Author: Stephen

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Apuntes

Two years ago, I noticed that a very interesting handmade pencil was listed for sale at the now closed CW Pencil Enterprise. CWPE was sold out of the product, but I quickly discovered the manufacturer Numen Design and an interesting retailer named Apuntes.

I was able to acquire some Numen pencils, and a photo posted at the pencil talk Instagram account remains popular:

A visit to Apuntes was naturally at the top of my list for a visit to the City of Mexico last month. Apuentes is in the Roma Norte neighborhood. Roma, like Polanco and Condesa, is a very trendy and highly walkable neigborhood in Mexico City. The altitude (2240m) will be a consideration for some. Apuntes is on a narrow side street near the Estela de Luz monument, an impossibly thin soaring tribute to Mexican independence.

The front window makes a nice impression.

The compact interior displays many interesting products, but it is not a generic stationery store! Perhaps matched only by the shops on Paris’s Rue du Pont Louis-Philippe, everything is made by Apuntes, with many products both designed and manufactured within the City of Mexico! It is truly a special store.

I bought two A5 notebooks, two A4 pads of paper, two “half A4” pads of paper for lists, and some interesting paperclips, stickers, and pencils. The paper products were made in the City of Mexico.

An absolute must visit for the stationery aficionado!

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Goods for the Study

Goods for the Study is a stationery store in New York City. Their website tells me they have two locations. I visited the “West Village” shop at 50 West 8th Street in late 2022.

The neighbourhood is really interesting. It’s close to Washington Square Park. There are pop-up art galleries on West 8th, and I found a cheerful Venezuelan restaurant across the street.


(Apologies to the random guy)

Almost every specialty stationer that I’ve seen tends to be a small boutique, and they are often empty. Not so with Goods for the Study! This store was packed, even with a long line to the cash register. It has an impressive depth of paper products and writing implements. Rollbahn for example – they seemed to stock every colour and every size, a big contrast from boutique stationers.

Highly recommended.

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Upcycled pencils

Just a very short note. Staedtler has announced pencils made from “upcycled wood”. Upcycled wood is defined as “wood chips produced in the wood processing industry.”

The upcycled family includes the colour Noris 185 and 187, digital stylus pencils, and the graphite Staedtler Neon 180 and Noris 183.

These pencils (at least the 180 and 183) were previously known to use WOPEX. Perhaps this is a rebrand?

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Tombow versus Mitsubishi

Please allow me to call attention to the essay The Golden Age of Japanese Pencils, 1952-1967, published by St. Louis Art Supply.

I’ve not previously been aware of this art supply company. I learned of the essay via a post at the Reddit pencil forum.

The conclusions are very interesting to me. Are the Tombow Mono 100 and the Mitsubishi Hi-Uni the greatest pencils the world will ever see? (And I’ll mention that the Mono 100 is no longer made in Japan.) Very possibly. Super high quality OEM pencils such as those from Pentel were on the market only briefly. And as the article notes, we haven’t seen the “Hi-Hi-Uni”.

But let’s note something else – the pencil market is likely still growing at a global level, due to population growth and increased educational opportunities. There are $10 (even $20) woodcase pencils that can be bought today from Musgrave (USA) , Faber-Castell (Germany), and Caran d’Ache (Switzerland). These expensive pencils are more in the collectible/luxury segment, but why wouldn’t it be possible to try a new super-high quality pencil?

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The Gmund Bauhaus Dessau paper cube

Gmund is a quality paper maker that originated in 1829. Online searching and discussions with stationery enthusiasts suggest that today they mainly operate as a paper industry supplier. They have regularly received attention for providing the golden envelopes used at the Oscars.

Gmund also produces a few consumer products. Here is a video from Matthias at Bleistift regarding one of their notebooks:

Something else that made an appearance at Laywines here is Toronto is a Bauhaus associated paper cube. The cube is part of a larger series. This isn’t just a “tribute” – it is a product that was developed in conjunction with the official Bauhaus Dessau Foundation.

The paper cube has a front with a geometrical design that uses five quadrilaterals and one triangle. One of the colours appears twice.

Do you know more about this design? Please feel free to share!

The cube now sits on my desk, and I want to use these notes rather than sticky notes when it makes sense. You can find the official product page here.