Taipei Stationery Fair 2023
I’m visiting Taiwan right now, and I decided to check out the Taipei Stationery Fair. Of course I know that Taiwan is full of stationery lovers. But I still didn’t expect to be met with this…
Goodness me!!
I expected the fair would be something like a trade show, mostly for manufacturers to advertise their products to retailers. I was wrong. It’s a full on convention aimed at stationery and art supply users! What’s more, many things were advertised as being cheaper than retail price.
I went on Saturday (July 1st), which I regret. It was so busy I couldn’t think straight and I probably only explored three-quarters of the place. I imagine it would be a bit more relaxing on a weekday (it lasts from Friday to Monday).
I should note that a small number of stalls were selling home items, and there was an electronic goods show happening next door. Maybe this was catering to stereotypical couples (the girlfriend can look at cute stationery while her boyfriend looks at gaming rigs). There were plenty of guys browsing the stationery though - maybe 30% of the attendees?
Established brands
As you would expect, Japanese brands dominated. There were large stalls and shop areas for some major brands like Tombow, Kuretake, Sakura, Pentel, King Jim, etc. No Japanese fountain pen brands.
Kuretake were selling (among other things) their own line of Meiji-era Japan inspired fountain pen inks, “Ink-cafe Meiji no Iro”, which I hadn’t heard of before. The colours do have a nice vintage look.
I was also interested in Kuretake Karappo, fiber or brush tipped markers which are designed to be filled with liquid ink of your choice. They sell an ink mixing set and small empty cartridges for it too.
Out of the Taiwanese fountain pen manufacturers I have heard of, I only found IWI1. If you didn’t know, they make pens and ink, including fountain pens fitted with Bock nibs. I especially liked their pocket-size “Handscript” pen - the body has a subtly squashy PU leather finish.
A small part of the IWI display. You can see a staff member handing over the ink swatch book at the top.
An IWI pen, refill and case sold in a book-shaped box. Cute.
Some European brands also made an appearance, like Staedtler, Faber-Castell, and Pelikan. Pelikan had a proper glass display for their fountain pens and inks. As far as I could tell only the European brands were displaying any super luxury items - everyone else was marketing to hobbyists.
Smaller makers
Quite a few indie artists and stationery makers invested in full size booths, but there was also a large “artist alley” where they could sell from tables. For the most part, these were artists competing to make the cutest keyrings, badges, stickers, prints, and other items that are easy to have manufactured in small quantities. The prices were modest, unlike my experience with artist alleys at UK conventions.
There were also a few unusual ones even in the small area I explored. At the 木筆家 (Wooden Pen Home?) stall you could see a wooden pen body being machine engraved live!
Oops, I had to censor my reflection in this one.
Apart from making wooden bodies for ballpoints, fountain pens and brush pens, they also had some with that new ‘endless pencil’ metal tip. If I were a businessman(?) I would want one of those on my desk.
The ones standing up are metal tip ones, I think. They have a touchscreen stylus on the back end.
This is where I discovered the Taiwanese pen maker HAPPYMT, who were selling colourful fountain pens with Schmidt nibs, as well as wax seals and quirkily named inks.
‘Mist’? Sure. ‘Sailed away’? Great name for an ink. ‘Beyoncé’? Just pray she doesn’t find out about this!
I picked up a 18ml bottle of dark teal ‘Spaceman’ ink for NT$140 (£3.50), my only fountain pen-related purchase.
Nothing activates my impulse purchasing instincts like a sufficiently small bottle of ink.
Thoughts
The Taipei Stationery Fair is definitely best for those who like more general stationery products, artistic journaling, art supplies, or cute knicknacks from indie artists. If you only use fountain pens and premium paper it may not be worth it, unless you like hunting down small makers.
The biggest flaw in my opinion was the lack of a map (or at least a map that I could find). There was a map for the artists alley but not for the whole thing. Also it was crowded and the air conditioning wasn’t very strong, so I would take care if you have any related health issues.
Human-sized fan blowing cold air, my beloved
Overall, it’s definitely something fun to do for the day. Kind of like going into a well-stocked stationery shop, but twenty times bigger and combined with an artist alley. The good prices don’t hurt either!
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I also saw a stall titled “YSTUDIO” but the seller inside was definitely not YSTUDIO. I don’t know what happened there. ↩︎