(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!.)
Lots of pics in this one, so let’s get the 2025 California Pen Show (aka CAPS) recap started!
2025 CAPS is in its third year and, like last year, was held at the Torrance Marriott Redondo Beach, site of the last LA Pen Show in 2022. This show was very similar to last year’s but with some improvements, which is nice to see from a growing show.
The trip to Los Angeles was a bumpy one, quite literally. The takeoff from SFO to LAX was one of the bumpiest I have ever been on (and I’m on a lot of planes). It continued to rain/pour on Thursday, so some folks were delayed, and most of us wondered if the storm would impact attendance. Thankfully, it did not.
Can’t tell from the picture overlooking the Del Amo mall across the street, but it was raining quite steadily.
One of the California Pen Show branded items that you could purchase at the front desk. Other items included t-shirts, pins, and Robert Oster show exclusive ink.
As with many past LA shows, the CA Pen Show was held during Presidents’ weekend, and also coincided with Valentine’s Day on Friday. The show felt fairly well-attended, with Friday and Saturday being the busier days. Despite the moderately wide aisles, it was still quite crowded and it was difficult to get through on the busier days/hours, especially for folks with walkers/wheelchairs.
Like the 2025 Philly and last year’s CAPS, I was working at the Franklin-Christoph table so I had limited time to take pictures (and shop).
This was my view on Saturday from the Franklin-Christoph table, which was at the far back wall of the ballroom.
It was Truphae’s first time at the CA Pen Show! They were full of smiles and happy tunes - they had music playing in the background!
Adrena Atkins of Retro Steno makes fun retro-inspired writing items.
Like these whimsical cards, letter kits and bookmarks!
Might have been the only time I saw Zach Skogsberg of Skogsy Pens at the table without his wife, Amy, who I saw at the table more often than him, lol!
The Skogsy Baby Saguaro Graft is two pens in one! It’s a regular sized pen if you use the regular barrel (as shown) or a bebe pocket pen if you swap that out for the short barrel at the bottom!! Thankfully, another customer bought that far left one and saved my wallet!
Lupe Gonzales of Itoya US is showing off their Sailor Pen Guild tote bag.
A beautiful sunset after a busy Saturday. Far cry from the rainy Thursday!
This 15th anniversary edition of the Pelikan Pura is extra cool with its special barrel engraving and packaging.
The newly released Pelikan INEO looks cool and it’s inexpensive too! Hey, Bossman, I need one or six for review, please!
Interested in learning more about vintage Esterbrooks? This book, published by The Aniline Press, is for you!
Bart Conner of Zodiac Pen Company was a first-timer at the CA Pen Show and I can tell you that there were nowhere near this many pens left by the time Sunday rolled around!
Always great to see Jeremy Saumere of Flax Pen to Paper, Ryan Finnegan of Saiko Stationery, and Adam Finer of Retro 51.
*Just ‘cause someone’s a vendor doesn’t mean they’ve seen it all or that they only want to sell you things. Here is Aiki from Pilot, trying my Pilot Myu with a Fine Medium nib. He didn’t even know that nib size existed (he knew about F and M) and was super excited to write with it! *
You could build your own Drehgriffel pen!
Like last year, there were many nib workers to choose from. They were spread out in the hallways (Matthew Chen, Anabelle Hiller, Gena Salorino) and inside the ballroom (CY, Kirk Speer).
Matthew Chen (right) and Momma Chen (Nina) said they had a good, busy weekend.
Anabelle was also part of the hallway gang and her appointments filled up before getting to the show!
Makes me happy to see a smiling Gena!
Kirk Speer is heads-down checking out a customer’s pen.
Had to take a selfie with Mike Masuyama, who wasn’t at the show as a nib grinder, but as part of his new venture with Pacific Pen Works!
Like last year, CAPS had a lot of international vendors like Sarj Minhas, St John’s Pens, and Ray Walters from the UK, Miroslav (Miro) Tischler from Croatia, Osman Sümer from Germany, Mora Stylos from France and others. The folks from Galen Leather came from Turkey, and Nagasawa, Sey Pen, and Laurett’s came from Japan and I know there were other international vendors there as well.
This is Seypen’s second trip to the CA Pen Show.
Some beautiful pen trays from Seypen, as well as…
Urushi pens, cups and more!
Caught this wonderful moment between Paul Erano (left) of Black Pen Society “fame” and Takehiro Nagamine from Lauretts.
In recent years, there has been a noticeable increase in the presence of pen-adjacent vendors, which is great! I absolutely love seeing the different vendors whose products go beyond pens and inks. Some of them include returning vendors Mai Imai of Paper Treats and Christine Herrin of Everyday Explorers, and they were joined this year by Sakura Dragon, The Washi Station, M Lovewell and others (whose photos I forgot to take).
Christine Herrin of Everyday Explorers brought some of her memory keeping goodies, including a new CA stamp set (20% of sales benefits World Central Kitchen efforts in LA).
Mai of Paper Treats was super busy all weekend, but that’s not surprising since she stocks so many cute products.
Look at this awesome stamp that RiraRiraHanko made for Mai, so her customers could stamp in their journals or in this little pamphlet!
Pro tip: sticker paper (or shipping labels) is great for stamping! Rather than getting a partial imprint because your journal is bumpy or curved or you didn’t apply enough pressure, stamping on sticker paper means (1) you get a cleaner imprint, (2) you can rapidly do multiple stamps, (3) your stamp doesn’t bleed through to the other side, and (4) and you can stick it anywhere you want!
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Mai makes use of her journalism background by publishing newspapers for her shop and at several of the shows.
I was so excited and humbled to be one of the featured posts in this issue!
Kayan Pepper Co had so many cute things at the table!
Like this cat bag, and I’m not even a cat person!
The Washi Station had lots of washi tape to choose from!
I loved flipping through the washi swatch book so you can see the different designs.
Part of the Sakura Dragon crew - they came prepared with a rotating crew of 6-7 folks for the show!
It was M Lovewell’s first time at the CA Pen Show and they brought a variety of stationery products.
Did someone say exclusive ink? M Lovewell partnered with Ink Mazeru (the brand behind Ka-Ku) to produce A Sweet Treat, which was inspired by this year’s Pantone Color of the Year, Mocha Mousse.
Last year, having gotten feedback to add classes or seminars added several. This year, they added even more paid seminars/classes and gatherings. Some of those classes included Fountain Pen Basics (with Lisa Vanness), Explore Creative Journaling (with Tom from Sugar Turtle Studio), Secrets from the Ink Collector (with Ana Reinart), and even a class on Improving Your Handwriting (with yours truly). There were also two gatherings where people could do a “vintage pens tasting” (no, you don’t eat the pens, but you get to try them and learn more about them), or join an after-hours pen mixer (hosted by Lisa Vanness) where folks got to hear about Rickshaw Bagworks, the story behind the Col-O-Ring, and different types of nibs and grinds.
Really enjoyed teaching the folks in my handwriting class, which included a few pen friends I already knew!
Cheryl Ball from Rickshaw Bagworks walks through how they get from design to finished product. Here she is showing how the art is transferred onto the fabric.
Cheryl, Lisa Vanness, and Ana Reinart answering questions from the group. Yours truly did a short walk-through of nibs, grinds, and other magic that nib workers can do.
After we finished our respective topics, folks wandered from table to table to chat with different folks and try their pens, etc.
Overall, the show felt fairly well-attended, most vendors did better on Friday than Saturday (though a few had the reverse experience), and Sunday was pretty quiet in the morning and picked up a little in the afternoon. I talked with a variety of vendors, from larger shops to makers, stationery vendors, international vendors, modern and vintage alike, and it seemed like people had “really good” to “solid” shows.
As a first time instructor at this show (and still a teaching newbie in general), I had a good experience working with Frank Zhang (co-organizer of CAPS) for my class. He was proactive in asking me for description/photos/price, etc. and regularly updated me with how many spots were sold/remaining.
Lest you think that everything went smoothly, there were a few things that the show could work on which would make it even better.
- For starters, the temperature. It was especially warm on Saturday and everyone felt like they were in a sauna. Even though the hotel staff couldn’t/wouldn’t turn on the AC, I think some box fans or something would help with circulation.
- Speaking of circulation, because the show packs the vendors in the hallways, you can’t get into the ballroom without walking through the hallways. This makes it crowded because there are folks trying to get into the show and others trying to shop at the hallway vendors’ tables. I know they don’t want other ballroom doors opened , but so many doors closed contributed to the heat problem.
- Class locations - All of the classes took place on the second floor, which is fine, but no one knew where their classes were. The front desk folks said there would be signs upstairs, but the hotel lighted signs didn’t specify which class was in which room, e.g. “Pier 1 Workshops/Seminars 10:00am - 5:00pm”. A relatively minor issue, but I did hear from folks that they were late because they didn’t know where their classes were.
- Website could use a little work - For example, if you clicked on Attendee in the menu (instead of hovering on it), you might not know that there was a seminar list or a vendor list. I did like that they had a floor map available online.
I had a great time this weekend (other than melting in the ballroom). The show is in a good hotel, rooms are nice, good food options, lots of hanging out spots. Lots to see, lots to buy, lots of people to meet for the first time and get reacquainted with. More classes of all sorts and more opportunities for people to hang out and learn from others. I griped about their social media presence last year and I’m happy to report that they did a much better job this year, with their first post for 2025 in the middle of June last year, as well as highlighting vendors and classes and posting/sharing IG stories. Considering the history of the former LA Pen Show, it’s really nice to see this show taking feedback seriously so they can continue to improve it.
Pretty sure I’ve said it in every show recap, the best part of pen shows are the people. And the CA Pen Show is no exception. I loved meeting folks in my class, at the Friday night mixer, at the bar. Even if you can’t stay at the hotel, I highly recommend sticking around in the evenings so you can experience this too.
Part of the after-hours scene at the hotel bar.
More bar shenanigans.
I was part of the Ink Pony Club thanks to Lisa from Olive Octopus! It was a lot of fun to play with different inks and color my pony whatever colors I wanted!
This might be the most lopsided haul ever, as I only bought one fountain pen, and everyone I talked to said it doesn’t count cuz it’s a TWSBI Eco and I would’ve bought it whether there was a show or not, lol.
I made a navy/yellow Drehgriffel (Go Bears!), got stickers from Retro 51, Carolina Pen Co, Sailor Pen Guild, Flax Pen to Paper, Carola, Travelers, Sakura Dragon, and Everyday Explorers, and the aforementioned TWSBI Espresso and Bronze.
”News” from Traveler’s Company, Paper Treats, Retro Steno Post, Pan Am stickers from Traveler’s Company, CA stamp set from Everyday Explorers, Robert Oster x CAPS Golden Coast Amethyst, A Sweet Treat (from M Lovewell), blotter paper from Esterbrook, and two Line Friends notebooks from Itoya US.
As awesome as all the stuff is, the real haul are the friendships made and nurtured at shows.
I got a Valentine from JacToy - super sweet of her!
So glad I got to see Meltem and Yunus from Galen Leather!
Pen Friends are the best friends! (Rheena, Toasty, Bettina, CY)
Hanging at the bar with Ana and some rando 😃
I’m excited for the next show coming up: the Baltimore International Pen Show, (hopefully) the Little Craft Fest in Houston, and the Chicago Pen Show. I hope to see you at one of these shows! Until then, stay warm, stay safe, and stay inky!
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