Three Questions With Mike Dudek

My name is Mike Dudek and I write The Clicky Post blog and am also the creator of Dudek Modern Goods. I live in San Tan Valley, AZ, a rural suburb of the Phoenix area with a few big neighborhoods. I'm convinced we have some of the prettier views of both the Superstition and San Tan Mountains...

1. What role do analog tools such as pens, pencils, and paper play in your day to day life?

Even before blogging on The Clicky Post, pens in particular have been a big part of my day-to-day work. Whether it was in college during classes, working face-to-face with clients, or taking notes during a consultation call, I always had paper and pens handy. I enjoy writing (physically) and seeing the words hit the page regardless of how mundane the task may be. Rather than making a shopping list on my iPhone, I choose to write it out. It lets me use the pens I have even in the most simple ways. We can be honest; I TRY to find reasons to write things down everyday simply for the sake of writing as I get a lot of satisfaction from it.

When shipping out one of my Dudek products, one thing I enjoy doing is taking a moment to hand write a quick thank you note. A small gesture, but is meaningful.

Also, lest we forget the occasional note to our sweetheart?... My wife doesn't seem to appreciate Tomoe River as much as I do though. 

2. What are your favorite products you are currently using?

On the writing front, I am currently using the Rhodia Dot Pads as my go-to. For almost all writing scenarios (except for pencils), the Rhodia can stand up to the task with great results. I've only stumbled upon a few more finicky inks that misbehave on the Dot Pad like the Noodler's Bernanke Blue, but they are few and far between.

With ink, I can't seem to get enough of the Pelikan Edelstein Topaz.  That coupled with my Lamy cp1 1.1 stub has been my favorite pen over the past month now.

My current product obsession is with vintage stainless steel barreled Pilot pens/pencils from the 1970s like the Myu, Murex, Custom, or Elite.

3. What creation or design of yours are you most proud of?

This is a tough one as I've done a lot of things in the past from wheel thrown pottery, ring making, and my current line of handmade wood products. Although, one of my favorite (and largest) creations is my portable workbench I built. It materialized as I was trying to organize my work space to be more efficient and evolved into the center of my world in the workshop. Nearly all things I create are started or finished on it.

It is a large piece measuring in at around 4 feet tall, 8 feel long, and 4 feet deep. It has a tiered bench top which creates a level surface for me to use my chop saw and table saw seamlessly as well as has a good sized "table" space. Underneath there are a series of shelves, cubbies, and tubs to hold tools, chords, and materials.  I finished it off by attaching locking casters to the bottom to make it movable for cleaning or whether I have a larger project that requires more floor space in the shop. It is one of those things that I just enjoy using and I am proud of how it came together.

Three Questions With Bruno From Cronicas Estilograficas

I'm not sure I have learned more from another blog than Bruno Taut's Cronicas Estilograficas. The items he gets his hands on - primarily vintage Japanese - and the knowledge he shares have been supremely helpful through the years. My thanks to Bruno for answering Three Questions.

1. What role do analog tools such as pens, pencils, and paper play in your day to day life?

You ask about the role of analog tools and not about what I use and how often… That is a tricky question. I do not think in terms of what is analog and what is digital when using that specific tool. In fact, thinking about this point, and checking other people’s responses, I came to realize that I do not have a clear idea anymore of what is analog and what is digital.

Yes, I use pens and papers everyday, but there is nothing special on that. I use those because I like pens, and that is all about it. I think, though, that the popularity of stationery goods might be very well related to the fact that we can bring some fun – those products — to very tedious and routine tasks.

What other analog tools do I use? A pair of loudspeakers, albeit I am enjoying silence more and more.

If speaking specifically about pens and paper, the answer is easy — I use those everyday. Most of my writing is done on paper with a fountain pen. My blog entries are first written on paper – a notebook — with a fountain pen, and only after a couple of revisions I transcribe those texts on the computer.

Now, what other analog tools do I use? Typing on the computer keyboard seems to be a digital task; writing with a pen, an analog one… What about typing on a typewriter? Oh, excuse my digression — I love to deconstruct concepts.

2. What are your favorite products you are currently using?

I enjoy a lot my coffee grinder – a Porlex with ceramic mill, but that might only show how much I love coffee. My bicycles – a Giant and Marin, both made in Taiwan - are also sources of sanity, and that despite how bicycle-unfriendly Tokyo is.

3. What post are you the most proud of on your blog?

I like the series of entries made on those Platinum pens sold overseas under other brands — Hifra, Joker, Presidente (see here, for instance,). That information was new – Platinum does not seem to know about them -, and it was also the result of the collaboration with a reader –Kostas K—I got to know solely due to my blog. So, I think we made some actual contribution to the history of fountain pens, even if very minor. Minor indeed they are as those Chronicles are far from being among the most popular ones.

Three Questions With Chad Doane

Chad Doane is one of the longest standing friends and supporters of The Pen Addict. I'm glad to call him a personal friend as well, and of course, I am a huge fan of all of his work at Doane Paper. My thanks to Chad for answering Three Questions.

1. What role do analog tools such as pens, pencils, and paper play in your day to day life?

Pens, Pencils and Paper play a monstrous role in my day to day life right now. I'm constantly thinking about what the next Doane Paper product will look like or what pen or pencil should we add to the online shop. It's cool to be completely surrounded by analog tools for the majority of my day but some mornings I walk through my studio and say "Chad what did you get yourself into?!". Ever since being a kid I've always been into pencils, notebooks and sketching plus my dad was an industrial engineer so we always had mechanical pencils and graph paper laying around the house. There's just something both dependable and comforting about your favorite writing instrument and notebook.

2. What are your favorite products you are currently using?

Right now as far as writing instruments go I have a uni-ball 207 retractable (micro tip) and a Sharpie medium tip marker on me at all times. We've done a couple notebook collaborations with uni-ball over the years so I'm pretty loyal to all the Newell Rubbermaid brands. I'm always filling out customs declarations forms at the post office and need a solid gel ink ball point for that and I'm always marking on the tops of order boxes with a Sharpie before they go out.

My "go to" notebook these days is the doane paper - large utility notebook. The standard sized 3.5 x 5.5 utility notebook was always a bit small for me so in 2013 I decided to produce a slightly larger 5 x 7 large utility notebook. I'm a die-hard Kansas City Royals fan so box scores of the Royals' epic 2014 post season run (curse you Madison Bumgarner!) filled up my last large utility notebook. Now I'm starting a new one filled with plans / strategies to broaden doane paper's distribution channels in 2015.

3. What creation or design of yours are you most proud of?

Nope it's not the grid + lines pattern or the flap jotter notebook, the creation I'm most proud of is my daughter (who is now sixteen) had a 5th grade science project where she had to turn a pizza box into a solar oven. I'm not exactly the diy sheriff but one Saturday afternoon we took our time and made the solar oven together. Crazy thing is it actually cooked a hot dog, we were so stoked! The diy solar oven now has a permanent spot on the Doane garage top shelf.