Greetings from the 2024 Washington D.C. Fountain Pen Supershow! I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this year’s show, mainly because I’ve been tied up with the move to our new shop and all that entails, but also because the past few post-Pandemic D.C. Pen Shows have felt “off” in terms of traffic. Fridays have been somewhat slow, with fewer weekend pass-holders making a full weekend of the experience and the main rush deferred until Saturday. Yesterday, however, was easily the busiest I have seen the D.C. Pen Show since 2019. The hotel is completely booked with a packed restaurant and bar, so apparently many out-of-towners decided to fly or drive in to attend the show.
It’s 4:00pm, so that means a raffle drawing at the Pilot Pens table. This is a scene I haven’t seen in years.
The 2024 show spans three hotel ballrooms, building on last year’s expansion in terms of the number of vendors and amount of sheer space the show is occupying in the hotel. Because there are three major pen shows taking place in the U.S. this August (the D.C. Pen Show, Stationery Fest in New York City, and the San Francisco Pen Show), many international vendors have decided to make a full month of it and are staying over to hit all three. If you can make it to any of these shows, there’s a deep roster of Japanese and European vendors present, including Opus 88 from Taiwan, who I don’t believe I’ve ever seen at a show before! There are also 8 different nib grinders.
Don’t miss out on the fun in the Vanness Pens Lounge, where there’s a rotating cast of characters holding classes on everything from ink swatching to folded nibs to my own presentation on notebook systems! Yesterday I hung out for a while at the tail end of the show
If I’ve heard one complaint from attendees, it’s that the show has become more difficult to navigate as it’s grown. This year, the organizers posted a QR Code with a link to an interactive map, though even that hasn’t seemed to help much. Part of the fun of a pen show is wandering for three days and discovering new things, but if you’re an attendee with limited time, you do need to an easier way to find specific tables. One thing I’ll be contemplating in my post-show recap is whether the D.C. Pen Show has, in fact, grown too big. At a minimum, it seems to have outgrown it’s current location.
Come Visit Our Table: Where We’re Located!
We are sharing table space with our friends at Vanness Pens this year, so you can find us next to Matthew’s Nib Works (Matthew Chen) in the front hallway. Whenever I attend a pen show, I try to bring brands that won’t also be found at a dozen different tables at the show. This year, I chose to bring Lochby cases (which are always a favorite at pen shows - lots of attendees end up needing additional storage to take pens home!), and Roterfaden, which I’ve never brought to a show before and has received a lot of interest. Taschenbegleiter systems are a bit of an investment, and it’s often helpful to be able to view and handle them in person before making a final decision on whether it will work for you. We also have Anterique Brass Ballpoints and Multi Pens from Uni and Pilot, which lots of attendees have been surprised to discover since it’s not something you typically see at any U.S. pen show. While Friday was busy, we brought plenty of stock so track us down!
If you can’t visit us at the show, you can still join in the pen show fun by using the coupon code “PENSHOW10” at checkout for 10% off most shop orders, good through Sunday evening!
The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program.
