Paper Plant Co. Shop Visit

(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!.)

I hung out for a couple extra days after the 2025 California Pen Show and one of the things I wanted to do was visit some stationery shops. Let’s be real, that’s what I want to do in pretty much any city, lol. One of the places I wanted to check out was Paper Plant Co in Los Angeles’ Chinatown district. They recently expanded their space and now have a separate space for home/lifestyle goods (and coffee!!) next door to their stationery space. Let’s take a look!

The Paper Plant Co coffee shop/home space on the left and stationery shop on the right.

Can’t wait to go inside! Pro tip: Go do your shopping before you get your coffee/tea so you can take your time, have your hands available to check out the goodies, and not spill!

I love all the red lanterns that were hanging from the ceiling of this entryway.

The shop is pretty compact, but they manage to pack a lot of fun things in the shop.

Look at all of these shelves full of goodies like papers, pens, and more!

Paper, stickers, wax seals, bookmarks…

More stickers, papers, tags, portable scissors, too.

I forgot to get a shot of this table of pens and notebooks so you get a zoomed in picture instead, oops.

Next to the stationery shop is the cozy Home & Lifestyle space, where you can order a coffee or tea and shop for some fun products! Pro tip: If you’re not pressed for time, after stationery shopping, grab a coffee/tea and sit outside to enjoy the Southern California weather.

Inside the Home & Lifestyle space.

Look to the right from the entrance and you’ll find wooden boxes from Classicky, as well as candles, incense, and other fun things for the home.

Look to the left and you’ll see embroidery kits, air fresheners, key chains, pins, etc. There are also cups, brewing equipment, etc. along this wall too.

So many neat things in here, including chocolates packed like sardines!

Since I just came from the CA pen show a couple days before, I kept my haul to a minimum: Multi-sticker sheets by eric small things (you can put them on fabric!), a shop sticker, an exclusive Stalogy x Paper Plant Co notebook, and a Shchi-iro marker that allows you to write on washi tape! I also played with their shop stamps too.

Both of the Paper Plant Co spaces are relatively small, but there’s even more online, so be sure to check out their website too. Paper Plant Co’s stationery space is located at 936 N Hill St, Los Angeles, CA 90012, while the Home & Gifts space is next door at 938 N Hill St, Los Angeles, CA 90012. They are open daily from 9AM - 4PM. They can also be reached by email or by phone at 213-269-9784, and they are on Instagram as Paper Plant Co.

A Fountain Pen Lovers Guide to Paris in 2025

(This is a guest post by Eric Nuzum. Eric is a writer from Montclair, New Jersey on a quest to just write legibly for once in his life. That quest led him to fall in love with fountain pens and now wishes “ink sommelier” was an actual job.)

What does Paris have to offer a visiting fountain pen enthusiast?

This should be an easy question to answer. Paris is the City of Lights…the City of Love….a high point of European art, culture, design, and sophistication. And France has had an illustrious history with writing instruments, home to Waterman, ST Dupont, J Herbin, Clairefontaine/Rhodia, and other prestigious historic brands (let alone the country where Bic still manufactures a billion Cristal pens every year).

Surely the answer is plentiful, right?

Not so fast.

I recently found myself asking this question before a family trip to Paris over the holidays to visit my wife’s cousin. I was surprised by how little current information I was able to find. Most blog posts and Reddit threads I found were a decade old–and after some quick searching, it seemed that some of the most often-mentioned stores didn’t make it through the pandemic era. So I took some scraps of information I found, excused myself from my family for a few hours every day, and proceeded to hunt. I thought I’d share what I found to help future Paris visitors make the most of your time.

Let’s start with my favorites:

L’Ecritoire (26 Passage Molière–a quick walk from Hotel de Ville)

The name translates to “writing case” or “inkwell” and lived up to its name. It is a small store hidden in an alley, but the entire shop is dedicated to writing instruments and material. There is a modest collection of fountain pens from traditional budget and midrange brands, a small collection of inks (including a few of their own ink line), and an impressive collection of less-common items, like actual quills cut to be pens, glass pens, and other writing ephemera.

I saw this in a number of stores, including here at L’ Ecritoire: vintage stationery items and bottles of ink–some still full–displayed on top of retail shelves.

Most of the store space is dedicated to paper, cards, and journals–and the collection is very impressive. In all, a lovely curated selection of items. I highly recommend and would visit here again.

My haul from this store: Two petite bottles of their house inks (Blue Nuit and Prune), a nice nib holder, a wax seal, and a set of six of their house sealing wax sticks.

Magasin Sennelier (3 Quai Voltaire, directly across the Seine from the Louvre Museum)

If you were a location scout and a movie studio called and said “Find us an old looking art supply store as a setting for scenes in our late 19th century movie,” you would get a bonus for pointing them to Sennelier. It is Paris’s oldest art supply store–and just across the river from the Louvre and down the street from the Musee D’Orsay to boot. The fixtures, cabinets, and display cases, are all vintage–as well as things like the thin, winding staircases and incredibly wonky floors.

Image via the Magasin Sennelier website.

At first you might think Sennelier is just a really cool old art supply store, but I’d advise a perilous climb up to the 3rd floor, where you’ll find their collection of drawing, calligraphy, fountain pens, ink, markers, and supplies, plus the largest collection of handmade Japanese papers (including large rolls) that I’d ever seen anywhere. There’s a broad selection of J. Herbin, Sailor, Pilot, and a few other ink lines. Not a very wide range of fountain pens in sight (though an impressive collection of art markers), but there was quite a number of calligraphy nibs and nib holders.

My haul from this store: Two 10ml bottles of Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo and Tsutsuji ink (while I could buy these inks many places, I’d never seen smaller bottles like these before).

Melodies Graphiques (10 Rue du Pont Louis-philippe in The Marais) Two twin storefronts, side by side, with separate entrances lead to an amazing collection of paper, writing instruments, cards, journals, and other calligraphy and stationery items. To be honest, this place felt kinda magical. There is a lot that’s unusual about this store, including its array of opening hours. We first tried to visit on a day they were completely closed (to be fair, we were there the week between Christmas and New Years), and we could see little beyond the slightly dusty and sun-bleached window displays. Yet you could tell from those that the store had an impressive collection of items, including pens and inks, but couldn’t really tell what was going on inside until we returned the next day. And boy, was it worth the return trip.

In addition to a beautiful and extensive collection of stationery of all kinds, the store had an incredible vibe: part sideshow, part Victorian parlour, part artist’s studio, and part museum.

More old ink bottles.

The store had so much to offer that I went through each side twice to take it all in. I’d probably rate this a must see and would put it on the top of any list of fountain pen enthusiast destinations in Paris.

My haul from this store: Three bottles of Callifolio ink (Oconto, Gris de Payne, and Bleu Azur), two reproductions of antique calligraphy workbooks (entirely in French, which I don’t speak at all, but hey, pretty letters are pretty letters), and a lovely 10-pack of printed and embossed cards (that are fountain pen friendly).

Now, the “mixed bag”:

Palais du Stylo. A tiny brick and mortar pen store near the Paris Opera House. While any pen retailer is something to celebrate, for a visitor to Paris, the store offers little that you couldn’t find on dozens of web sites and retailers. Lots of mid-range pens from Lamy, Pilot, Waterman, Cross, Montegrappa, Parker, and more. Probably more useful to locals than anything to offer to out of town visitors.

Point Plume. A higher end boutique, again, with a selection of pens easily found almost anywhere, but this time quality brands like Montblanc, Sailor, Namiki, ST Dupont, Pelikan and others. It is the kind of store that you need to be buzzed through the front door in order to browse. The only inks and accessories they had were tied to the brands they carried. While a beautiful assortment of pens, there was nothing that would compel most out-of-towners.

Department Stores. Many of the threads and posts I’d read directed readers to visit major department stores, which all supposedly had stationery departments. I found this to technically be true, but often I’d have to fight my way through a large department store to find the “stationery department”--which amounted to a small display of Moleskine and Leuchtturm1917 notebooks and journals and maybe a few pens (but rarely fountain pens). I’ve heard there were some exceptions, but gave up on pursuing these after a few strikeouts.

The one exception I found was Le BVH Marais at 52 Rue de Rivoli–a massive department store that I visited on my second attempt to see Melodies Graphiques (which is only two blocks away). What I saw there was one of the most impressive stationery departments I’d ever seen inside a large retailer, anywhere. And a huge emphasis on French pens, inks, and paper products. I’d totally put this on a short list of places to visit, if for no other reason than the great collection of French products.

Oddly, I didn’t pick up anything here, but it was a welcome and impressive collection.

I had a few strikeouts too.

Buci News. Every post and thread I read pointed me towards a tiny store in the Latin Quarter called Buci News. I found it, but immediately noticed that the name “Buci News” was no longer on the front of the store. Inside, it was more of a cross between a convenience store and an office supply store. There was a selection of Rhodia paper pads, but little else that would be considered “stationery” items.

Le Carré d’Encre. Again, this store was present on many lists and was still open. Its name translates to “The Ink Square” so I figured it would be a hit. But unfortunately it was closed for the holidays.

Overall, I’d say I was a bit underwhelmed by what I found in Paris. Some stores that were definitely worth seeing and seeking out, but in a city like Paris, especially considering the French history with writing instruments and stationery, I expected more. That said, if any fountain pen and ink enthusiast finds themselves in Paris, hunting down these shops not only gives you a taste of the city you might otherwise miss, but also is a gratifying way to show and share your love for fine writing.

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Road Trip with Traveler’s Company

(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!.)

A couple weeks ago, the Traveler’s Company Caravan, USA Road Trip event started in Long Beach, CA, home of Traveler’s Company USA, with an event at Intertrend, which was very well attended (and quite crowded from the posts and stories I saw on instagram). It looked like a lot of fun and I couldn't wait to experience it in San Francisco (which was the next stop, followed by Port Townsend, WA). I went on Thursday afternoon and I was told that it was a lot less crowded than Wednesday, and much less crowded than at Intertrend, where the line was out the door and down the block!

Love this cute sign welcoming you to the Road Trip event.

The event was held at the Heath Ceramics location, where you can also find the cute Heath Newsstand shop (behind the sign.)

I love that this is a welcoming space. ♥️

Here are all the Traveler’s Company partner shops - not sure if they are planning to do the Road Trip event at all of them or just the 3 West Coast locations.

Just inside the entrance, Traveler’s fans are stamping their Traveler’s Notebooks and showing them off to other enthusiasts.

I had Christina from the team sign my passport accordion insert after I finished stamping it. I love these inserts for quick memory keeping of events!

The Road Trip event space.

Who’s ready for a Road Trip?!?! Me, Me, ME!!

On the shelves along the walls and above the retail displays, there were portraits of winning entries from their “USA Road Trips with your TRAVELLER’S notebook” contest. I enjoyed seeing the creativity and artistry behind these lovely spreads!

Products from their standard lineup, as well as gallery entries on the top shelf.

Traveler’s Company water bottles and Back Dog Coffee Roasters coffee in Long Beach, CA.

Look at this amazing artwork that was done in the Accordion insert!!

This is the view from the far corner, looking back towards the entry ramp.

There was also a Spiral Ring Notebook Viking event (which required prepaid appointments) - In Japan, the term “Viking” is often used to refer to a buffet, like the smorgasbords in Sweden, where you pick and choose what you want to eat. The team brought a variety of papers that you can choose from to put into your notebook in whatever order you like, and then their craftsman, Ishi-san, would bind the notebook before handing it back to you!

I spent a lot of time in this area figuring out what papers I wanted to get.

After checking in, I was given this tray with instructions on how to get started. Essentially you pick the papers and make sure the stack fits in the slot on the Thickness Guide. It’s quite simple, unless your pile of papers is too thick, in which case, picking out which papers to keep is really tough!

There were two covers to choose from - Black or Copper imprint - and a bunch of papers with different colors, rulings (or not), designs, textures, etc.

Cover sheet, maps, and other papers in both white and cream.

Lest you think they only have “normal” colors, they also have colorful papers of different textures too! The 6 closest to the left feel very smooth and likely to be FP-friendly. The two in the middle were a lot more textured.

I love this playful, confetti patterned washi paper!

Phew! It fits!

Ishi-san is installing the spiral coil into the punched holes of the paper & cover.

Such a sweet smile from Ishi-san, as he hands you the completed notebook!

Here are some of the papers I chose for my notebook - I’m especially excited to try the speckled ones as well as the brightly colored papers.

I knew that I would be coming home with a custom spiral notebook and likely another TN but I also picked up a few other goodies cuz I couldn’t resist.

L to R: Road Trip TN, Passport Accordion with Road Trip Stamp (which I smudged, oops), custom spiral notebook with Copper imprint and coil, Road Trip brass clip, Short Trip refills in Passport and Regular size, 2025 Sticker set, Road Trip stickers.

It was a lot of fun figuring out what papers to put in my custom notebook and it was wonderful to see the Traveler’s crew again! If the Road Trip Caravan ever makes it near you, I highly recommend the experience!

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!