Paris Pen Show October 2024
Entrance to the Paris Pen Show 2024
This show is new - in some ways. There has been a show in Paris before now, but this is the first one, I believe, by this group of organisers and at this venue.
The venue was spectacular. The building was large and with very high ceilings and rather magnificent chandeliers. Unfortunately, the main hall was rather narrow and not well lit, and on the first floor, which did make the show experience slightly uncomfortable. The organisers were taking on board feedback and I am sure adjustments will be made. The location at Hotel De L’Industrie, in the luxurious district of Saint-Germain-des-Prés was ideal, with excellent links to public transport and plenty of bars and cafes nearby (and I can recommend the Bonaparte just across the road if you visit! - I had the best custard tart I have ever tasted from there and the baguettes were top quality too!).
The show was a sensible mix of vintage and modern pens. 3 stores - Inktraveller, Point Plume and Akkermann were there. A google search will easily get you a full list of vendors. The highlights for me were:
Sarj Minhas - the One Man Pen Show (I had the pleasure of helping Sarj out at his table, which I throughly enjoyed albeit it was much harder work than expected!). Sarj had a magnificent selection of pens from vintage Sheaffer, through modern Montblanc to Namiki Emperors decorated with Maki-e. The star of the show for me was a Namiki Yukari Royale with a very rare and exquisite Kingfisher design which created a lot of interest.
St Johns Pens - well known seller from the UK with a larger selection of modern top tier pens.
Gerardo from Stilus Aurea - I have known Gerardo for a while and it is always a pleasure to speak to Gerardo, who is incredibly knowledgable and runs a digital boutique specialising in Montblanc and Namiki - check out his website and you will see pens that you never thought existed!
Alfonso Mur - a well known Maki-e collector, but who also had an array of vintage and modern Montblancs. Alfonso is one of the principle organisers of the Madrid Pen show due to take place this coming November. The Madrid show is, I believe, the biggest in Europe.
Letizia Jacopini - A worldwide leading authority on Italian pens old and new (her website is a gold mine of information), and another great person to speak to. Letitia’s range of custom pens - featuring vintage OMAS nibs - are brilliant, as is her stock of vintage and new Italian manufacture pens.
Christophe Couture - Christophe is a European dealer from whom I bought a couple of pens - good quality items at good prices.
Mathieu Faivet - A maker of custom pens of fantastic quality (I have a couple in my collection), restoration expert and nib grinder.
Kasia Stier - with an fantastic collection of reasonably priced flexible nibbed pens.
Michal Kulka/Tamenuri Studio - Michal creates awesome Urushi pen masterpieces and it was great to see some of the work he had done both on pens of his own as well as to some modern Esterbrooks
Jean Buchser - authority on vintage Waterman and Jean had some rare opens on his table - Waterman 20 is humongous!
Eran Hovev - one of the proprietors of Scopus pens - check out their beautiful creations at the London pen show.
Audiard - pens or sculpture or both? you decide - some photos included of their work in the montage below.
Inktraveller from Spain - new Eboya (an underrated brand in my humble opinion) and Ohashido pens from Japan.
I also took great pleasure in catching up with Jim Marshall, Ariel Zuniga and Tsachi Mitsenmacher. I saw some interesting prototype Parker Sonnets too.They are great company and always have great things to share. Tsachi gets an additional word of thanks for organising fantastic dinners in the evening - his knowledge of Paris was invaluable!
Thank you for reading, and than you Paris for a good show. Very much Looking forward to the London Pen Show in a few days time, it promises to be fantastic!
