Every year towards the end of December I take some time to reflect on some of my favorite content from the previous year, as well as on favorite new acquisitions. Today I’ll start out by mentioning five of my favorite pick-ups from 2023, which includes four pens and one paper product/organizer. These are in no particular order - I review and acquire a fair bit of stuff throughout the year, all of it different, so it’s nearly impossible to do a fair ranking beyond a “Top 5”. Enjoy!
Schon DSGN Monoc (Fine Nib). One of two big purchases from this year’s San Francisco Pen Show, the fine-tip Monoc features an architect-like grind on the reverse side, making it an extremely versatile writer (in addition to being a stunning visual piece, especially with the anodization).
Kyuseido Kakari Fountain Pen. Kyuseido’s take on the syringe filler, designed in partnership with Ben Walsh at Gravitas Pens, has been perpetually inked since San Francisco. Yes, San Francisco was an expensive show for me. And yes, I have a review of the Kakari in the works. It’s a somewhat complex review to write of a very specialized pen, but if you love highly engineered filling systems you will enjoy this one.
Montblanc 149, Studio Bokumondoh Edition. Earlier this summer I sent my plain black Montblanc 149 to Tokyo for an urushi treatment at Studio Bokumondoh, and received it back around two weeks after returning from San Francisco. (Did I mention August/September hurt my bank account?) I will likewise plan to write up this one in the coming year, with more details on the design, etc. The link is to my original review of the 149.
Kaweco Art Sport in “Terrazzo” Acrylic. I was thrilled to see this year’s Art Sport fountain pen released with the same integrated clip from the older (and now discontinued) “Sport Luxe” collection. While I enjoy all four colors, The Terrazzo and Hickory Brown spoke to me the most, and I added these two to my personal collection alongside my original Navy Blue Art Sport from several years ago.
Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter A4 Portfolio. I’ve had an A5-sized Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter for years, but I’ve always wanted a larger portfolio that can hold both an A4 or letter-sized pad as well as an A4 notebook. This has been an excellent solution. While we are mostly sold out of the larger Taschenbegleiters at the moment, we plan to bring them back and restock around the end of the month.
Stay tuned for more Year-in-Review content! I’ll be doing favorite my 5 favorite reviews from 2023 next week.
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