in a Tamanuri finish, which is like a kind of a deep red. So the pen that I have at first glance, it looks like it is a dark red semi demonstrator. But if you then, if you take a look at it or you put it up to light, you see this gold honeycomb pattern shining through. I love it.
Brad Dowdy: It is wild looking. It is amazing looking. The finish of it, like on the first couple images, looks like it came out the factory that way. Like, like the workmanship seems natural, I guess is what I'm trying to say. Right. It seems like it was built that way, which just makes it even more stunning to look at. So yeah, I can't wait to, I didn't know if you had it in hand yet. Um, but yeah, I can't wait to see that, um, in Atlanta when we, when we meet up. So definitely bring that.
Myke Hurley: I'm sure you will. Oh, I'll be bringing it because I know people will want to see it. And so, yeah, this is a, this is a very fun and very special, uh, pen that I now own. It's, and I've, uh, I've loaded it with a Bisou gold, like the sailor gold, because there's now like this gold hidden in the pen and now the ink to match it is gold as well. I love it. Like I already loved this pro gear and now I love that mine is one of a kind.
Brad Dowdy: Yes. It's awesome. It's awesome. I love it. So yeah, I, I gotta figure out, like, I need to do, get some pens like this worked on, you know, get someone to do some, make my pens a little extra like that.
Myke Hurley: So, um, I mean, I just like that this was a thing that I just handed over. Um, you know, I like being able to do that sometimes to just be like you work it out, right? Like this is yours. You're the expert. I don't know what I'm talking about. Give it a go. See what you can do with it. And he did. And it's amazing.
Brad Dowdy: Well, this next link in the show notes is definitely someone given a go at it. And I've talked about this style of pen before, and this is from Y studio where they do the, the previous version was almost like a gold leaf addition to the pen. And I don't know why I love this so much, but I do like, and I haven't, I didn't buy the last one. The last one I think was, what is this one called? I don't know. The last one was called like dragon's breath or something like this. Um, and this one is the calm before the storm and it's the same kind of technique. The last one was on a roller ball. This one, um, I think it's on a roller ball, but it might come on the fountain pen as well. I'm not so sure, but I can't help, but look at these and just see how, how stunning they are. And I didn't really include it in the show notes for any other reason, just to say that I'm one of those people who will spend stupid amount of money for like craftsmanship and artwork on like a roller ball pen or a ballpoint pen where some people like really wouldn't consider that unless it was a fountain pen. It's like, I didn't buy the last one. I probably won't buy this one, but I'm tempted. I'm tempted. Um, and I also kind of bring this up in conjunction with the next link in our doc, Myke. So the Tokyo pen show we're going to hopefully in a couple of years, they have already been so successful they're splitting, uh, their calendar show calendar year into two shows with the regular show still in that fall timeframe. And then launching the, uh, Japan premium pen show in May, which is a smaller boutiquey type of pen show with just, you know, a limited amount of vendors, usually kind of high end stuff. And it made me this Y studio pen made me think of, well, that's something I would see at this, the premium pen show. So I'll put that link in the show notes. I know we have a few, uh, listeners from Japan and I just thought it was worth mentioning since the, the promoters of the Tokyo international pen show do such a great job and are getting great feedback on their show. I thought people might want to hear about this. Um, so it's just, uh, it's a real, uh, click on the link for the hotel. It's like this really nice hotel. Like I think it's going for a little bit different market. That's really not my style. But then I look at things like this Y studio pen was like, yeah, I would totally buy that. And it's such a unique thing. And so I'll be interested to see how the premium pen show, um, goes this, uh, late this spring, just to see like what the feedback is for that. And if that more boutique style of pen show works for them, um, it's, it's certainly interesting, an interesting idea.
Myke Hurley: I am excited about this. Like, I think also, I do think that the premium pen show does kind of sound like something that we would enjoy, right? That like that would have a lot of the types of things that we would be interested in.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. But like, I mean, it starts off with like, and they, they admitted as much like it's at the premium hotel, right? It's like at a $500 a night hotel type of thing, right? It's made for a certain, certain clientele. I would love to attend, uh, just maybe not stay at the hotel or something. I don't know, but maybe it's worthwhile. I'm interested to see what the feedback is. Like, did it, did it work? Like, did they have the clientele to, um, to bring in was, you know, what a regular buyer like myself or anyone else, you know, walking in, you know, feel comfortable and, you know, was in, in seeing enough things, or is it just like all craftsmanship and like artisan type stuff? Um, which would be great to look at too. So yeah, I think it's interesting, but I think more of a, I think it's more of a sign that the group running that show is doing really good things and getting good feedback enough to where they feel that they could do a separate show throughout the year. Yeah. What did they say?
Myke Hurley: They had like 2,000 people attend the regular show? Like, that's amazing.
New Lamy Safari Release
Brad Dowdy: Yep. That's pretty crazy. Pretty crazy. Um, a couple more things. Um, did you see the new Lamy Safari? It's been a couple of weeks since we've been able to, to share thoughts on products and this came out, I don't know, probably after our episode two weeks ago when we were pre-recorded last week. So we had, didn't get to talk about this. So did you see the links that were shared from the new Lamy Safari colors for 2020? Mm-hmm. What are your thoughts? They look fine. Yeah. That's exactly how I feel. I was like, resounding meh. I'm whelmed, you know? I'm not overwhelmed. I'm not underwhelmed. I'm just whelmed. Um, they're fine. Like.
Myke Hurley: I'm intrigued to see them in person. I expect they'll be more vibrant than the image that was sent to us via Calligraphy Nut. Like. Yeah. I expect that there's more to them when you see them.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I do like the, um, this, the matching color clips and hardware. Yeah. Right. That's cool. That's something they haven't done in recent, recently for this limited edition set. Like, they're fine. Like, I don't, I guess, I guess my bigger question is, I don't know what I expect from them anymore. Like, this meets expectations. Right? It's a 7 out of 10 or whatever. You know? So, it's fine. It's good. Like, it's going to do really well. Um, I honestly think it'll probably do better than the pastels last year. I think the pastels really popped in, uh, marketing and PR and imagery and fell a little flat in person. This might be the opposite situation, uh, this year. So, we'll see. I'm interested to see if they do a limited ink with the mango. Because they've already done things in aquamarine and violet before. You know, in those ballparks of colors. I'm interested to see, do any of these or all of these get a limited edition color? So, I don't know. You know, they're fine. I'm not, like, jumping through the roof on them. Like, oh, we'll see what they are in person. They usually come out later in the spring in the U.S. So, we'll see them soon enough. Usually around the Atlanta Pen Show. But it's a little earlier this year. So, I don't know if they'll be ready or not. But, uh, yeah. You know, I guess I'm appropriately whelmed. And, you know, it's a thing. And they'll keep doing the thing. And they'll sell out of these. Like, they're good. They'll be fine. I don't know what I expect, though. I guess I'm expecting a little. I'm on a little needle movement, I guess, in the safari and the AL Star. Or All Star. Which one do I get yelled at about? I don't know.
Myke Hurley: I think it's AL Star, right? Like, that's what it's supposed to be. Yeah. Well, then, I've just said that. And I could be completely wrong, too.
Brad Dowdy: See? See? How long have we done this show? And I still don't know. I'm still not comfortable saying that ever. So, I think it's AL Star.
Brad Dowdy: Last one. Big Eye Design. I'm a big fan of the things they make. They launched a TI Mini Pen on Kickstarter. And I was surprised at the price point on this. It's really good. So, I went over and backed it while I could still get the early bird. Which was like $25 for a machined Mini Pen with a D1 refill. Like, you're speaking Brad's pen language. Right? When you say Mini Pen and Aluminum Barrel and D1 refill. Like, those are all the things I want in my pen carry. Yeah. So, it's like, it's even titanium. So, it's just they're big supporters of the show and big supporters of Pen Addict. Like, I've gotten to meet Chadwick several times. And I've talked to Joe through email. So, I support pretty much everything they do. You know, they have carte blanche to my wallet. And this time, it was less of a hit than normal. I was very happy with the price of this pen. It seems great. So, I'm anxious to try it out. I haven't tested one out yet. But maybe if Chadwick hears this, he'll toss one in the mail to me. And we'll get an early look at it. But regardless, I've backed this. And I just wanted to point it out. Because when I was on Twitch yesterday, I had just gotten the emails. I hadn't gone and looked at it. So, we started looking. And I was like, yeah, this is really good. Like, I'm real happy with what they've done here. Like, this is exactly what I want in a Mini Pen. So, yeah. That's all me right there. Not for you, though.
Myke Hurley: I looked at it and thought it was cute. Yeah, it's not your style. But it's not my style of pen. And it doesn't really have a refill option that I'm super intrigued about. I think the amount of options that they do have, a list on the site, is really cool. They've got a lot going on. And I'm happy to see people continuing to work in pens of this size. Because there is like a genuine use case to just being able to have a tiny pen you can throw in your pocket. That isn't just a Fisher Space Pen or something that looks like it. So, yeah. I think it's cool. But it's not for me. Is it a knock or a twist mechanism?
Brad Dowdy: It's a good question. I think it's a twist. Yeah. I'm looking at the website.
Myke Hurley: It's a twist mechanism. Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: Because they machined that back in.
Myke Hurley: As we know, Brad, it's not what people in Japan are looking for, right? They want push-twist combos. Knock-knock, twisting-knock. Yeah. Knock-knock, twisting-knock, knock-twist. Otherwise, there's no point.
Brad Dowdy: We got great feedback on that show title, by the way.
Myke Hurley: Yep.
Myke Hurley: Because it was the best one.
Brad Dowdy: Well, I think next week we'll share a little bit of news on one of the knock-knock, twisting-knock pens that we've talked about recently. But I think we'll share that until next week. We still have time to discuss that a little bit more.
Episode Reflections
Myke Hurley: Okay. All right. This has been a weird episode today.
Brad Dowdy: Weird episode. So, we're going to hold off on the Ask TPA today. I don't know that it's like a – we're at a good time anyway and a good flow, a good spot to end it. So, I've got a bunch of Ask TPA in this doc. We'll hold until next week. We promise we'll get to them next week unless some other company decides to retire between now and then.
Myke Hurley: Don't even. Yeah. I feel like it's kind of funny to imagine that there would be like emergency – you know, like in like political podcasts, they have like emergency episodes, right? Yeah. Yeah. I feel like if we weren't recording today, like if this news broke this evening, right, about Retro 51, we probably would have had to have done an emergency episode, right?
Brad Dowdy: Totally agree. Yeah. Like this – there's – I mean, I couldn't even come up with a list of things that would make us stop in our tracks and have to talk and share our thoughts on. I would not have come up with this. That's for sure.
Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm. If you want to find our show notes for this week's episode, relay.fm slash penaddict slash 394. You can find Brad online. He's at penaddict on Instagram, at dowdyism on Twitter. Hello at penaddict.com for email. Brad streams live at 10 a.m. Eastern Time Tuesday and Thursday over at twitch.tv slash penaddict. I don't think anybody has internalized your general media presence more than I have. Yeah. It's really great. You can also go to knock.co for Brad's pen cases. You can go to spokepen.com. Spoke design. Smokedesign.com, right? Yes. And you can get the spoke pen right there.
Brad Dowdy: Restock coming hopefully this week or next week. So we're halfway through this week, so later this week or early next week.
Myke Hurley: And I will say if you're still looking for a theme system journal to kick off your year, we have a very small amount left. You can go to cortexmerch.com and pick one of those up as well. Tiny amount left, Brad. Very small amount left. Yeah. I need to get back in there already. There's maybe about 15% of our stock left from the last restock. We've got a little bit left, but they will be gone. That'll be gone in a week or so. Within the next few weeks. Yeah. Yeah.
Myke Hurley: Thanks so much for listening. Thanks to Harry's for their support of the show. And we'll be back next week. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.