The 2025 California Pen Show is a wrap!
This was my first adventure to the reorganized Los Angeles-area show in their three years of new ownership, and I came away impressed. I’ll be sharing my experience throughout the week, so follow along below and let’s talk stationery!
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(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!.)
The past few weeks have been pretty stressful (family/medical stuff - I’m fine, just a lot going on), so I was looking forward to the first pen show of the year, even more than I usually do. Like past years and other shows, I was working at the Franklin-Christoph table and since I was not in my usual “buy everything in sight” mindset, I didn’t take as many pictures as I would have liked to, but thankfully, I was able to snag some pictures from others.
Welcome to the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia!
But first, Philly cheesesteak from Molly Malloy’s - yes to Cooper Sharp, onions, and bell peppers!
One of the things I like about the Philly show is that it is fairly predictable (in a good way). Same show owners/organizers (Scott Franklin of Franklin-Christoph and Eric Orozco are co-owners of the show), same hotel as the past several years, same chilly mid-January weather. Many of the vendors from past years were here again this year. Like last year, the show was held on the Mezzanine level. It’s a great first pen show because it’s not too large and not too small, but its mix of vintage and modern vendors means there’s something for just about everyone.
Weekend pass holders got a copy of Nibbage which had a map, vendor list, as well as a couple pages for folks to sign. New this year was the show stamp which you can use in your copy of Nibbage (wanna guess who forgot to do that?). If you got 10 signatures, you could also get a show sticker. It was a lot of fun asking folks to sign my copy of Nibbage - reminded me of signing yearbooks! “Have a great summer! TTFN!” 😃
This year’s Nibbage and an awesome stamp!
View from the F-C table in the first ballroom. This was taken early in the day on Friday before it got super crowded.
Looking into the second ballroom on Friday morning. Both ballrooms have a good amount of aisle space to look at the different tables and to move around.
As co-owner of the Philly Pen Show, Franklin-Christoph always makes an ink to kick off the year as well as matching exclusive pens. This year’s color is a brick orange color, like a terracotta or burnt orange. They also released an engraved and painted 03M (M for Modified to not have a clip or finial like the regular 03).
Ink ‘25 and Philly Pen Show Pen (top), along with other engraved and painted 03M pens.
Last year, the F-C table was in the back of the first ballroom. This year, we were in the front of that ballroom, so I enjoyed seeing the people coming and going. The show was pretty well-attended on both Friday and Saturday, with a busier crowd on Saturday, which is pretty common for most shows. Despite the impending snow storm as well as the Philadelphia Eagles game on Sunday, there was a surprising number of people who came to the show on Sunday morning. It definitely tapered pretty quickly after 1pm or so.
Various buildings were lit up in green in preparation for Sunday’s Eagles’ game. Go Birds!
==nib grinders== The first ballroom was where most of the nib workers were. Gena Salorino of Custom Nib Studio at the far end, Matthew Chen for his first Philly show. Not pictured were Josh Lax of JJ Lax Pen Company who I accidentally cropped, Damien Alomar of All in the Nib who was in another aisle, and Kirk Speer of Pen Realm who was in the other ballroom.
Philadelphia’s own Ian Schon of Schon Dsgn along with his crew, Scott and Bea.
It was great to see Cary Yeager and Chris Henline of Truphae at the show!
You can always count on finding the most colorful and fun stationery items from Tom Forsythe of Sugar Turtle Studio.
Bill and Jaclynn of Pilot USA trying to pick a favorite Pilot pen to show off.
Jaclynn and Aiki (right) picking names to find a lucky winner.
The Kenro crew had an impressive display of pens and accessories including…
...this amazing carousel for the Ferris Wheel Press inks! Kenro announced on Friday, January 17th, that they are now the North American distributor for Ferris Wheel Press! How exciting!
Not pictured (because I forgot) were the kind folks from the Philadelphia Calligraphers’ Society that were set up in the hallway and wrote people’s names in calligraphy.
Remember when I said the show was predictable? That doesn’t mean they don’t try to improve the show and make it better. I already mentioned Nibbage (which they created last year), the show stamp (for this year), and a sticker for getting a bunch of signatures. They also had pen show bags for sale (see haul picture) and had a new backdrop for folks to strike a pose with their pen friends!
*I love this photo of me with one of my favorite people, Azizah, in front of this fun, colorful, inky backdrop! *
After years of only knowing each other online on IG and Discord, I FINALLY got to meet the one and only Tom Oddo!
They also added more classes and seminars this year than in the past, which is a great way for folks to learn how to use their pens and things, and take a break from retail therapy. If I wasn’t working at the show, I would have taken Sugar Turtle Studio’s seminars on Creative Journaling, Michael Ward’s Spencerian class (though I’d also LOVE to take a dance lesson from him too - Philly organizers, can we make that happen?), and one of Azizah Asgarali’s classes (too many good ones to pick from). In addition to the paid classes, there were also free events like a newly added pen show tour, Josh Lax’s Vintage Pen Panel, and the Two Ring Circus podcast with Azizah, Eric Orozco, and Drew Brown (if it wasn’t so early on a Sunday, this night owl would’ve been there).
Gotta love the ink slinging that happens in Azizah’s workshops!
Even yours truly taught a handwriting improvement class! (PC: Brad’s view from the back.)
The Bossman practicing his block print - yes, the class is for ANY kind of writing, even print! (PC: Brad)
Proof that they finished the class and no one threw anything at me!
The show was great, but my favorite part of pen shows is hanging out with pen friends afterwards!
So good to spend time with pen friends - many of whom I haven’t seen since the last Philly show! (This is in one of the lobby seating areas.)
Fun times with Drew, Simar, and Eric!
Hydration is extra important on Saturday night (yes, actual water in those water bottles, lol)!
Watching the Sunday night football games with pen friends, Kimberly Henderson (left), Carol, John, and Bryce Gillett of Luxury Brands of America, and Marty Henderson.
As always, I had a great time at this show, and I loved spending time with friends I hadn’t seen in what felt like ages, which my heart and soul desperately needed. The Philly Pen Show is a great way to kick off pen show season and 2025 was no exception.
My Philly haul included a surprise find of the Colorverse Colorvent calendar, Pennonia x Inkdependence Hens & Chicks ink, Franklin-Christoph Pocket 20 (with an EF SIG “flex” nib and ebonite feed that I can’t wait to ink up), Franklin-Christoph Ink ‘25 and an ink sample from Ferris Wheel Press.
Not gonna lie, this might be one of my most treasured pen show items ever. And this might also be my most brilliant idea ever. (Pro tip: I used a Hobonichi with a plastic cover underneath the front layer so it wouldn’t bleed through and so it was easier for people to write on. You’re welcome 🙂)
*The real haul, though, are the memories that are reflected on my pen show bag and in my copy of Nibbage. *
A huge Thank You to the Philly Pen Show crew for a wonderful show! Now that pen show season has officially kicked off, I’m even more excited for the next shows, which will be the upcoming California Pen Show in a few weeks and the Baltimore Pen Show shortly after that. I hope to see you there! Until then, stay warm, stay safe, and stay inky!
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The Philadelphia Pen Show was a great way to kick off the new year. Fun was had, stationery was bought, and yes, it snowed. I’ll be recapping what I was up to beginning tomorrow on Twitch.tv at 10:30 a.m. Eastern, and on The Pen Addict Podcast Wednesday at 10 a.m.. Let’s do this!
