The Baltimore-Washington International Pen Show (or “BWIPS” for short or on Instagram), has developed into one of the bigger success stories of the past few years. As the traditional pen show circuit started to become a bit tired, the Baltimore organizers decided to bet on something entirely different, with a show more focused on new attendees and building out the overall pen show experience rather than simply buying, selling, and trading. This year’s show featured a wide variety of classes and seminars running basically every hour, on topics ranging from Zentangles and Urban Sketching to Origami. There were traditional pen-related classes as well, including “Buying and Selling Pens on eBay,” “Fountain Pen 101,” and my own contribution, “Everyday Writers: Choosing The Best Tools for Home and Office.” My own class had between 15-20 attendees, the overwhelming majority of whom were attending their first pen show. (And if you’re now reading this recap, welcome to the pen community and the TGS family!)
Write Notepads was gracious enough to open the doors to their space in downtown Baltimore for an open house that several of us from the pen show attended.
This particular pen show trip also took on a graphite hue: On Friday night, I attended a live recording of the Erasable Podcast, the result of a successful Kickstarter that brought Andy, Johnny, and Tim to the Baltimore Pen Show. (You can check out my photos from Friday here.) On Saturday night, I attended an open house at the Write Notepads bindery co-sponsored by the Erasable crew.
Uh, I’m having major FOMO after missing the preorder on these beauties. I hope they do another run at some point.
The Baltimore show was also especially notable for the large number of new vendors, including small penmakers such as Latitude Pens and Ironfeather Creative. Additionally, I’ve never seen such a large concentration of nibworkers in one place - at one point there were as many as seven working the show, and while they mostly stayed busy, I heard that it was relatively easy to have work done even if you had not booked a slot ahead of time. If you were attending to purchase pens, ink, and paper, vendors such as Vanness Pens, Dromgoole’s, and The Nibsmith had you covered.
Master penmaker Dan Symonds, who previously worked for Franklin-Christoph and has taught nearly everyone how to make pens.
Latitude Pens were set up across the aisle from TGS and right next to Vanness!
The Ironfeather Creative table on Sunday. Check out the detailing!
Emma from InkyExperiments came with a full table and wall of her amazing handwriting art.
An art journal at the InkyExperiments Table.
Hugh and Karol at Kanilea Pen Company brought their usual display, including a gorgeous batch of Kilauea pens, which were the top seller.
And, I was able to accomplish one of the “show goals” that I set for myself: checking out the new Leonardo “Messenger” fountain pen, which Dan Smith had at his table.
My First Year as a Pen Show Vendor
I didn’t get to see much of the show on either Friday or Saturday, since I was behind The Gentleman Stationer table for the first time ever! While I’ve occasionally worked shows in the past for sponsors like Vanness Pens and The Nibsmith, I’ve never brought The Gentleman Stationer to a pen show as a vendor. This year, I was set up directly across the aisle from Vanness, and in addition to TGS “blog swag” and “Daily Writer” ink sample kits I put together in connection with the class I was teaching, I brought products from two brands with me to sell: Write Notepads (which is fast becoming a favorite fountain pen-friendly paper) and longtime site sponsor Pokka Pens. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and I was sold out of all my paper by early afternoon on Saturday. For those of you who asked, I now have both of these products restocked in my online store, the TGS Curated Shop.
By early afternoon on Saturday, nearly all of my Write Notepads stock and certain colors of Pokka Pens were gone.
Takeaways and Final Thoughts
Following the success of last year’s show, many speculated that Baltimore could overtake D.C. and become the premiere area pen event, if not one of the betters hows in the country. The 2020 Baltimore Pen Show has only cemented the show’s status as a “must-see” stop on the Pen Show circuit. Despite being limited to a single ballroom and a somewhat lackluster airport-Marriott location, the show punches above its weight in terms of the variety of products and vendors available, not to mention classes during the day and after-hours meetups. I would describe it as the perfect show for first-time attendees, with plenty to keep the experienced show-goer interested as well. Baltimore has earned a permanent slot in my pen show rotation.
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