I visited as many stationery stores as I can in Seoul
and art supplies, fountain pen specialty stores, and more!
The last time I’ve been to Seoul was probably in 2013 or 2014, so it’s been quite a long time. However, I was infatuated with Korean skincare and music during my college years, and Seoul was one of my favorite cities to visit when I was still living in Taiwan. Therefore, I was very excited to revisit Seoul on vacation after such a long time. Of course, I packed my itinerary with stationery-themed destinations, alongside good food. I’ll recount my footsteps and experience in a travel log, as well as provide a quick guide for others who are thinking about visiting Seoul soon!
Visiting Seoul as a Stationery Enthusiast in 2024
This is the tl;dr list if you are just looking for a resource to plan your next trip. Some stores have various locations, so it doesn’t hurt to see which one is closer to your planned itinerary.
Stationery and lifestyle stores:
THE T.I.ME (TRAVELER’S COMPANY Partner Shop) - Myeongdong
Object (various branches) - Hongdae
made by (various branches) - Hongdae
Homi Art - Hongdae
Point of View - Seongsu
Monami Store - Seongsu
Zerospace Bukchon - Bukchon
Little Tempo Design shop - Seochon
One more bag - Seochon
papier,prost (Analogue Keeper) - Seochon
allwrite - Seochon
ofr Seoul - Seochon
Limduey - Seochon
Artbox - they are everywhere
If you only have a short time in Seoul, my most recommended store to visit would have to be Object for the quirky and cute illustrator design items. My second favorite store is Point of View, which has the best display design throughout its three stories of merchandise. If I had the time, I could enjoy hours of just browsing how they display their original letterpress artworks and products behind glass cabinets. However, Point of View sometimes gets crowded and even has a queue to shop inside at times.
Fountain pens and stationery stores:
Pen Cafe - Myeondong
Bestpen - Seocho
Pen and Art (Pen Shop Korea) - Gangnam
Blue Black with Inkhouse -Seochon
My favorite fountain pen stores of the above are in the order of Blue Black > Pen Cafe > Blue Black Inkhouse > Bestpen. Blue Black and Bestpen have the most store-exclusive inks, the former with Sailor and the latter with Dominant Ink. However, Bestpen has a weird shopping policy that requires them to record your passport or ID number, which I found odd and uncomfortable. Pencafe was the best surprise of this trip as the store is filled with all kinds of inks and spacious tables for you to try. It’s the most underrated fountain pen store from what most people recommended, in my opinion.
Next time
Rolledpaint - Hongdae
Toyooka Craft - Seongsu
If only I had more time and more energy, lol! These two stores were a little out of the way from my routes so I didn’t make it. Rolledpaint seemed to specialize in mt masking tapes, while Toyooka Craft is the lovely Japanese woodwork company that is a favorite by pen enthusiasts.
Stepping into Seoul with a big appetite
You can say that I was unleashed into this vacation, having just endured two busy work months in a row. I gleefully leaped into Seoul and afterward Taipei, diving into these two culturally and artist-rich cities. My only regret is that I misplanned my flight, or I would’ve had the opportunity to visit the Seoul Illustration Fair, which happened the same weekend I arrived. Nevertheless, I had high hopes for Seoul and the type of stationery I could find. I could’ve come home with a large haul, but I restrained myself a lot throughout the trip, nitpicking only the best of the best to bring home with me.
My trustworthy travel partner is the TRAVELER’S notebook MOS Burger edition in Passport Size. I outfitted it with zipper pockets to hold both cash and my credit card. I also added a kraft paper folder hold receipts and ephemera I collected along the trip. I slipped in a B-Sides and Rarities memo pad to collect stamps that are offered at stores and destinations. As for journaling, I carried a TRAVELER’S notebook The Superior Labor in regular size. The whole setup worked out perfectly for me.
Although it is nice to bring cash with you to Seoul, I found that a lot of the stores take credit cards with no problem. The hard part is deciphering your actual purchases when you check your credit card receipts, as they translate the store names by their pronunciation. However, I was in Seoul at a time when the USD dollar was pretty strong against the Won, so I shopped with abandon most of the time.
Seongsu - “The Brooklyn of Seoul”
This year is the first time I visited the Seongsu neighborhood in Seoul, and boy was it popping. This is one of the hippest neighborhoods for young people, filled with retrofitted warehouses that touts fashion brands, stores, and restaurants.
Right off the subway, you can come across the Monami store, a brand store for one of Korea’s most common stationery brands which makes pens, highlighters, and school-grade writing instruments if you will (I kind of compare it to Pilot or Kokuyo brand). You can assemble your ballpoint pen, and there’s also an ink mixing station to build your own ink. I wasn’t in the market for more regular pens, so I didn’t pick up anything inside the store. However, it is fun to see a lot of patrons be Japanese tourists,… I guess we are the type of demography that would be interested in stationery.
For me, the highlight of the Seongsu neighborhood is the store Point of View. I learned about this store because the Japanese MD brand (from Designphil) hosted a pop-up at this store last year. I wasn’t prepared to visit the store in its three-story entirety though. Each floor has a theme (1F TOOL, 2F SCENE, 3F ARCHIVE) and is styled and decorated accordingly.
Each floor also has its nooks and rooms, making it quite the adventure to browse. When it gets busy, there’s a queue management standees outside the store to manage the crowd. It was a cold day and the last day of the year 2024, so it seemed like the entire city and tourists had the leisure to shop. It got so crowded that it was hard to browse at times…I wish I had come at a slower hour so I could thoroughly enjoy each product display and design.
Visiting this stationery store feels like browsing a stationery-themed museum, as they took great care to introduce each brand and showcase its style. I see not just Korean stationery, but a lot of brands from Europe, Japan, and other parts of the world.
I also visited two cafes while shopping around the Seongsu neighborhood. The first one is NUDAKE, a dessert cafe with a space and fantasy theme. The interior houses a round black table that displays its creative desserts like various artifacts, and trending music pumps through the cafe to give it a futuristic vibe.
The second cafe is Onion, another popular cafe around Seoul. Their personality is to refurbish warehouses or Korean-style village houses to maintain their original character while serving trendy bread, pastries, and coffee.
There are SO many coffee shops in Seoul. If you ever need to rest your feet or quench your thirst, there are countless coffee shops with various personalities to offer you refuge. Here is a quick snapshot of coffee shop density as I was traveling around the city.
Hongdae - Young, hip, and artistic
I was excited to revisit Hongdae, one of my favorite neighborhoods to shop at when I was still in college. It offers tons of shopping for students and plenty of lifestyle stores to poke your head into. At Hongdae, I enjoyed a youthful vibe when shopping at various stationery stores. The first store I must visit is Object, a stationery store that curates products from various established artists and illustrators from the country. This store has various locations, but I chose Object Seongyu because it has its own multi-story building and often hosts pop-ups by various artists.
The day I visited, the artist Fluffyband was featured on its basement floor as well as on the mural on the side of the building. I hopped on the latest “iron-on patch” trend in Seoul and customized a little keychain piece using Fluffyband characters.
The store has no frills, but is stuffed floor to ceiling with all kinds of stationery and home goods you can imagine for stationery enthusiasts. These Korean artists use their illustrations to create cups, bags, memo pads, stickers, calendars, postcards…and more. There are endless things to look at, I easily spent over an hour in this store.
There is no rhyme or reason, and all you have to do is to spend the time to dig for treasures. I came away with a substantial stash of stickers, postcards, and small ephemera for my journal.
On the other side of the Hongdae neighborhood is another store with a similar theme - curator of various small artists, but concentrating mostly on sticker sheets and paper stationery. Made By is another chain to visit if you are into journal decorating. The small store is filled with aisles of sticker sheets of various sizes. I imagine it covers creators large and small, even those printing them from their home printers. It is also a “dig for your own treasure” type of shopping experience, and I meticulously poured over each aisle.
At this point, Elliot is already resting his feet at a coffee store next door: Gong Myeong is a warm refuge for travelers. We enjoyed delicious pastry snacks and iced mocha drinks.
To soothe our jetlagged bodies and sore legs, we rewarded ourselves with an indulgent meal of Korean barbecue, featuring black pork from Jeju Island. The restaurant Don Juneun Namja is jokingly called “The Man Who Gave Away Money” as a play on how they serve this high-quality pork with affordable pricing. We ordered pork belly, pork cheek, and pork jowl, all charred through a wood fire and finished off on our grill. We feasted like kings.
My late-night venture in Hongdae brought me to another arts and craft mecca - Homi Art Shop is the main art supply provider for all the student and artist clientele in the region. It’s a huge two-story art supplies store and art enthusiasts will enjoy looking at all the materials. I poured over each aisle and finally found the Shinhan Professional Watercolor tube set I’d been thinking about trying.
Seochon - West Village with a charming vibe
If you are a tourist in Seoul, you must have made time to visit Gyeongbokgung, one of the most famous palaces in the city center. However, it was the charming alleys of Sechon, or “west village” to the palace that stole my heart on this trip. This part of town has its fair share of tourists, but everyone seems to enjoy the relaxed and slow vibe of this old part of town. We arrived late morning to start the day with more barbecue, a style focused on a heavy garlic marinade…so good but stinky.
As soon as you exit Gyeongbokgung Station, you can stop by a fountain pen store Blue Black with Inkhouse. This unassuming pen store is inside an office building-like structure with multiple floors. The first floor has flashy walls decorated with all kinds of inks, but the second floor is the true treasure chest with store-exclusive inks and special edition fountain pens.
I picked up a few bottles of Blue Black’s store-exclusive inks made by the Sailor brand in Japan. I picked two colors from their drink series: Melon Soda and Misugaru (a multi-grain smoothie drink that’s a Korean staple)
After grabbing a hearty cup of joe at Intelligentsia Coffee (in a traditional Hanok no less!) my sister and I started our foray into the alleyways of Seochon neighborhood. This area has my favorite cluster of stationery stores, bookstores, and lifestyle stores. We sort of explored the alleys and streets organically, and were delighted at various small stores outside of the stationery places I’ve bookmarked on Naver Map.
We started with Ofr Seoul, an artsy bookstore and home goods store in a house-like structure that you might even mistake to be a regular residential building.
The first floor is filled with books (many of them in English!), and a section of the room looks like the builders took a hammer to the wall and broke it down haphazardly. The genre falls into a lot of art and design-related topics. I even picked up a book to bring home.
The second floor is separated into rooms that have fashionable hats, bags, clothing, and small home goods. It feels like you are exploring a regular house, but each room is filled with different treasures.
Ambling around, I discovered a small artist store Limduey, filled to the brim with the artist’s favorite topic: cats. The illustration style reminds me of the artist’s interpretation of anime and Ghibli Studio’s dream-like landscape and scenery. I picked up a lot of postcards from his store to share with friends.
Allwrite is another unique stationery store that features its own branded notebooks and planners. The store is small but highlights a huge variety of notebooks and postcards, featuring slice-of-life photographs and sceneries. My sister picked up an undated planner notebook for herself.
Turning the corner, we came across Papier Prost (or styled pa, pr!), a gallery-like store that features their branded planner Analgoue Keeper. It has a variety of stationery goods that are designed with a minimalistic and clean theme that is popular among Korean stationery.
I love looking at all the sample pages that are displayed on the wall to showcase how you can use their variety of planner pages. Korean characters are made up of many strokes and circles, and I think the aesthetic of Korean writing on gridded planner layouts like Analogue Keeper looks so good. On one side of the room is a large table with plenty of stamps and ephemera supplies that allows you to DIY some pages and just have fun with their materials. Not many customers linger there, but my sister and I enjoy the brief reprieve from walking around for the whole afternoon.
Little Tempo Design is one of my favorite brands from S. Korea. The style is whimsical and features an old man (Ajassi in Korean) character. I picked up a few acrylic clips and a lot of sticker sheets to use in my journals. They also sell merch like cups and t-shirts…I bought a shirt for myself!
Finally, the last stationery store conquest of the day is One More Bag, an apt name for a tote bag enthusiast like me. You’ll find that many stores in Seoul are nestled in apartment-like buildings on higher floors.
One More Bag is very much like Object in the sense that it also curates a great collection of stationery and lifestyle goods from various illustrators and creators. One of the feature artist they are highlighting for the year is jychoi and I picked up a 365 Calendar and Tarot Deck from the artist.
The store isn’t large but packed full of things. You’ll have to kneel and squeeze past other patrons to be able to sift through stacks of sticker sheets, postcards, or layers of tote bags and other design items. Locals and tourists alike filled the store. The prevalence of these “cute stationery” in stores around Seoul made me appreciate its culture of incorporating design into their lifestyle, whether it is using cute memo notes at work, or dangling stuffies from your backpack.
We randomly chose a cafe to rest our feet after the last store. Pirunchae is an old house turned into a coffee shop establishment. Nostalgic elements such as antique pillars and tiled roofings are all preserved throughout the building. As the late afternoon sun slide through the glass doors, we enjoyed a relaxing cafe journaling session.
Other patrons are also quiet and relaxed, reading books or writing in their notebooks. There’s nothing quite like acting like locals with all the time to spare when you are in a new city.
Gangnam - fancy attitudes and a lot of style
During our stay in Seoul, we spent most of our time on the North side of the Hangang River like in Myeongdong or Hongdae. However, we did carve out a few days to go to the south side of the river, the more affluent neighborhood called Gangnam. Hiding among the skyscrapers and the upscale buildings is Bestpen by the Nambu Bus Terminal Station.
It was quite the odd experience, as upon entry they ask to note down your ID (or your passport number if you are a foreigner) before you can browse. They also have a special way to shop which includes paying for a sampler sheet and you can then sample or try out all the stationery in the store. Most items are displayed singularly, and if you want to purchase anything, you’ll just have to note down the product name and ask the front desk staff to assist you with picking them up.
Although the entrance experience threw me off a bit, I was able to make a quick round in the store and find a few things for the road. This store is well stocked in Japanese stationery and also has store-exclusive inks in collaboration with Dominant Industry and Tono & Lims (I purchased Dream Come True (Dominant Industry) and Sunset in Space (Tono & Lims)). Everything is displayed on long wooden tables with chest-level height, so I can see how it is easy to test and try things out on the table surfaces as you browse.
If you are visiting the Coex Mall for its famous Starfield Library, don’t miss visiting Pen & Art which is just a few blocks away from Bonguensa Station. This store has the look and vibe of your typical fountain pen store, is filled with glass cabinets, and features a nice variety of pens both European and Asian. It was here that I finally found the elusive Platinum 3776 Seoul exclusive Strawberry Latte (both Blue Black and Bestpen sold out of those.) I enjoyed the relaxing vibe of this store, and the storekeeper was very knowledgeable and walked me through the pen even though she couldn’t speak English that well.
There’s a nice cafe attached to the establishment if you need to park your bored partner or spouse! Elliot opted to wait for me at the Starfield Library instead, and we met up at the spectacular space to rest and review my haul.
Myeongdong - shopping paradise for all ages
I saved Myeongdong for last because this is the neighborhood I’m the most familiar with, in terms of shopping and eateries. However, I was delighted to explore two stationery stores I’d never visited before in this area, by the foot of Seoul Tower. The first one is The T.I.ME Namsan, a TRAVELER’S COMPANY Partner Store in Seoul. The store is discreetly tucked away inside an office complex and the entrance may be a bit confusing.
However, once you get inside the indoor shopping complex, you’ll find this small store filled with TRAVELER’S notebook items and other stationery. The shop mostly carries Japanese stationery but also has a lot of their homemade charms and ephemera you can add to your notebook.
The owner is a TRAVELER’S notebook fan and has spearheaded a lot of TRAVELER’S notebook community events in Seoul. Along one wall is his proud display of vintage and TRAVELER’S COMPANY ephemera he had collected on his travels and trips to Japan. His personal TRAVELER’S notebooks are also displayed on the wall, although it is not available for flipthrough. I didn’t get to meet the owner, but the shopkeeper that day immediately recognized my TRC TO&FRO backpack, a fellow fan!
Not too far from The T.I.ME Namsan is Pencafe, a fountain pen and ink store located on the second floor of Pen Tower. Other floors seem to indicate that there is a cafe element and even places for nib work, but only the second-floor main store is open. A sign on the first floor reminds travelers “not a cafe, this is a pen store”.
The entire room had an open layout with tables for trying out inks and pens, while the walls were lined with all kinds of ink. They have an extensive selection of Colorverse, 3 Oyster, Dominant Industry, Wearingeul, and more.
The staff were polite and not too overbearing, which is nice for a shopper like me who just likes to browse and knows what I’m looking for. I picked up one of the new Sailor Kakuno Madoromi and a Wearingeul color I don’t see in the US. It was the final huzzah to my whirlwind stationery journey in Seoul.
Since you’ll be in this area, I must recommend Elliot’s favorite Korean barbecue place in the neighborhood: Namsam Sirloin, a place that specializes in Hanwoo sirloin. The waiter grilled our meat expertly, and the high-quality beef went down easily with delicious sides and tasty fried rice to end your palette.
Newtro Seoul - a city teeming with stationery lifestyle
Per Wikipedia, “Newtro” is a term coined in South Korea: “Newtro (Korean: 뉴트로) is a portmanteau of the words "new" and "retro", and refers to the trend of "modernized retro". Newtro's beginnings can be traced back to 2018 in South Korea. Newtro is an amalgamation of trends of the modern and retro eras (namely, the 1980s and 1990s) in all fields of life, such as fashion, music, movies, beverages, food, architecture, electronics, etc”
As a millennial and stationery lover, so many of the recent trends in Seoul hits just the right spot for me. Outside of the stores I visited on this list, many more cute stores have merch of all kinds featuring illustrations and art that I would easily categorize into the “stationery/analog lifestyle”. Some coffee shops sell postcards and totes, while others make special mugs or souvenirs you can take home.
A brand I keep seeing in various stores is Subzero, and they have their flagship store in Bukchon, one of the most retro neighborhoods that is filled with refurnished but still traditional Korean-style houses. The artist focuses on the theme of Korea and uses simple lines to create doodles that capture the essence of different regions and characters.
I think it’s cool that a lot of Koreans, especially the younger generation, despite the technological advancement of S. Korea, proudly hold their cultural heritage in their daily lifestyle. So many illustrations and creations all have a distinct humor that is unique to their culture. I’m sure, alongside Kpop and Kdrama, these will soon export all over the world as well.
After days of shopping spree and indulgent meals, I enjoyed my last day in Seoul just strolling through the older neighborhoods of Bukchon and Samcheong-dong. For days I’ve been exploring the city, checking off my bucket list after not visiting the city for a long time. This last day with zero agenda actually opened me up to more interesting finds along the way, such as discovering a genuine leather bag store hidden in Samcheong-ro, called Bukchon Lucy (they don’t allow photography, but I highly recommend their bags and purses).
On our last evening, we visited another neighborhood and thoroughly embraced Newtro: the Mullae neighborhood, known for its industrial warehouse and setting. It seems like this area is still largely visited by locals, and we had to poke into over 10 cafes and bars before finding one that had seats for us.
I settled into the cafe Specialty Studio with a chocolate drink, a snack, and my TRAVELER’S notebook while Elliot visited a bar next door (Shapeless, if you like delicious cocktails). It’s the best way to end a trip — cafe journaling and thinking about the delicious meals you’ve had along the way.
Now that I’ve completed my recap of this stationery-filled trip, I’m already itching to visit this city again. I hope this travel journal is helpful for your next trip to Seoul!
I hope to put this journal to good use this summer in Seoul, especially as Japanese fountain pens sell cheap there.
P.S: In Korea foreigners can shop tax free if they show their passports, that's probably why you kept being asked for it. I think I've had my passport scanned by a korean shop before but didn't question it so can't say what's up with that. Also note that there have been very few times when I've shopped in Korea without my relatives of Korean nationality, I'm not very experienced at the passport check thing.
I'm going to Korea soon, and as a stationery fanatic, I thoroughly enjoyed this post! Thank you!