My journey into the Stationery Universe began many years ago. Almost as soon as I could read, I was writing. First, small poems. Then, short travelogs about the adventures that my companions (Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones, if you are curious) along with my indulgent pals from down the street would undertake. Next, onto short stories, followed by a regression to poetry during the tortured teenage years. I then veered into creative non-fiction, which inevitably evolved into journalism… and then a couple of degrees in writing came along, with an attendant career in content marketing.

And through it all? I was buying pens.

OK, pens AND paper. (And stickers and cards and journals and planners and….)

Vacations, in addition to providing inspiration for travel writing, offered gift shops with pens that could be tilted at an angle so that the Maid of the Mist would glide towards Niagara Falls or a dolphin could leap in and out of the waves. There were postcards, just waiting for a few quips to be scrawled upon them and sent to loved ones far and near.

August called for a pilgrimage to the local office supply store for the annual back-to-school supply fulfillment. I’d strategically select color-coded binders and notebooks; debate the merits of various writing implements; carefully choose which pencil pouch would best express my uniqueness. I would determine that the Trapper Keeper with the jaunty horse would protect my work and thoughts for the year to come.

I used school supplies as an intentional method of expressing who I was, or who I was becoming. This annual pilgrimage is so ingrained that even now, every August, I feel the pull to purchase new office supplies. Despite the fact that, as a grown up who doesn’t have to justify to my parents why on earth I need another pen, I’ve been buying writing accessories and tools all the livelong year.

A few good friends kindly showed me the light simply by allowing me to hold their pens. To feel them. To write with them. To feel how writing with a fountain pen encourages the most natural flow of ideas from brain to tool to paper I’ve ever felt. And then I attended my first pen show, the Ohio Pen Show… and joined the subreddits… and started following penfluencers on Insta…. And discovered this entire universe was full, not just of amazing stationery products to explore, but of people who are just like me. Enchanted by the way the light plays on a swatch of ink. Beguiled by the color shifts, chatoyance or sparkles of a hand-crafted pen. The sheer musicality of a well-tuned or custom-ground nib.

This beautiful community, chock full of pen friends waiting to be made. Of fellow explorers.

Since then, I have had the pleasure of attending more shows and even working at some. I’ve had the honor of collaborating on a fountain pen design: The Pleiades. The amazing experience of the collaboration, and the warm reception the pen received from our community, inspired me to step out in faith and open my own little outpost in our universe.

Stationery Universe will feature inky musings and explorations by yours truly as I continue to learn and grow. And the shop will feature a carefully curated selection of stationery items, hand-selected for (and from!) the community I love. The emphasis is on highlighting smaller and independent makers and craftspeople. If you have ideas of items we should carry, I’d be delighted if you shared them! And if you are interested in seeing your items in our shop, I would love to speak with you.

I’m so glad you’re here as we explore the Stationery Universe together.