Stationery Year in Review and Preview

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

2025 has not been my best stationery year. My favorite pen store closed, I didn't get to go to the Chicago Pen Show for the first time in nearly a decade, and if you refer back to my post a year ago, when I made my stationery goals for 2025, you'll see that I didn't do any of that stuff. On the bright side, however, I did review some awesome things. These were my favorites.

My favorite fountain pen of the year was definitely the Leonardo Momento Zero Grande 2.0 Guilloche. The perfect blue-grey color, the elegant texture, the bouncy nib--all of these factors have kept this pen in rotation all year. It may even be one of my favorites in my collection overall. A runner-up is the Kaweco AL Sport Piston Filler, which has been riding around in my purse since its arrival. One of my favorite pocket pens, for sure.

My favorite ink I used this year was the Ink Institute Lavender Coral—the perfect shade of dusty purple. This ink in the Leonardo is an elite combination. There's so much character and depth to the color. I literally catch myself staring at it, watching it dry.

My favorite non-fountain pen this year was the Tactile Turn Short Ultem Bolt Action pen. I love how light it is, and the bolt fidget factor has kept me sane through some grueling meetings.

My favorite pen storage of the year is the SheDesigns Pen Sleeve roll. I will never stop nerding out over cool fabric and inspiring makers.

My favorite stationery-related accessory is the Retro 51 X Pularys wallet, which continuously delights me with its practicality. I use it every day, and I appreciate its fantastic design every time.

My favorite notebook of the year was the Archer and Olive Beneath the Willows notebook. Even though I haven't filled it yet, its presence on my desk brings a lot of joy. It looks fantastic and writing in it is a pleasure.

Looking back on all these great tools makes 2025 seem pretty great, after all! This is one of those hobbies that brings a lot of light, even when things are a bit grim. I suspect because it's all a part of a creative ecosystem. Pen makers, ink artists, bookbinders, weavers, writers--we're all one family. And hopefully, in 2026 I'll get to spend more time in company with that family. Hey, that's you! I hope your 2025 ends with joy. Love to you all, pen fam.

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TWSBI ECO Plum with Onyx Trim Fountain Pen Giveaway

TWSBI unloaded the catalog in the latter half of 2025, and did a nice job with the colors I must say. The TWSBI ECO Plum with Onyx Trim may have been the most well received, and I have one to give away to a reader this week. It comes with a Fine Steel nib, so if this one is your jam, read the rules below and enter away!

TWSBI ECO Plum with Onyx Trim Fountain Pen Giveaway

MAZE - The End of Boring Fountain Pens (Sponsor)

There’s a certain kind of joy that happens when art comes through with Engineering.

Endless Stationery — the Chennai-based stationery design company behind last year’s wildly successful Phantom retractable fountain pen (the world’s biggest fountain pen Kickstarter of 2024) — has teamed up with the 3D-printing wizards at Arclayer to push that joy to its limit.

Their new project, MAZE Pens, isn’t just another fountain pen launch. It’s an explorative experiment in what happens when you turn the inside of a pen into the star of the show. Instead of hiding ink channels deep in the barrel, Endless and Arclayer have sculpted them into artful pathways, printed in high-clarity SLA resin and post-processed to gleam like a jewel. The result is a pen that looks alive — ink twisting and drifting through a transparent, three-dimensional maze as you write.

Each MAZE pattern (Five of them!) feels like its own personality carved into light. You can run it as a classic eyedropper or go full engineering-nerd with the Japanese eyedropper shut-off system for leak-proof travel. And yes: shimmering inks look beautiful in these barrels — in the best way possible.

Endless built Phantom with thousands of backers cheering from around the world. With MAZE, they’re swinging even harder — blending engineering, sculpture, and pure creative mischief into something the fountain-pen world hasn’t quite seen before.

If you’ve ever wished your pen had a little more soul, a little more strangeness, a little more why the hell not — this is the one to get. Head on to their Kickstarter page and grab yourself one!

My thanks to Endless Stationery and Arclayer for sponsoring The Pen Addict this week.