(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)
After missing all the stationery events in 2025 and having only recently attended my first one at the 2026 SF Stationery Fest a couple months ago, I was excited to go to Stationery Park event in Santa Monica, CA. Stationery Park (or SP) is organized by Michelle MaliZaki, who put on Pen Paper Palooza last May (which I missed due to ankle surgery). Like I did at SFSF, I worked at the Flax Pen to Paper tables, so most of my picture taking (and shopping) was done during setup hours and the occasional lulls.
Stationery Park (SP) was a two day event held at the historic Santa Monica Bay Woman’s Club, which was also the location for last year’s Pen Paper Palooza . SP was “created through a special collaboration between Pen Paper Palooza and Takumi Alley, brought together by a shared love of creativity, community, and small business” (from their event brochure).
Stationery Park is just behind that door!
But first, you gotta wait in line, which was already to the end of the block with 12 more minutes before the show opened!
The line really wasn’t too bad. Unlike pen shows, where there are VIP/weekend pass hours and general admission hours, SP had timed entry throughout the day, which meant that folks bought tickets for a certain entry time. Once inside, attendees could stay as long as they liked, but the timed entry avoided big rushes of folks. Saturday tickets were sold out in advance, with limited walk-ins allowed in the afternoon if there was enough room. Sunday was quieter than Saturday.
Always full of energy and smiles, Michelle MaliZaki couldn’t wait to kick off Stationery Park!
Inden (left) and Daigo Corp had tables to the left of the reception area. KingJim (behind me) was also in this room.
The entrance is on the left, with Inden, Daigo, and KingJim in the room near the top of the picture. The registration and merch crew are in the middle, and the first stamping station is on the right, just before the ballroom. This is taken from one set of the stairs and you can see the other set of stairs opposite me. You can also see into the restroom...
I don’t usually take pictures of restrooms, but it was a little odd that the bathroom doors were wide open and you’ve got a clear view of whoever is in that first stall (along with anyone washing their hands, etc.).
The next set of pictures are from Friday, when vendors had the day to set up their tables and displays.
The ballroom is a lovely space with a stage, ample aisle space, and string lights that are difficult to see. The show also had tables upstairs.
Looking down at the ballroom from upstairs, you can see some of those lights which added to the ambience.
Folks setting up on the left side of the ballroom.
Right side.
Since this event had timed entry, it took a while for vendors to get slammed with crowds on Saturday like I’ve seen at pen shows. Of course, it would get slowly more crowded as the day went on, but often, some of the earlier folks would start to leave by then. Overall, this worked well for an event of this size.
Jacqueline, Justin, and Charlotte showing off their favorite Esties!
The folks from Kinokuniya brought a lot of great stationery products, but everyone was eyeing something in particular…
Could it be these uniball Zento?!? This display was full because this was taken on Friday. It definitely didn’t stay full for long!
Theresa, from Elite Accessories, (the US distributor for Diamine, Kaweco, 3 Oysters and more) is still smiling even though none of their product displays made it to the show. Didn’t stop me or others from doing lots of shopping there!
Look at these cute, glass ink wells, which I believe are from Kyo-no-oto/Kyoto TAG.
Folks could also make their own Kaweco Sport at the Elite Accessories table - this year’s color is Glow in the Dark!
The Yafa crew had 4 tables of pens and inks!
You can’t miss this Rin Studio larger than life inflatable on the stage!
Jennie and Leo of Rin Studio were the sweetest and funniest table neighbors! Not to mention, the fittest!
Those are absolutely, 100% (not) my abs! Leo and Jennie (and many of us) had a good laugh about this picture!
Jeremy Saumure (left) of Flax Pen to Paper and helper, Ryan Finnegan were my table companions all weekend. Ryan and I sold MANY uniball Jetstreams (and other things too).
The ballroom on Saturday around 2pm.
My view of the entry from deep inside the ballroom on Saturday afternoon around 3pm.
Audrey Okeya (left) and helper at the Okeya Stationery table. Audrey and husband Jon Kenzo (who was volunteering at the show) own a mobile stationery cart! I need one of those, please!
Lovely watercolor art and ink illustrations at the parakid table.
Agavny of agavnythepigeon is an illustrator and printmaker and has also done character design and prop artistry too!
Toru Yamazaki of Toyooka Craft with all those stunning wooden pen boxes, trays and other accessories.
Next to Toyooka Craft was Glass Studio TooS who had a lot of beautiful glass dip pens.
Just look at all that eye candy!
Some of the dip pens could create double lines too!
Glass dip pen rests.
South Central LA’s very own Cynthia Navarro is an illustrator and educator and had lots of fun, colorful stuff at her table!
Savannah Scribbles has all sorts of goodies for your stationery needs!
As mentioned earlier, there were stairs on both sides of the entry, but no elevator (I’m assuming its historic status exempts it from requiring one).
A view of the upstairs from one of the corners. The smaller upstairs ballroom is behind me.
Looking down on Saturday around 11am after the first set of timed entry folks entered the show. It is still early so it isn’t crowded yet. Have I mentioned how much I love these lights and the wide aisles (which did get more crowded by noon and didn’t let up until 3:30pm or so).
I didn’t get a chance to spend as much time upstairs but here are some of the vendors:
Managed to get a not-too-busy table picture of Dana from dana ate oatmeal.
I couldn’t stay at juni travels table too long because that little plush Juni with the backpack was too stinkin’ cute!
I may have stopped by to see Susie Cacacho of Shady Pines Paper Co more than once during the weekend, lol.
Susie (left) and Yushing (of KuboandLucy) are waving not-so-innocently from upstairs. They had just thrown a paper airplane down to me 😃 - it said “Hi from Yushing”!
The smaller upstairs ballroom.
Anjoobi was one of the vendors in the upstairs room and had so many fun things to look through!
Victoria Llama of Panty Cat was a big hit at SFSF because her products are so fun and colorful!
I wish I had more time at Sherry Lou Studio’s table because I see some keychains and pouches on the website that I need in my life.
Great to see familiar faces from pen shows, Jill and Faith Hills of Jillry by the Sea and Fish Conquers the World, respectively.
In addition to the shopping, there were a few classes that were held in the upstairs kitchen area, as well as free activities throughout the show.
There was a station for folks to make friendship bracelets or beaded charms for their notebooks.
GLAMPIG, aka “Greater LA Metro Pen & Ink Group, held their meetup upstairs on Sunday. People popped in and out as they shopped and showed off their purchases, or took breaks.
There were quite a few vendors who participated in SP’s stamp rally bingo. But first, get the Stationery Park stamp and event “ticket” for your journal!
Here is Michelle again, this time in the prize redemption booth for the stamp rally bingo! (Love the poster of Loretta Swit in the background!)
I had a great time at my first Stationery Park event! It was similar but also different from SFSF in that (1) it’s not at a hotel, so (2) there weren’t any after-hours hangouts. I liked that there were other activities besides shopping. There was the aforementioned friendship bracelet station, stamping spots throughout the venue, and the Society for Calligraphy Southern California (not pictured) also made free bookmarks upstairs.
A few thoughts:
- Warm - The ventilation wasn’t great, and it was much warmer upstairs, even though some of the windows were open. Of course, it got increasingly warmer as more people arrived, as well as later in the day when it got warmer outside. I don’t know if fans would work - I can envision paper and stickers getting blown around - but it was toasty and the air was a bit stale, especially upstairs.
- No elevator - I did see a few folks who had mobility aids who were able to get around downstairs, but I don’t know if they were able to make it upstairs.
- Behind the scenes crew was great - From the official Stationery Park volunteer folks to the venue crew, there were plenty of folks who were running around to make sure the event went smoothly. The venue crew made sure restrooms were stocked, garbage bins emptied, and boxes broken down for recycling. Everyone was on it.
- Stamp Rally was fun but… - As I mentioned in my SFSF recap, stamping can be disruptive. On the one hand, it brings folks to participating tables, but it can also clog aisles with folks who only want a stamp, while preventing other folks from trying to shop. I saw this first hand with a long line of folks at the Rin Studio table that were there to stamp (they did have cute stamps), and I know they weren’t the only table with lines for stampers.
- Prize redemption line was also long - People didn’t realize that they shouldn’t wait until they were leaving to redeem their stamp rally bingo prizes. As a result, there was a long line at the redemption kiosk which blocked the ballroom doors.
- Vendor food/water was great - Michelle brought sandwiches, salads, and water for the vendors, which was great since no one had time to leave their tables to get food even though there were many options near the venue (which is by the Santa Monica Promenade).
- Timed entry was great - This is my first timed entry event and I really like how it spread out the crowd. Even if it eventually became crowded, it didn’t have the same sense of panic because many of the folks had already been there for some time, so it felt more relaxed.
Even though I was recently at a couple of pen shows as well as SFSF, I still couldn’t resist a few things.
Clockwise from upper left: Esterbrook Cherry Blossom ink, 3 Oysters inks, Stationery Park ink, 3 Kyo-no-oto inks, Shachihata stamp pads, Diamine Dusted Truffle.
Washi tape and cutting card from Imperfect Concepts, Graphilo paper, eric small things stickers, Maruman Croquis mini notebook & refills, and pen and ink trays from Toyooka Craft.
Mini notebook, charms, and stickers from dana ate oatmeal, stickers/sheets/washi sheets from Shady Pines Paper Co, sticker book, Kitta tapes, stickers/sheets from Rin Studio, Smiski pouch and mystery keychain from The Juice Box Club, uni Jetstream pens from Flax Pen to Paper(look, Boss, standard pens!!), and stickers/sheets/bag from Thousand Skies.
Bonus haul from Kuboandlucy Stationery Co, who wasn’t vending at SP, but brought my order in person on Sunday! KingJim Otona sticker binder, pins, stamp, washi tapes, inserts, and more stickers. 🙂
Stationery Park haul - I couldn’t resist the little tote (there was a big bag too), pocket notebook (thanks to pen friend, Cheryl, who did lots of stamping for me), washi tape, sticker sheet, a multi-stamp sheet, ticket & event guide.
But as always, seeing friends is the best part of any show and is the best haul of all!
Glad I got to see my friend Jacqueline who worked at the Esterbrook table on Saturday!
Alex and I decided that Sunday would be purple day!
A huge shout out to Michelle and the Stationery Park team for a great event and thank you to Flax Pen to Paper for the opportunity to work at your tables!
I don’t know if I can make it to any more stationery events this year, but I’m looking forward to a few weeks of playing with all these goodies before heading off to the St. Louis Pen Show. Hope to see you there!
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