San Francisco Pen Show 2024 did it again
Honestly the best stationery event of the year
The SF Pen Show slaps. Every. Single. Year.
I first started going to the San Francisco Pen Show in 2021, all of us barely venturing out from the pandemic shutdown. It was an event that I proposed on a whim to my company, and it turned out to be an event that hooked us and kept us coming back each year…larger than ever.
Pen shows in the United States are a novel concept — not only do you have the opportunity to shop at a variety of vendor tables all in one go, but you also are part of a huge sleepover party at the same hotel for 2 to 3 nights. It’s like going to camp but for adults you have unlimited funds to endorse your favorite hobbies (most of the time). On the last day of the show, you hug your friends goodbye and tell them that you’ll see them here again the next year. August comes around, and all your friends are here together again. Each year, new friends join and they get to experience this special connection outside of their daily lives. That’s the San Francisco Pen Show for you.
Staycation before a busy weekend
This is my fourth year of attending the San Francisco Pen Show. I’ve already been on a non-stop travel spree from the Pacific Northwest to Europe, and I was EXHAUSTED. Not to mention the bout of COVID I suffered through in late July…I knew I had to take it easy this year at the show.
Hence, I decided to arrive in San Francisco a day or two earlier before the show so I could decompress and get ready for the big event. On Wednesday, 21st of August, I met up with a local friend and her service dog in training, Cami, to cruise around downtown and see the sights. Our first stop was Japan Town where we hit up delicious pastries from Jina Bakes and omakase-quality take-out sushi from Aji Kiji. We made our way to Crissy Field Beach for a picnic while her dog frolicked alongside the waves.
The sun was out against the blue sky, yet a stubborn patch of “Karl the fog” sat directly on top of the Golden Gate Bridge, mocking me. It’s okay, I thought, as I chewed on my sushi (with grains of sand tucked in here and there due to the wind at the beach), I’m on vacation and it’s all that matters. The weather was mild and nice, I honestly have nothing to complain about. Our leisure state reminded me of my Hawaii trip earlier this year.
My friend wanted to check out the Heath Ceramic Studio in Sausalito. I tagged along and we made our way across the Golden Gate Bridge, its majestic towers flying above us as we drove north. The factory store had a healthy section of “seconds” and I started my weekend’s shopping early with a few bowls and plates (shipped home to Seattle of course, I don’t have enough space in my carry-on!)
I got back to the show hotel (The Westin San Francisco Airport) in the late afternoon, and I indulged in a quick nap before making my way to San Mateo for a movie and dinner. A friend recommended lychee curry at a Nepalese place called Urban Momo. It was the perfect way to cap off my first day.
The calm before the storm
The show hosted a reception on Thursday evening, kicking off the weekend’s event. However, throughout the day you can already feel the hotel buzzing with activity as pen showgoers start arriving with their suitcases via the hotel shuttle or Uber rides. Vendor friends and attendees alike share warm hugs in the lobby or wave to each other across the room.
I had the luxury of sleeping in and was just wandering around the lobby looking for the pool after hanging out at a friend’s room for breakfast. Next thing I knew, I was hijacked by Kimberly (the famous Pen Show Uber) and whisked away to the airport to pick up our friend Judy from Tokubetsumemori, in my pajamas. What an adventure.
Judy flew all the way from Taiwan, so while she freshened up and took a quick nap in my room, I took advantage of the show hotel’s amenities: a heated indoor pool and jacuzzi! How have I not used them last year when the show moved to this venue? Swimming in the pool and relaxing in the jacuzzi was the perfect way to wind down each evening during the show. I’m so glad that I brought my bathing suit for the entire time.
Today is a slow day for me as I met up with several local stationery friends at the Hillsdale Mall for some casual cafe journaling. We’ve been friends since 2017 and have been through several conventions and shows every year. Everyone came from different parts of the country (or abroad), so it was extra special to have more than a few minutes at the show to hang out and enjoy time with each other. The mall had ample seating and a lot of fun food options to offer. It was the perfect way to set up the mood for a stationery-filled weekend.
We ended the day with delicious Korean short rib from Daeho, a San Mateo staple that I keep coming back to. Flaming torch on a mountain of cheese piled on top of deliciously seasoned short rib? sign me up.
The stationery stampede
The San Francisco Pen Show gets busy and busier each year, I swear. I also love that the show attracts diverse stationery booths other than just pen products. Last year, we had amazing vendors from abroad such as Cute Things from Japan and Eric Small Things (through much cajoling on my end). This year, I was thrilled to learn that Mai from Paper Treat invited Harumi the artist behind 4legs and her mushroom cats to the show. A new vendor, Pinky Elephant (who has a ton of cute asian stationery in her shop) also invited Littlelu, a fountain pen artist and stamp maker based in Japan to the show.
I’m particularly excited about the addition of glass pen artisans such as Aun Glass Studio from Kurashiki and Glassophy from Hong Kong. Of course, our PLOTTER tables also boasted a ton of cool event-only items, so I knew it was going to be a wild ride going into the show.
Unlike previous years, I took an hour's leave at the beginning of Friday morning because I wanted to experience the show like a normal attendee. After all, in past years, I’m always working right at the get-go and can’t enjoy all the cool limited items that are sold out earlier at the show. I also wanted to queue for one of the amazing glass pens from the Aun Glass Pen studio, before it’s devoured by the mob, of course. Thinking back, I didn’t know if it was smart of me to shop during the initial swarm, but I have zero regrets because I was able to come away with a great haul in just under an hour.
The shops I hit up were Aun Glass Studio, Pinky Elephant, Tokubetsumemori, Paper Treats and 4legs, Kubo and Lucy, Fog Cat, and Everyday Explorers Co. I patted myself on the back for pre-order a Stationery L box from Toyooka Craft ahead of time, as well as two glass pens from Iris at Glassophy. After ticking off all the stationery booths off my list, I was content to return to my table to start the day’s work.
Well, I came back to chaos in the main ballroom.
The PLOTTER tables and TRAVELER’S COMPANY tables were swarmed by fans. For some reason, a queue started forming around our tables and people didn’t know which brand they were queuing for! I sorted through the queue like a knotted braid and finally made some sense of the chaos. Thankfully, the crowd lessened afternoon on the first day, and we didn’t have this issue for the rest of the show. I’m still amazed at how the brand recognition of PLOTTER has grown in these four years!
Job, Jessica (@bezhouse), and I made a great team at the PLOTTER table. It’s a sophisticated system with a lot of moving parts so I was parched and talked out by the end of the day. As a vendor, you barely have time to eat, so I appreciated all the snacks and bites that friends and customers offered to me throughout the day.
The jacuzzi was the most soothing therapy for my sore legs and back at the end of the night. Of course, the show hosts great after-hour hangouts as well, and I was able to hold up for a few hours at the Aloft lobby before limping back to my room.
It’s not San Francisco Pen Show if you don’t feel like your body is falling apart after a healthy dose of crowd on just the first day.
The rest is kind of a blur
Fun times always pass by really fast. Saturday and Sunday of the pen show went by in a blur. This is one of the pen shows where I know most vendors and customers by name, and yet continue to make more new friends. It was so good to see familiar faces and exchange stickers or say brief Hi’s as we walked through the hallways. Whenever a Stationery Cafe Podcast listener mentions that they listen to the podcast, I also pass out stickers as a gesture of gratitude. My co-host Kelly and I marveled at the fact that people are recognizing our voices and coming up to share a few happy mail packages. I was simply floored that our podcast was able to make a meaningful impact on strangers’ lives. There are definitely times when recording or talking about stationery isn’t the easiest thing to do, but meeting listeners and hearing their stories made all the work worth it.
Since I was extra fatigued this year (probably from all the travels and events I raced through this year), so I gave myself some alone time on Saturday night to recoup and recover. Every year I admire all the other people in the community who could stay up and hang out late into the evening every night. They’re quite the troopers, after an already very long day.
Some other highlights of the day include meeting Jerry Yu who boasts an extensive collection of pocket pens (and writes about them) who came all the way from Hong Kong. It prompted me on a little vintage pen journey and purchased two Pilot pocket pens from Dayne Nix (whom I met the evening before in the jacuzzi!).
I also got to meet Bechori, an amazing calligraphy and lettering artist from Japan who just came back from Stationery Fest in New York! It was cool to see him work his writing magic in person. Next time, I would love to take his class on monoline calligraphy!
At the show, I got to pet and say hi to a lot of cute doggos who braved the crowds. It was very generous for the San Francisco Pen Show to allow dog companions. Odin was the mascot of the show and I was thrilled to purchase the official show sticker showcasing Odin carrying a paper shopping back (the lore shows that he was carrying the TRAVELER’S COMPANY paper bag back in 2021!).
It was bittersweet to say goodbye to friends this year on Sunday. A lot of us had been through quite the adventure and some painful things this summer. The San Francisco Pen Show felt like the end-of-summer fireworks that fizzled and sizzled so vibrantly across the night sky. It was nice to enjoy the special experience that SF Pen Show brings these four years.
It’s not a show without a haul
I brought home more than my stationery haul, but also a lot of gifts and souvenirs from new friends and old. My name tag lanyard is filled with stickers I swapped and collected from booths and fellow vendors.
My favorite purchase would have to be the PLOTTER Mini 5 Square in Pueblo leather (wine) as well as two Aun Glass Studio glass pens. Glassophy’s Double Ice Cream stub nib glass pen and the Tori Gate glass pen rest were also a trophy in my collection. Littlelu offered portrait drawing services and I asked for a doodle of me and my doodle, Cookie! It was the most adorable piece of art I must frame.
I picked up both this year’s show ink and last year’s color from Colorverse. Yuan, one of the volunteers of the show was peddling them in the after-hours, it was hilarious.
Tooyoka Craft’s Stationery L box is a 2-tier hinoki box that replaced an 8-pen box I purchased from him in the previous year. It housed my glass pen collection exclusively, and I’m outgrowing the space I have at a scary speed.
I picked up a pile of stationery and paper goodies from Judy (Tokubetsumemori) and 4legs (Paper Treat)’s table. I’m looking forward to adding them to my journal pages. Christine from Everyday Explore made a cute little acrylic stamp set for us to commemorate our pen show experience. I had to add it to my huge collection of her clear stamps. Engima Stationery brought a ton of Mofusand merch (my obsession of the year) and I had to grab a sticker sheet. It’s going to take me a full month to sort through all the goodies, but I’m so happy about every one of them.
The San Francisco Pen Show is a pen and stationery event that I’d happily recommend to any stationery aficionados. For sure, the hotel has crowd issues and it can get a bit overwhelming on the floor at some point, but with some patience, you’ll enjoy the treasure that is the stationery community.
Until next year, SF!