(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!.)
Pull up a comfy chair, grab a beverage and hunker down for some reading and eye candy because this is not going to be a quick read or scroll. Last year’s article was just under 5000 words, I am hoping not to double it, but ya never know, lol.
Disclaimer: 2017 SF Pen Show was my first show, has been and still is my favorite show on the circuit. I’m also a member of the SF Pen Posse who helps out at the show. Which means that it is really difficult for me not to be biased but I promise to be as objective as I can.
This year’s 2023 SF Pen Show was located in a new hotel, the Westin SF Airport, so I decided that had enough of an impact on the show for me to do a report card for this recap.
Unlike past years, where I worked behind the Franklin-Christoph table, I decided not to work for any vendors at this year’s show. That was the best decision I could have made, as I had a ton of fun, but that also means I had plenty of time for photos too! Ready for the recap? Let’s do this.
2019 SF Pen Show pen by Sailor x Bungubox inked up with Colorverse Golden Gate Bridge, the 2023 show ink
Size
Last year, the SF Pen Show had around 80 vendors and this year, almost 100; table count went from 165 to 190+. While there may be some shows with a similar number of vendors or tables, no other show besides DC can compare to the crowds at this one. As such, I tell everyone that this is the second largest show in the US. I do not know how many people attended the show, but it was definitely more than last year. Friday and Saturday attendance was up 20-25% and Sunday up 10% (though I could’ve sworn it was much busier than just 10% more).
As SF continues to be a destination show for many, quite a few attendees arrived on Thursday, raring to go on Friday morning. The aisles were packed and there were lines forming at several tables, most notably at Toyooka Craft, who had a line looping around the ink stations and around the corner and down one of the hallways. Most of the vendors did a bulk of their sales on Friday vs Saturday, which tends to be the busiest pen show day. This is because the folks who come Friday morning are (1) weekend pass holders, (2) have taken the day(s) off from work and family to go to the show and (3) are ready to spend right at the start.
Friday line forming before the 1pm public hour start.
There were 9 more people behind this line for the Toyooka Craft table at 9:15am on Friday. It stayed this long for most of Friday morning.
It was really nice to see vendors from across the Pacific like Atelier Musubi, Bungubox, Nagasawa, Toyooka Craft and Yamamoto Paper, as well as Eboya and Stylo Art, neither of whom have been back to the show since 2019 (due to pandemic and other conflicts). I was especially excited to meet Hiroko Makino of Bokumondoh because she does such amazing urushi work. There were many returning vendors like Dromgoole’s, Franklin-Christoph, Flax Pen to Paper, PLOTTER/Traveler’s Company, Skogsy Pens, Schon Dsgn, Luxury Brands of America, Kenro and more - there are just too many to list!
These pieces were made by Toyooka Craft, with urushi work done by Hiroko Makino of Bokumondoh, and were silent-auctioned at the show.
One of these days, I will own this stunning 100 pen box. Some day…
Known for their Kobe inks as well as store exclusives, the folks from Nagasawa stationery stores in Japan enjoyed their last year’s show so much that they came back again! They are already trying to figure out how to come back next year!
Kaoru Yamagishi and Bruce Eimon of Bungubox were excited to be back at the SF Pen Show
As in past years, there was a large variety of vendors, from vintage, to modern, to locals and international sellers alike. Aside from the distributors (like Coles of London, Luxury Brands of America, Pilot USA, etc), there were also a lot of modern dealers including Dromgooles, Franklin-Christoph, Flax Pen to Paper, and more. There were some vintage dealers but the SF Pen Show definitely skews more modern; you could still find folks like Paul Erano, Myk Daigle of MaD Mercantile, and more. Aside from the vendors named above, other international vendors also traveled to this show including Miro Tischler (Croatia), and Ray Walters (UK). And I always enjoy seeing local folks at pen shows including SF Posse friends who had tables, as well as Enigma Stationery from the East Bay, Maido, Peyton Street Pens from Santa Cruz, and of course, Rickshaw Bagworks from San Francisco.
One of the highlights was meeting Stefan Schnirch, President of Waldmann Pen, and also their master engraver Stefanie Ottile. She did free custom engravings with the purchase of a Waldmann Xetra Vienna and it was amazing to watch her in action with her engraving tools. She typically manages 8-9 pens/day, but worked hard this weekend, making 10-12/day. Here is a Waldmann IG reel showing the engraving at real time.
The Waldmann and Luxury Brands of America crew were getting ready for the show to start! It was funny that Stefan, the President of Waldmann, was doing a “sorority squat” so he could fit in the picture.
It was a jaw-dropping experience to watch Stefanie in action. Her ability to create these stunning pieces all while blocking out all the noise, chatter and phones in her space, was mind-blowing.
Here is a partially completed barrel with a bridge motif. She made other designs this weekend including mountains, waves and other shapes too.
Managed to catch Jaime Perez, Ryan Finnegan and Jeremy Saumure (left) from Flax Pen to Paper before the crowds came rushing in!
Flax also released 3 exclusive inks at the show! Can’t wait to review them!
Zach and Amy of Skogsy Pens only had a few of these beauties left on Sunday!_
I think the biggest difference from prior years is the influx of “pen-adjacent” vendors. More than just pens, ink and paper, we had vendors selling items like notebook covers, pen cases, washi tape, PET tape, stickers, stamps, ephemera, etc. We had a lot of new vendors that fell into this category; some of them are Judy of Tokubetsumemori (Taiwain), Ayako of Cute Things from Japan), who came with eric of eric small things (both from Tokyo), Mai from Paper Treats, and Christine from Everyday Explorers; as well as returning vendors like InkyConverters and Enigma Stationery too.
Judy of Tokubetsumemori, who came with pal Annie, is known for her selection of washi, PET tapes and for “yelling” on her Twitch streams. I also love that she tells people to “use your s#!t” and not just buy buy buy, but of course I can’t help but buy her cute products!
It was the first time that Mai from Paper Treats came to the show and I loved all of her stuff, especially the cute little newspaper!
I love seeing Job’s smiling face from behind the Traveler’s Company table!
Behind Job was the PLOTTER table where they just released the new US exclusive Japan Blue Project - Shiranami Leather (online release coming next week on Sept. 6th).
Last year I said that this show skews heavily on modern vs vintage (probably 70:30) but this year, I’m going to have to add a third category for “other” to include the growing number of stationery-adjacent vendors. So maybe 50% pens (and ink/paper), 30% vintage and 20% other. Though if you saw some haul photos, you might have thought they went to a stationery-only show, hahaha! The fact that this show is becoming more than “just a pen show” has bumped up the score to 10!! There are so many different types of things to shop for that it definitely helps to go for more than one day!
Score: 10/10
Location
The new location, the Westin SF Airport, is shockingly close to the airport. As in, you can see the very end of the runway from across the street. It is only one exit away, making it very convenient for folks to get to/from the airport, especially since the hotel has a shuttle (more below). Like many of the other pen shows, the SF Pen show is not located in the city for which it is named. It is located in Millbrae, about 25 minutes south of downtown San Francisco.
Same score as last year since the two hotels are geographically pretty similar. And SF still has a huge list of things to do like the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, eating in Chinatown, going to Fisherman’s Wharf and having clam chowder with sourdough bread, watching a SF Giants baseball game, etc. Not to mention, redwoods, wine tasting, the coast and hiking just a short drive away.
Score: 9/10
Hotel
The SF Pen Show outgrew the previous location and so this year, it was located in the Westin SF Airport Hotel in Millbrae. There were room blocks at both the Westin as well as the neighboring Aloft SF Airport; both hotels are separated by a parking lot, so it was easy to move between the two. The Westin looks more like the traditional hotel with a nice lobby, bar and restaurant, while the Aloft is the new hipster modern hotel. Most of the vendors stayed in the Westin because it was more convenient for setup/packup. Both locations had plenty of seating in the lobby, at or near the bar/restaurant. The Aloft had areas outside the bar where folks could play cornhole, big checkers or just hang by the heat lamps and fire pits. Folks who stayed at both hotels told me that the beds in the Westin were comfier. My bed in the Aloft was fine; it did take me 5 minutes to find the light switch in the bathroom because it was hidden on a small sliver of wall, lol.
Front of the Westin San Francisco Airport Hotel
On the other side of the parking lot behind the Westin is the ALoft San Francisco Airport Hotel.
The Westin Lobby had lots of comfy chairs and spaces for people to hang out, meet up, relax or unwind.
After getting through registration, you are immediately presented with vendors. Musubi, Kenro, Vanness, Curnow Bookbinding and Leather, Schon Dsgn and others were in the hallway leading to the main ballroom. Outside the ballroom, there were several hallways that could have easily been missed (more on that in a bit).
If you were lucky, you might catch a glimpse of Leigh Reyes making art at the Musubi tables in their new Rasa notebook.
I got to try out some new sizes of the Monoc nib by Schon Dsgn. They write on the reverse too! There were even some cursive italics that were pre-ground by Gena Salorino.
Walk down the main hallway a little further and you can see this stunning new handpainted pen by Ryan Krusac!
Relatively “quiet” on Friday afternoon around 3pm. Most of the frenzy happened earlier in the morning before noon, but there were still plenty of people at the show.
So good to see the folks from Stylo Art after a 4 year hiatus!
Look at the beautiful pens that Stylo Art makes!
I was pleasantly surprised to see and meet Miraikat who came from Japan to help Ayako of Cute Things from Japan (and her daughter) and eric of eric small things at their first SF Show!
Another calm-before-the-storm picture - this time it’s Marty & Kimberly Henderson with Mark Dwight of Rickshaw Bagworks.
This year’s pen show theme from Rickshaw Bagworks - I wonder if Marty had any say in the color? 😃
Great to see Joe Corona, Jeff Velker and Adam Finer, owners of Retro 51, who were next to Rickshaw Bagworks and …
They released this limited edition Retro 51 resin fountain pen AND…
These super cute Retro 51 notebooks! The paper is fountain pen friendly too!
The hallway to the right of Vanness Pens had about 7-8 vendors including The Gentleman Stationer, Enigma Stationery, Everyday Explorers, and Maido/Kinokunia and more.
Joe Crace, aka The Gentleman Stationer was right next to Vanness Pens in the first hallway._
Dan Wearsch and his family were busy all weekend at the Enigma Stationery table.
Christine Herrin of Everyday Explorers had a great time at her first pen show – she sold out of a lot of her products!
On the far left side of the ballroom, there is an exit to the other hallway, where you would find nib grinders Kirk Speer, CY of TokyoStationPens, Matthew Chen and Mike Masuyama, along with Hiroko Makino of Bokumondoh, Eboya and Stacy Hills of Paper Wants a Pen.
Kirk Speer and wife Crystal were tucked in at the end of the second hallway but still managed to keep busy.
Rare moment when CY of TokyoStationPens and helper Kelly weren’t being mobbed all weekend._
==hiroko 1_What an honor it was to finally meet Hiroko Makino of Bokumondoh (right) and her assistant Toru._
I brought all my Bokumondoh pretties to show Hiroko (and Toru, who had not seen these before since she worked on them before he started helping her.)
Both Mike Masuyama (left) and Matthew Chen’s sign up lists were full pretty quickly. People got on Mike’s list before 6:30am and the show doesn’t even start til 8!
The fellas from Tactile Turn said they had a great sales weekend, even in the hallway, and are already planning to come back next year._
Stacy Hills, wife Jill and daughter Faith are some of the nicest people ever AND they sell cool stuff too.
There was also a small “hallway” where six ink testing stations were located, along with the perpetually busy Toyooka Craft table, Bungubox, Kiwi Inks, Jimmy Dolive from Total Office Products and others. And tucked away in this nook was a smaller room, where nib workers JC Ament and Gena Salorino were situated, as well as Yafa, Paper Treats, Tokubetsumemori, Yoshikawa Paper and a few others.
Yours truly, as well as the Bossman, each had trays inked up with 49 of our favorite inks. Go ahead, you can say it, my tray was better! 😃
Syd Saperstein, one of the organizers of the show, was also located in the small ballroom, where he handed out free bottles of the show ink to folks who completed the scavenger hunt.
The Westin’s cafe had pastries, snacks and caffeine! It also had very respectable hours (they were open long before my 7:30 am arrival and were still open in the late afternoon after 4pm). The show organizers also negotiated discounted parking for folks who booked under the room block - $15/night with in/out privileges vs their usual $48/night (yes, $48, highway robbery). They also negotiated free parking for the show - no in/out privileges (but you could get a new parking pass and validation at the registration desk), and no overnight parking. One major downside was the parking. There just wasn’t enough parking for everyone on any of the days. Even on Sunday afternoon at 2pm, my husband (and son and dog) couldn’t find a spot in either of the two lots until someone happened to leave. I think part of it is because they contract out some of their spots to the local Park n Fly, but they need more spaces even beyond that.
The room rate for either of the two hotels was $169/night which was reasonably priced considering this is the Bay Area. It is on the medium to higher end price wise but not by much. Even though I live less than 7 miles away, I decided to spend Saturday night at the Aloft and it was a comfortable bed/room, even if it didn’t have as much desk space as a pen addict might need.
The hotel staff were generally fine but a bit inconsistent. Front desk staff was friendly and helpful, but didn’t really notice when there was a line of people waiting. The restaurant staff was hit-and-miss; some of the servers were great and on top of it, while another server (or maybe supervisor) was a bit intense and kind of barked at people while being scatterbrained at the same time (she kept giving people the wrong to-go orders without reading the names, for example). The bar at the Westin closes at 10pm every night, which is a bit on the early side, so folks often went to the Aloft bar afterwards, because it is supposed to be open until midnight (as per their signage). The bartenders did the last call at 11:15 pm because they wanted to clean the place up and leave by midnight – sorry, guys, that’s not how that works. The food and drinks were pretty good (I had a couple meals and maybe more than a few beverages at both locations). The Aloft had an automated noodle machine and that came in handy when I got the munchies at 2am Saturday night.
Like the previous hotel, the Westin SF Airport is dog-friendly. I loved seeing all the dogs during the show - they made my day! My non-pen-loving spouse and kid brought our dog to the show (people didn’t believe that my husband and kid existed even though they knew about my dog, lol).
Some of the dogs spotted at the show this year (see what I did there? lol). There were more, including a couple of unrelated corgis that didn’t want the paparazzi around.
Odin, the official dog & mascot of the SF Pen Show, even has his own vendor badge!
My doggo, Bungee, usually isn’t a smiling dog, but she is when Audrey Matteson from Franklin-Christoph is giving her hugs!
The new venue(s) were both better and worse than the prior location. I liked having two locations which made after-hours less crowded, and gave people multiple places to “escape” if it was too overwhelming. The crowds and traffic flow made the show a bit challenging to navigate, and the multiple hallways and hidden vendor room made it hard for some vendors to get more traffic to their location. Would it surprise you that several vendors literally showed up at the show without reserving or paying for tables and still expected tables? It wasn’t easy but the show found a way to accommodate them, but that definitely added to the crowding.
Parking was also a challenge. The hotel cafe being open through the afternoon was also clutch since many folks needed their afternoon caffeine fix to make it through the day. The hotel shuttle ran every 15 minutes from 4am to 1am (you have to schedule it from 1am -4am), which made it very easy to get to/from the airport. As it is the first year in this new location and because there were both pluses and minuses, I am going to keep the score as is this time.
Score: 8/10
Tickets
The 3-day weekend pass for the show costs $60 and includes early access starting at 8am for Friday-Sunday. You can also purchase individual day passes: Friday afternoon (1PM - 5PM) tickets cost $25, and Saturday/Sunday day passes cost $10 each for 10AM - 5PM access, or you can get a combination Saturday AND Sunday pass for $15 for 10AM - 5PM access. (Add $1 to the non-weekend prices for using PayPal). Children were free. Weekend passes were sold online up until a few days before the show, while general admission tickets were only available at the door. Like DC, this show has a higher price for Friday half day than the weekend day passes. Judging by the crowds that were there on Friday morning, there were a lot of weekend pass holders. And despite the start time being 8am, Mike Masuyama’s nib grinding list already had 6 folks on it at 6:40am!!!
Score: 8/10
Classes
Last year’s class list was what drove me to say no to working at the show. It feels like there were even more free seminars and paid classes this year. Some of the sessions included Every Paper has an Origin Story by Taizo Yamamoto (of Yamamoto Papers) and Bruce Eimon, Basic Nib Care & Tune by Sunny Koh, Travel & Sketch by Janet Takahashi and Urban Sketching by Eileen Goldenberg, to name a few. In addition to the Pens for Kids Scavenger hunt that is put on by the Pen Collectors of America, they also held a free seminar so kids could learn about fountain pens and how to use/take care of them. There was also a launch event with TokyoStationPens & Ben Walsh Design. I counted four different meetups/events like the Planner meetup (hosted by the Bay Area Planners), Stationery meetup (SF Stationery Meetup), Destash meetup (SF Pen Posse) and Stationery Cafe Happy Hour (Stationery Cafe Podcast).
I also attended two paid classes: a creative journaling workshop by Abbey Sy and Enjoy Rubber Stamps with TRAVELER’s Notebook with eric small things. Abbey is an artist, writer and well-known journaler currently living in Berlin, and eric came all the way from Tokyo with Ayako of Cute Things from Japan. I had been following Abbey’s work on IG and have been shopping from Ayako’s shop and love eric’s adorable designs, so attending both of their workshops was a must-do! No regrets!
This creative journaling session was packed with folks eager to pick up some inspiration from Abbey Sy and use some of her products to work on their own journals during the workshop.
eric is demonstrating how she cuts out designs for her rubber stamps.
The in-progress stamp next to the completed stamp, which we all got to stamp into our journals.
Showing off our Traveler’s Company passports that we stamped in during the workshop.eric’s IG post
In addition to the seminars and paid classes/workshops, yours truly even did four sessions of “Pen Shows 101” where I shared some of my favorite tips/tricks for navigating a pen show, especially one as overwhelming as this one. At Lisa Vanness’ request, I also made sure everyone knew how to clean and fill a fountain pen. It was an informal session with Q&A about the show and about pens/inks in general . We followed up the seminar with a tour of the show, which allowed me to not only highlight some of the vendors/distributors that we talked about, but also show everyone the 2 additional hallways, ink testing stations and side room.
Sunday’s Pen Shows 101 session where I went through how to get through a pen show, pen hygiene and general tips and tricks before we embarked on a show tour.
I enjoyed being the pen show tour guid and using the fan from Karas Kustoms (which also came in handy because it got warm at times) so folks to keep track of where I was. The vendors got a chuckle out of it too.
Score: 10/10
Nib Workers
There were at least 6 nib workers that I knew of at this show (alphabetical by first name) and that didn’t include those at Franklin-Christoph who also tune and offer in-house ground nibs. Missing this year was Damien Alomar of All in the Nib who had a great reason for missing the show - the birth of their new baby boy a few weeks back. Congrats and hope to see you next year!
- CY of Tokyo Station Pens
- Gena Salorino of Custom Nib Studio
- JC Ament of The Nib Tailor
- Kirk Speer of Pen Realm
- Matthew Chen of Matthew’s Nibworks
- Mike Masuyama
The nib workers were either in the back hallway (Matthew, Mike and CY) or in the small room near the ink testing stations (JC and Gena). I heard that they were all busy all weekend, which is great. Score: 10/10
Overall Vibe
San Francisco has always been a fun show, and being able to enjoy it again as an attendee made it the hands down funnest pen show. I tell people that vendors go to DC to make money but they go to SF to make money AND have fun. And attendees, yeah, they go to SF to spend all the money, buy all the things AND see things/meet people they would otherwise never get to meet.
Continuing the Saturday night tradition of having live music, this live band entertained folks with bluegrass and rock & roll (though it was way too loud for my ears.)
While we have a large contingent of local folks (within 2-3 hours drive) that come to the show, a lot of people (both vendors and attendees) also travel to come here. I heard many people say that they finally met people that they’ve only known online in Instagram or other online communities. I love that lots of people were able to meet others in real life because I’ve said it a million times before, the pens and things are nice and all, but it’s the people that really matter and being able to see them face to face and give hugs (or fist bumps) is what it’s all about.
Mike Matteson, aka InkDependence, got to meet his 10,000th follower on his YouTube channel at the show! Congratulations, Mike!
The Bay Area Planners group hosted a meetup with giveaways, destashing and more.
With all this raving, you might wonder why I am only going to give it a 9. Because it is a large show and it was crowded and that can be overwhelming for some folks. I still HIGHLY recommend this show, even to the most introverted of folks, because it is such a good show and there are so many in the community who would happily take folks under their wing and make sure they have a good time.
Score - 9/10
Food
As I mentioned earlier, the hotel restaurant was pretty good and had typical hotel prices. The Aloft had an automated noodle machine and also a bigger grab-n-go section
My bowl of black garlic pork ramen was pretty tasty and came in handy at 2:45 am Saturday night, lol
There was a grab-n-go section at the Aloft for those times when you just need to grab a bite or drink (including beer) It was convenient that you could charge your purchases to either hotel.
Did you know that alcoholic ice cream was a thing?! I didn’t have any but I heard that the coconut rum one was strong but pretty good.
The hotel is located on the bay side of the freeway overpass. About a ¾ mile walk across the overpass, there were some fast food options like Chipotle, In-N-Out and Panera. If you go 1 mile away, you end up on the main thoroughfare for this side of the bay - El Camino Real and there is food up and down in either direction.
GLAMPIG (Greater Los Angeles Metro Pen Ink Group) members and friends (like me) went out for hot pot dinner (think of it as Asian broth-based fondue) on Saturday. Ate so much, worth every pound! (PC: GLAMPIG)
Score - 8/10
After Hours
Last year I was an idiot and was the “last one to leave the hotel bar” on Thursday and Friday nights, which made me lose steam for the rest of the weekend. This year, I learned my lesson and went home at a respectable midnight hour on Thursday, which meant I was raring to go for the rest of the weekend.
There was a lot of space at the Westin restaurant/bar/lobby area where people could easily sit down for a break mid-show, or spend hours playing with other people’s pens. The Aloft also had a trendy lobby/bar area with a pool table, board games, and lots of tables and chairs for people to hang out together.
In addition to the casual, post-show hangouts, there was an informal evening hangout at the Westin that was hosted by The Stationery Cafe podcast. There was also the traditional Saturday night live music at the Aloft. Because there were two hotels, it wasn’t always clear where people would be gathering, so I heard that some folks just kept going back and forth between the two lobbies to look for people to hang out with.
Just some of the ridiculous things you get to see at a pen show. Like this little baby pen that was literally inside the barrel of this massive pen.
After-dinner Pen Show Uber shenanigans with InkDependence Mike, Ian Schon and helper Scott.
A bunch of folks gathered in a friend’s suite and had an impromptu wine tasting!
It was a bit loud in the Aloft lobby during the live music, so folks went outside to chit-chat by the heat lamps.
Despite my best intentions, I never take enough after hours. But I did get yet another a late night picture at the firepit - it wasn’t even 1:30am yet!
Score - 9/10
Other
People come to the SF show because it is fun and because the show gets vendors that don’t go to any other US shows. If your pen and stationery tastes skew Eastern and you can’t make it to a pen show in Asia, this is the show for you. Atelier Musubi nearly sold out of all of their new Rasa and pocket notebooks. There was always a crowd at the Traveler’s Company table as they brought their stamps for people to decorate their Traveler’s Notebooks. Taizo Yamamoto of Yamamoto Paper had an amazing display of a wide variety of paper for people to try. Toyooka Craft was nearly sold out of everything by Saturday. I can go on and on but you get the point.
As I mentioned earlier, there were a lot of tables that had non-pen/ink/paper items, aka “pen adjacent”, which is making this show “more than just a pen show”. These offerings are wonderful for folks who aren’t into pens as much, or maybe they are on a tighter budget, or want something for friends and kids.
Like any well-run show, the SF Pen Show has a group of volunteers to help out. The SF Pen Posse are always on the lookout to make sure vendors get help when needed or that folks get directed to whatever vendor they are looking for. Behind the scenes, they clean and fill up pens for the ink testing stations (we had 6 stations this year), help with the registration desk, etc. Having a large crew of local folks hanging out for all the days and nights helps with making the event fun too.
Something did happen on Saturday that put a damper on things though – a few vendors noticed that one or more pens had disappeared from their tables. So they notified the show owners, who had someone follow the suspected thief for 90 minutes before someone saw him steal a bottle of ink. At that point, several vendors and attendees confronted him and watched him until the San Mateo County sheriffs arrived. They took statements from witnesses and affected vendors, recovered the stolen property, cuffed the guy and took him away. This even made headlines. Side note: the sheriffs asked how much the pens were that the person stole and was shocked when the answer was $1k each.)
I absolutely hate that this happened, but we were all glad and relieved that he was caught. Vendors kept an eye on each other (and on the suspect) and worked together to make sure he was caught. While they arrested this guy and were able to recover and return the items he stole, sadly those weren’t the only thefts that occurred this weekend. I know of at least one folio of Montblancs was stolen, as well as pens from 3 other vendors. I hope that hotel surveillance is able to figure out who took them so vendors get their pens back.
Score - 9/10
Some thoughts:
- Organizing Pen Shows is HARD - It goes without saying but it really needs to be said, pulling off a pen show of any size is hard. Not just this show, but any show. Pulling one off at a new hotel where there are bound to be expectations and comparisons with the prior location is hard. There were both good and not-so-good things about the new location. The show has also gotten bigger as well, which added its own challenges. Now that the show is over, the organizers have a long list of items to prioritize and tackle. I have started my own personal list which I will be sharing with them – atop that list would be (1) eliminating/minimizing the traffic bottlenecks that made it overwhelming and difficult to maneuver, and (2) solving the parking problem (even if it means charging for parking).
- Pen Shows aren’t conventions - Up until this show, I had not heard of people referring to pen shows as “conventions” or “cons”. I’ve used that term to describe pen shows to non-pen people. But I heard this term brought up enough times across multiple audiences that it felt necessary to make a bit of a distinction. Most conventions tend to be bigger events, run by people whose sole jobs are to organize conventions, drawing in thousands of people, and are held in much larger facilities like convention centers. This, in turn, makes them much more expensive to run. Pen show tables typically run $150-300 each, while one vendors very small NY convention booth cost $7000, and that’s before travel costs or renting any tables or chairs. In addition, many convention centers are next to hotels that charge insanely high hotel rates too. I know, not all cons are that big, etc. But the truth of the matter is, pen shows (and not just this show, but in general) are run by pen enthusiasts who have full-time day jobs, and are supported by unpaid volunteers. Making the show a great experience for both vendors and attendees is their goal and I know they have already started brainstorming on how to improve next year’s show.
- Show Ink - I love that the show had an ink made for them. This year it was by Colorverse and is the “international orange” color, made to match the Golden Gate Bridge. I thought it was cool that the show set aside some bottles of ink to give away if folks got a stamp on their postcard from the show sponsors. The ink was only available for sale for one hour each afternoon. While there was a little confusion around “when and where will the ink be sold today”, it also meant that the ink wouldn’t sell out in the mornings.
- Meetups - I love that there were so many meetups scheduled throughout the show! There were 3 during show hours and the Stationery Cafe After Dark meetup was after hours (I’m so bummed my dinner ran late and I missed it). In the future, I would love to have more organized/hosted events like this where people can gather and meet one another.
- Theft - I don’t know if it’s the crowds or having too much trust in this community, but theft continues to be an issue that plagues some of the shows. I don’t know if uniformed and plain clothes security would help deter would-be thieves, or if everyone needs to have video cameras at their tables (or both), but I hope we can figure it out. If you’re attending the show, whether as a vendor or attendee, be vigilant and keep an eye out for sticky fingers. And if you see anything or get weird vibes, tell the show organizers. Hopefully seeing that the community takes this seriously and that people do get caught and arrested will deter future would-be criminals from stealing at this (or any) show.
- Masking - I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the level of masking at the show. Covid is proving that it’s still not gone, and this isn’t about shaming or lecturing, but transparency. After DC a few weeks ago, where a bunch of folks got the pen show crud and/or Covid, I was extra nervous about this show. There hasn’t been a mask mandate in over a year, but I would say that about at least a third of the folks were masked. I’ve asked in a few groups if anyone had gotten sick and for the most part, people are just tired from all the fun and the travel (lots of international and cross-country travel). People respected each others’ decision to wear (or not wear) masks. Personally it was a bit of a relief for me to see more masks at a show and not fewer.
Report Card:
0-50 Oof, do not attend
51-70 Show is alright
70-80 Show is solid
80-90 Show is pretty darned good!
91-100 REALLY good show and not to be missed
The 2023 SF Pen Show scored 90/100, which is about right this year. It gets high marks for having a big variety of vendors, nib workers and being near a destination area. I think there are some growing pains along with the new venue that made it difficult to score any higher. Even with all the bumps, it really deserves a score in the 91-95 range because it is absolutely a show that shouldn’t be missed.
Too many things to name and tag, but the haul included products from Kiwi Inks, Curnow Bookbinding and Leather, Paper Treats, Colorverse, Retro 51, stickers from Everyday Explorers, InkyConverters, Maido, Tokubetsumemori, Bungubox, Musubi, Cute Things from Japan and eric, A Thousand Words, Traveler’s Company inserts, Toyooka Craft.
I don’t yet have a pen to show for it, but this is going to be my birthday pen - a hand-engraved Waldmann Xetra Vienna. I can’t wait for this to show up!
This is the real haul, the best pen show haul right here - some of the friendships that I’ve made and rekindled this weekend.
The San Francisco Pen Show has always been my favorite show and this year was no exception. Even though my pen show week started on the Tuesday before and ended the Monday after, it felt like it was over before I knew it. You all know that pen shows are my happy place, but the SF Pen Show is my Disneyland. Even with some bumps and challenges, it is still the happiest place on earth for me. I’m utterly exhausted but also insanely full of gratitude and love for my pen friends, this show and this community. Now to get some sleep, spend some time with my pen show haul and get ready for Dallas! Until then, stay safe and stay inky!
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