(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!.)
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to go to a non-pen trade show called SF NOW + Noted. And last week, thanks to retailer (and friend) Jeremy Saumere of Flax Pen and Paper, I attended both the NY NOW and Shoppe Object trade shows. The two shows had very different vibes, but much of their audience overlapped. It was an opportunity for small and large companies alike to show off their newest and best-selling goods to retailers, in hopes that they will place orders on the spot.
NY NOW was located in Manhattan’s Javits Center, which is an enormous event/convention center space.
Walking into Javits itself was mind blowing - so much space, especially above you. The entrance was like “wow, how big is this show?!” Followed by “this is gonna be fun, let’s get shopping!” Aisle after aisle of vendors vying for your attention (and hopefully your order).
One of the 23 aisles at NY Now - glad I wore my comfy walking shoes!
Another look at how large this show is - it’s really difficult to show it all in one picture. And this show used to be even bigger!
The show is divided into different areas like home, health/beauty, clothing, stationery, gifts, books, children’s, though there were some vendors that had products that spanned multiple genres. NY Now reminded me a lot of being at an art & wine festival (minus the wine, though Corksicle did host a happy hour), but on steroids.
One of many vendors selling candles and other wax products.
Beanie Babies are back!! Or so they tell me!
This sassy label from Glass Tats not only helps you identify your drink, but it dissolves in water and a little soap!
They had an incubator area for folks to show off their products without having big elaborate setups.
All these stickers and crafts from Beacon Craft would have made elementary/teenage me a very happy kid. Heck, I’d be pretty happy with them now!
I had never taken a close look at Laguiole’s higher end knives before! That boxed set uses a different wood for each place setting!
There were vendors who had food and cooking products as well! This booth, which had packaged French foods, made me very hungry.
Home decor and art pieces were also showcased - these were from Italian artists and makers.
Like SF NOW, NY NOW isn’t a pen show, but there were still quite a few greeting card vendors as well as some pen and stationery vendors, which I was excited to see. I recognized a few of the vendors from SF NOW + *Noted like greeting card maker Spaghetti & Meatballs, and Blackwing pencils & accessories.
Even a non-pencil person like me can appreciate this cool poster from Blackwing.
Yes, cards made from elephant poo actually exist!
The Retro 51 crew was a welcome sight as they were the first pen vendor we came across (after looking at several aisles of other stuff.)
A shelf full of Kawecos at the Elite Accessories booth (they are the US distributor for Kaweco, Diamine and other stationery brands.)
Diamine, Kyoto TAG and more stationery items.
I love the beautiful covers of the Paperblanks notebooks.
JPT America is the US distributor for a lot of brands including Midori, Stalogy, Himekuri, Kleid and more.
One of several displays of Midori products (I spent lots of time here, lol.)
They also distribute home goods from several Japanese companies
SMAND!
This is an “hourglass” that ticks (like a watch) when you flip it over! (And the solar ornithopter in the background is super cool too.)
It was really cool to see products that hadn’t been announced to the public, but I had to remember to ask vendors if I could share photos that I took - no one minded photos being taken, but a few did not want products shown on social media until after certain dates. I wasn’t used to this since pen shows are geared towards the consumer (and not retailers), so anything they bring to a show is perfectly fine to post on social media.
When I took this, the Retro 51 Owl Rescue was one of several new products announced to retailers but not to the public.
Ditto for the now-publicly announced 140th Anniversary Kaweco Sport in Ebonite.
After hitting NY NOW on Monday, we took the shuttle to Shoppe Object on Tuesday, which was further away at Pier 36 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Where NY NOW reminded me of an art & wine festival on steroids, Shoppe Object had a distinctly more bohemian yet also bougier vibe. It was like a mix of fashion runway meets CostPlus World Market.
Shoppe Object’s textile-decorated promenade & entrance.
The show was housed in two structures - this was the smaller tent.
The main Shoppe Object tent - not as large, or as roomy, as NY NOW, but still a lot to see.
Alexander von Furstenberg has stunning glassware and home decor items!
Candles were big draws at both shows
A gallery of greeting cards from Archivist
Not gonna lie, I would have loved playing with these wooden cars when my kid was young!
Can you believe this portrait of Van Gogh’s Starry Night was made from washi tape?!?!
Leuchtturm had an impressive display of products from their various brands, including Semikolon and others.
Leuchtturm’s Bullet Journal 2.0 station - the paper is better than previous versions (120 gsm vs 90.)
A recent addition to the Leuchtturm family is Stilform, known for their minimalist designed metal writing instruments.
Traveler’s Company was here, separate from the Midori folks who were at NY NOW.
These are trade-only events, meant for buyers, retailers, press, and other industry members. As such, they aren’t meant for consumers to do shopping, in fact, you can’t get access to either show without being vetted ahead of time (I was added as a guest of Jeremy’s). I think that it would be cool if they had a marketplace day at the end, where the public could buy some of their products. It could help defray some of the costs of attending a show like this (if you think paying for a table at a pen show is a lot, think again), vendors would have less inventory to schlep or ship back, and the show could get some ticket revenue as well. I’m glad this wasn’t an option since the SF Pen Show is coming up, lol. It’ll be interesting to see if they decide to do something like that in the future.
A huge Thank You to Jeremy for getting me passes to these two shows and for letting me tag along. It was fun watching Jeremy go through the process of picking out what products he wanted to carry/restock at Flax. It was also really fun for me to see products that I might see in the future at other gift stores and boutiques, so I hope this was fun for you too.
I’ll be at the San Francisco show when this comes out, so I’ll be back in my element again. Hope to see you there! Wherever you are, hope you stay safe and stay inky!
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