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The Gentleman Stationer

Vintage Living in the Modern World.
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Craft Design Technology collaborates extensively with Pentel, releasing their own versions of pens like the Pentel Energel, the Pentel Tradio, and the Pentel Sign Pen.

Weekly Drops: Got Gift Cards to Burn? New TWSBIs, a Roterfaden Restock, and More!

December 26, 2025

The week between Christmas and New Year’s marks that special time when everyone starts to (1) spend their holiday gift money/gift cards and (2) retailers look to clear out their excess inventory. To that end, everything in the T.G.S. Clearance section will now receive an automatic 25% off at checkout, no coupon code necessary. We’ve also received the latest TWSBI release “Obsidian,” as well as a large Roterfaden restock that has many different sizes in stock in addition to the standard A5! Finally, be sure to check out the latest arrivals from Japan, including special edition releases from Craft Design Technology and Graphilo!

CDT is a Tokyo and UK-based design house that collaborates with traditional manufacturers such as Pilot, Pentel, and more on their own versions of classic stationery items. These including multi-pens like the Zebra Sharbo and Pilot Frixion 3, a Pentel Sharp Kerry, Camel pencils, writing pads and notebooks, and even leather items. We are constantly adding more as they arrive, so stay tuned.

We will be open in our Nashville store normal hours (1-6pm Friday and 10am-6pm Saturday). Please come by and see us!

  1. TWSBI Obsidian Piston Filler. The latest TWSBI acrylic piston filler limited release has landed, and it’s a beautiful pearlescent black acrylic with rose gold trim. We still have a (very) small number of the TWSBI “Kai” release from last year, if you prefer the blue.

  2. Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter B5 Size. We’ve restocked on most Roterfaden sizes, but the increasingly popular B5 is the one we’re asked about the most. This will hold B5 notebooks as well as standard composition books.

  3. Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter A4 Size. We have a few larger-format A4 Taschenbegleiters in black. We get requests to bring in A4 but it’s definitely a larger portfolio so these restocks tend to be fewer in number.

  4. Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter TGS_25. Our store-exclusive A5-slim Roterfaden is still available in grey leather, with either the grey or green elastic. We have a growing selection of A5-Slim notebooks, including newly arrived Graphilo offerings! More on those below.

  5. Craft Design Technology Leather Pen/Pencil Cases. These zippered leather cases can hold either pens or pencils, and will age/patina beautifully. Available in either black or brown leather.

  6. Craft Design Technology x Pentel Mechanical Pencil. So far, this CDT special edition mechanical pencil that is based on the iconic Pentel Sharp Kerry is a top seller.

  7. Craft Design Technology Desk Note Bagasse Notebooks. These landscape-style notebooks feature CDT’s signature green color and fountain pen friendly Bagasse paper, which is made from sugarcane waste and handles most inks extremely well. The Desk Note is available in two sizes and designed to sit beneath a keyboard while you work.

  8. Craft Design Technology Notepads. Available in either A5 or A6, with a mint green or natural color, this textured paper is pleasant to write on and features a smaller grid for jotting notes or even drawing.

  9. Graphilo A5-Slim Notebooks. The A5 Slim format is becoming increasingly popular, and Graphilo has released these notebooks with lined, grid, blank or “Ciro” (white line) layouts. Each notebook contains 188 pages of fountain pen friendly Graphilo paper.

  10. Graphilo Notebooks and Looseleaf Paper. In addition to the A5 Slim format, Graphilo makes notebooks in traditional A5, Square, and A4 sizes, and even has looseleaf sheets available in both A4 and A5.

In TGS Curated Shop Tags Thursday Drops, Clearance, Year-End Clearance, TGS Curated Shop, Craft Design Technology, Graphilo, TWSBI

Colorvent/Inkvent Recap: Days 11-20 Top Picks

December 24, 2025

So I got a bit behind on the Advent Calendars due to the holiday rush in the shop, but hopefully I’ll get caught up now that I have a couple days off! I do forget how much ink you end up accumulating with two calendars. (I can’t imagine keeping up with three or more like some people!) For today’s post I thought I would pick a handful that spoke to me and might make their way into the 3-4 inks from each calendar that I keep every year. If you missed the first two parts, check out my recaps of Days 1-5 and Days 6-10.

Day 16: Diamine Ruby Taffeta and Colorverse Polar Night

Taffeta is a dark red with a subtle gold shimmer, and Polar Night is a color-shifting ink that I’ll probably need to try out a bit more to see how dark it actually gets.

Day 19: Diamine Overcast and Colorverse Cosmic Reef

The color-shifters and multi-shaders were my favorite this year. Diamine Overcast has those multiple shades of blue and grey while Cosmic Reef combines tasteful levels of reddish sheen with color-shifting properties.

Day 20: Diamine Ambience and Colorverse Golden Airglow

Two really nice shimmer inks. Is subtle shimmer growing on me? Golden Airglow was a favorite.

Takeaways So Far From This Year’s Calendars: Enough with the Green/Gold Super-Sheeners

Not only do they tend to smear, but they all end up looking the same to me whether the underlying color is blue, purple, green, etc. The handful of sheening inks included in this year’s Diamine Calendar were my least favorite, and from what I’ve heard from readers and customers it wasn’t an uncommon take. I am, however, interested in further exploring the Diamine pigment inks, though given how sticky some of them have been I will be careful with the pens I use.

Wonderland222 A5 Core (S) Planner Setup

The Wonderland222 A5 Core (S) might be the dated paper planner that actually meets my needs.

Finally, to everyone who has supported us through the holiday season, a huge thank you! We’re looking forward to a couple of days off and then we’re back at it, with the store open Friday and Saturday normal hours. (Yes, we will be closed Christmas Day.) In the meantime, I'm busy getting ready for 2026, including closing out my 2025 notebooks and setting up planners and notebook systems for 2026. Believe it or not, this is actually one of my favorite things to do during the last week of the holiday season. Be sure to check out my recent video walkthrough of my main 2026 Planner that I’m still in the process of setting up, and I’ll have more 2026 notebook content in the week ahead!

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. You can also come visit us and see any products we sell directly at our physical stationery store in Nashville, Tennessee!

In Ink Reviews Tags Diamine Inkvent 2025, Colorverse Colorvent 2025, Advent Calendars, Ink Review, Diamine Inkvent, Colorverse Colorvent Calendar
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New Arrivals: TWSBI Obsidian Fountain Pens, Plus a Roterfaden Restock!

December 23, 2025

TWSBI’s latest limited edition piston filler has arrived, featuring a pearlescent black acrylic paired with rose gold trim. Like the TWSBI Kai (of which we still have exactly one available), the new TWSBI Obsidian will be available for a limited run. TWSBI releases this particular style approximately once a year, and sometimes less frequently. These pens are available for purchase now and will ship starting today.

Most Roterfaden Sizes Are Restocked - Please Visit the New Dedicated Roterfaden Shop Page

Unless you’re shopping in person with us today, these won’t arrive in time for Christmas, but we did receive a large restock of Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter covers, including less-common sizes such as B5 and A4, as well as Four-Clip covers. Going forward, Roterfaden products will be listed on their own dedicated section of the shop, since the stock changes frequently and it is easier to maintain this way. Please understand that we are not holding back stock and because the holiday season is busy, we have been unable to respond to inquiries about whether specific sizes and colors are available. If it is not listed on the Roterfaden page or showing as unavailable, we do not currently have it in stock.

We have holiday hours in the Nashville shop today from 1-6pm, and will be closed to in-person shopping tomorrow (12/23) and Thursday (12/24). We will reopen Friday and Saturday during normal store hours.

In TGS Curated Shop Tags Roterfaden, Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter

Pretty much sums up the week.

Sunday Reading for December 21, 2025

December 21, 2025
  1. Top 5 Fountain Pens of 2025 (via dwrdnet). Derek talks about the best pens he collected this year, as most of us are now in “recap” mode.

  2. Figboot’s Favorite Things 2025 (via Figboot on Pens). David walks through his favorite items that he reviewed this year. And he’s approaching 1000 videos sooner rather than later!?!

  3. My 2025 Favorites (via Rachel’s Reflections). Rachel focuses heavily on custom/small-batch makers, so her list features a lot of unique and unusual pen designs.

  4. Stationery Year-in-Review and Preview (via Pen Addict - Sarah). Sometimes our years don’t turn out as expected, and that’s ok.

  5. 10 More Useful Things (via Olive Octopus). I can vouch for the fact that most of these things are very useful, as Lisa has been kind enough to show me which of these I can/should use in the shop.

  6. Leonardo x Stilo e Stile Momento Zero “Kintsugi” Fountain Pen Review (via Weirdoforest Pens). This Leonardo collaboration featuring gold flecks suspended in clear resin turned out to be gorgeous, and I sort of regret not picking one up when I had the chance.

  7. How to Use a Notepad (via Notebook Stories). Small memo pads and bound notepads can be useful - I pretty much have one at every workstation and computer that I use for jotting down ideas, making quick calculations, etc.

  8. J. Herbin Opale Nocturne Ink Review (via Pen Addict). Most of the Herbin shimmer inks don't speak to me, necessarily, but this one hits closer to the excellent “Shogun” ink in that the understated blue-grey color could serve as an everyday ink?

  9. A Little Magic (via From the Pen Cup). These “rainbow” or “magic” pencils can produce unexpected effects whether you’re using them to write or draw.

  10. Inkmas Day 8: Diamine Lady Grey (via Well-Appointed Desk). I’m going to get my hands on this after Christmas - I love Diamine Earl Grey and this has a lot of the same color effects going on, yet at the same time is completely different.

Yes, I am still participating in Inkvent/Colorvent, though I’m behind on posting my photos. I’ll hopefully have a chance to get caught up this week.

In Case You Missed It…

I continued my own Year-in-Review series with my own Five Favorite Posts from 2025, determined by nothing other than whether I enjoyed writing it! Lisa Vanness and I also released our first YouTube Live via the On The Paper Trail… official Youtube Channel! Please subscribe to help us grow and to automatically receive future episodes, including the upcoming podcast. You can also follow us on Instagram.

This Week in the T.G.S. Curated Shop: Last Minute Madness!

We had a crazy - yet fun - rush in the shop this week, both in-store and online. As of today (Sunday), we only have three working days left until Christmas, so it is extremely unlikely online orders can be packed, shipped, and delivered by Christmas. If you have the opportunity, shop local and in-person, and to that end we will be open Monday and Tuesday in our Nashville location from 1pm-6pm, and will be closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day before reopening normal hours Friday and Saturday.

The latest TWSBI Release is available for pre-order starting today: Introducing the Limited Edition Piston Filler, “Obsidian”. Pens will ship December 23.

We have plenty of unique recent arrivals if you are looking for a gift that will stand out! For starters, most of our Craft Design Technology shipment has been entered into inventory and is available to browse, including all of their special edition multi-pens and fineliners, and CDT’s signature mint-green notebooks and notepads. We also have the Camel pencil sets and their special edition Pentel Sharp Kerry, complete with matte trim. Those of you who visited us in-store will also have noticed a restock of Musgrave pencils, including the Heritage Pencil sets and the newly released special edition Songwriter pencils and Highlighters, all of which would make excellent gifts! UPDATE: As of this afternoon, Roterfaden is restocked in most sizes, and available to peruse on its own shop page.

Craft Design Technology
Craft Design Technology
Caran d'Ache
Caran d'Ache
NJK Sharpeners
NJK Sharpeners
TWSBI
TWSBI

How to Support T.G.S. and Our Various Projects

If you enjoy our content (whether here on the main website, Instagram, YouTube Channel or elsewhere), and would like early/extra access to shop releases and special promotions, consider supporting us via Patreon. The T.G.S. Patreon includes early access and discounts on exclusive shop releases, a monthly updates newsletter, and of course our monthly meetups. As of this morning, ALL Patreon supporters (including non-paying free members) have access to one or more initial “practice” episodes of “On the Paper Trail”.

In LInks Tags Links
On the Paper Trail Podcast Artwork

On the Paper Trail Inaugural Livestream! Follow Us on the New YouTube Channel

December 20, 2025

“On the Paper Trail”, the podcast and video series that I’ve been working on with Lisa Vanness, has it’s own home over on YouTube where you can watch our first YouTube Live Session. We’ll be doing these livestreams semi-regularly until we launch the podcast in early 2026. In this inaugural “Episode,” we talk about surviving the holidays as retailers (both online and in-store), new shop arrivals and our favorite new products, as well as our 2026 Planner Setups and the 2026 Pen Show Calendar! Unofficial “Show Notes” are below:

Joe’s Favorite New Shop Arrivals:

  • Craft Design Technologies Pentel Sign Pens. We talk about CDT and how they have built a business collaborating with established Japanese stationery companies such as Pentel, Pilot, and more.

  • Graphilo A5 Slim Notebooks. I had not used Graphilo paper until recently, but I really enjoy the lighter ruling and ink-friendly paper that retains some texture. These 188-page A5 Slim notebooks are my favorite.

Lisa’s Favorite New Shop Arrivals:

  • Midori MD Stationery Sets (via Vanness Pens). Each year Midori releases new letter sets (pads and envelopes) in a wide range of different designs that include some Washi-style papers.

  • Wonderland222 Planners (via Vanness Pens). The Wonderland222 is Joe and Lisa’s Planner of Choice for 2026, and we talk about the different formats that we chose. Joe opted for the A5 Core with Stacked Weekends, and Lisa is using the B6 Core Horizontal.

2026 Events Calendar (First 6 Months)

  • Nashville January TGS Event (Pending Final Dates) with Vanness Pens and Matthew Chen (Matthew’s Nibworks)

  • California Pen Show (February 19-22, 2026)

  • Arkansas Pen Show (March 20-22, 2026)

  • San Francisco Stationery Fest (March 27-29)

If you enjoy our content, please consider supporting us through the T.G.S. Curated Shop or by visiting our Patreon, which features extra content and more hangout opportunities. And, of course, you can also come visit us in person at our Nashville Shop!

In On The Paper Trail Tags On The Paper Trail, Podcast, Vanness Pens
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