What's the DEAL with fountain pens?! (and London Pen Show recap)

I’ve been enamoured by this hobby for 10 years this year, which is a pretty insane thought. I still remember my initial euphoria when it came to diving into this world. All the blogs, videos, forums… It’s an excitement I still carry with me today (clearly) and that I’d love to share with you here.

✍️ Currently Inked

Every two weeks I change up my pen and ink combinations. This fits a personal schedule of mine, which allows me to focus on a few rotating projects and so I always have two pens, with two different inks, a pocket notebook, and a trusty Retro 51 (though I am looking to expand my ballpoint / rollerball arsenal to have some extra variety).

Today marks the start of another fortnightly cycle for me, and I’m excited to ink up my most recent acquisition - a TWSBI Eco in blue and rose gold that I purchased yesterday at the London Writing Equipment Show [LWES]. I wanted a special pen to commemorate rediscovering my interest in the hobby, and I’ve paired it with Diamine Earl Grey ink, which has a personal connection for me. Back in 2017, I actually suggested the name Earl Grey in a Reddit thread where Diamine offered to create the first commemorative ink for the r/fountainpens community. To my surprise and delight, my suggestion won the community vote - I find using a celebratory grey ink to be somewhat ironic, which amuses me. So apologies to anyone who might have preferred a more colourful choice, but I think it turned out to be a wonderful ink (and the subsequent annual releases have all been cool as well).

The pen cost £44, which is a bit steep for an Eco, but it’s got bronze on it so it’s a special Eco. Indeed, given the cirucmstances, this is a special pen to me and I’ll always be reminded of good things whenever I pick it up in the future.

Also inked is a John Twiss custom fountain pen, that was made for a group of us at the /r/UKLondonPenClub, and is inscribed “London Pen Geeks 2016”. It is inked with KWZ Grapefruit (I was pining for an orange last week so had to scratch that inky itch) and has a Bock titanium nib. Where this nib came from, I don’t know. But it’s in there now. As these things happen.

I love the smell of this pen. The acrylic transports me straight back to when I first got it and brings so many memories. The KWZ ink smells lovely as well, with That characteristic thyme and vanilla you get from KWZ for whatever reason. Whenever I uncap this pen now I am taking a covert sniff at it like an addict trying to get his fix.

Last fortnight I had two Parker pens inked up; the first pen I ever bought and the last pen (until yesterday) that I bought. Below are two posts that explain the pens and history a little bit more. The gist of it, however, is that I bought my first pen, the Parker Sonnet, as a way to coerce me into studying for my A level exams; if I had a nice expensive pen then surely I’d want to write and study with it?
Reddit post
Instagram post

🏙️ London Pen Show - March 2025

But I discovered something far greater. Yesterday, as mentioned, I went to the LWES, perhaps my sixth time? It’s the only pen show I’ve been to, and I enjoy it every time. I am still amazed that there is a fountain pen show, not just in London (that runs twice a year) but across the country, as well as internationally. In fact, the LWES is just a tiny fish in the pond compared to some of the other leviathan shows I’ve heard about… Maybe one of these days I’ll venture and dip my toes in the deeper waters!

Here are a few pictures of some Kawecos I was tempted by, an interesting custom pen by Nine Bespoke, and a pen with a helix style internals that I’m sure would look wicked inked up.

Though I am slightly shocked there’s a show dedicated to pens, friends and family are even more shocked. There is eventually a point where all of us in this hobby become known as the pen person. There are various reactions - most people are a bit confused and they give you the “ohh… that’s interesting?!” response.

Other times they can be genuinely interested and ask you for recommendations, as if you’re some expert vintner at a high end restaurant and they’ve asked you what wine pairs well with the beef (or what orange ink pairs well with a blue custom pen and how good does it smell!)

⛵ The Pen Life Raft

Fountain pens have been an enormous benefit to me - at times a lift raft. When I first got interested in this hobby, a decade ago, I was going through some tough times. Call it growing pains, you know? Well, recently I’ve been gong through a new set of growing pains, and turning to fountain pens has been a big driving force in getting me out of a rut.

There is something not just about the community, but the act of writing that is cathartic and it has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. I take great pleasure, and in this increasingly technological world, it can get harder and harder to figure out where your pens fit.

So, after a few years of not really using fountain pens as regularly as pens were switched for keyboards and inks for screens (I did a very quantitative-focused Master’s and eventual job path that involves Excel and coding), pens would laid dormant. Remnants of uncleaned ink clung to the inside of their converters - the blood was in them, but there was no heart to pump it around. At the same time, some of my life force wasn’t being pumped around, and I truly believe that the more I use stationery (and use it well), the better my life has the potential to become, also.

I got a fountain pen to do well at school, but I learnt something much greater:

Find a productivity tool you love, and getting stuff done will be a breeze.

This two week cycle has worked out brilliantly for me, and I’m using my pens a lot more often. Over the years I’ve accumulated quite a few, and this method just makes the whole process a less overwhelming and perhaps makes me feel a little less guilty when I open my pen case and hear them scream, “but you haven’t inked me in so long!”

I’m sorry, my Conway Stewart Dinky; your ink capacity is just too small for me!

At the end of each week, I process all my digital notes in Obsidian, organising them from daily notes into their respective project folders, while also handwriting the concepts that benefit most from that format.

There’s no strict formula for what gets handwritten versus kept digital; some information just intuitively feels like it needs the pen-to-paper treatment to fully process. The tactile feedback of a good nib gliding across quality paper creates a physical connection to the ideas that’s impossible to replicate digitally, and I feel that with every unique pen stroke and cursive connection between letters, you see the document as something that’s a bit more alive and containing the author’s temperament; their pleasure, or even pain.

Two Week Cycle

Since implementing this two-week rotation system, my work output has returned to the high standards I expect from myself. The quality of my thinking has improved, my recall is sharper, and most importantly - the work feels enjoyable rather than draining. Tasks that once felt like chores now offer moments of pleasure through the simple satisfaction of using beautiful tools. The ritual of uncapping a pen, seeing the ink flow, and feeling the distinctive writing experience of each nib creates small moments of mindfulness throughout my day.

There’s also an efficiency to fountain pens that might seem counterintuitive in our digital age. While typing may be faster for raw text entry, the better retention and deeper processing that comes with handwriting often means I spend less time reviewing and relearning material later. What initially appears as a slower process actually creates time savings downstream.

I’ve also integrated a pocket notebook into the rotation to capture more miscellaneous (or “Goldfish” notes - things that I don’t want to forget 3 seconds later!) notes. I’ll talk more about this in a future post because the results of this surprised me (follow my socials at the bottom of the page to be notified).

❤️ Pens: A Wonderful Tool and Community

The final thing I want to touch on is the LWES again. Here I met so many old friends and faces, and some new ones. That’s the other thing I love about fountain pens; the community. There are many knowledgeable and interested individuals that provide so much information and collaboration.

I got to see some friends I’ve made at previous fountain pen clubs (and got some wicked advice on ukuleles), including some who commissioned the same John Twiss pen club pen as I, as well as another good friend who has set up a rather genius pen-rental community called Pensharing – you can find some of my pens listed on here if you’re interested to see what else I have!

It’s not only a privilege to share this with people I know, or have come to know, but everyone in the community. The magic of the Internet, eh? Whether it’s listening to a podcast show about pens, scrolling through /r/fountainpens, or reading (and now writing once again!) blog posts, there is no shortage of people who share the same fascination as me.

While we are the individual pen person to many of our friends and family who don’t fully get our obsession, together we are pen people who absolutely do get the obsession. That’s a pretty damn cool thing to share, honestly.

So what’s the deal with fountain pens? Idk man. But they’re bloody cool, and so are the people.

For more pen-stuff including more blog posts, as well as a whole stack of other interests, give me a follow:

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PS - I was hoping to find some pocket notebooks at the pens how but didn’t have any luck. If anyone is able to tell me where in the UK I can get:

• Field Notes size pocket notebooks
• Any good rollerball / ballpoint pens to add to the collection

Then please let me know! (: