Monde des Stylos

This was only my second time attending a pen show. And because it was the inaugural  Malaysia International Pen Show and it was also held in a venue relatively close to my home city, I decided to travel to attend the show; also taking the opportunity to meet up with friends whom I have not met for some time. The Malaysia International Pen Show (MIPS) was held in Petaling Jaya , next to bustling Kuala Lumpur on the weekend of 27th and 28th of September 2025 at the One World Hotel which is adjacent to the One Utama Mall. On the first day of the show, I arrived at the One World Hotel around 10.30am. However, I was unable to find the event space that MIPS was held. This despite enquiring with then hotel staff. Eventually, I mamboed to locate MIPS after searching around with some locals who were also attending the event. Presenting the pre-purchased entry tickets' QR codes for my friends and myself, we were each given a goodie bag and allowed to enter the venue. This process was...

Pelikan Hub 2025 was on 24th October, a Friday. Compared to the two previous years, this year's was held in October instead of September. In line with the Ink of the Year, Apricot Achat , each participant who had registered with Pelikan for the event, was gifted a bottle of Edelstein ink as well as a Hub-even themed notepad and postcard, all. nicely packaged in a Hub-event themed gift box painted in the colours of the ink of the year i.e. Apricot Achat.  However, unlike in the past two years, some participants were given different colours of Edelstien ink including Tanzanite , Rose Quartz and Golden Lapis , according to many who posted their experiences on social media after the Hub event. Thus, not all participants in this year's event got the Edelstein Apricot Achat ink as expected, based on their experiences from the prior Hub events of previous years.  I got the Edelstein Apricot Achat in my Hub gift set. But I would not complain even if I get a bottle of ink of differ...

While I have not been updating this blog much recently due to a heavier than expected workload in my day job, much has been happening in my journaling activities as well as in the wider community. For a start, Pelikan Hub 2025 was on 24th October 2025, a little over two weeks ago. In the South East Asia region where I live, we had the inaugural Malaysia International Pen Show (MIPS) held on 27th and 28th September in Petaling Jaya , just next to Kuala Lumpur . The first ever Singapore Pen Show will be happening on the last weekend of November, but I will have to skip this event in my home city because I will be overseas during that weekend. In addition, the Tokyo International Pen Show (TIPS) is currently happening this weekend, 1st to 3rd November 2025. I attended last year's edition of TIPS and it was my first time attending a pen show. What an eye opener! On a personal note, despite a promise to myself to buy less and instead spend more time enjoying the writing instruments t...

Pelikan's recent releases include the new special edition Souverän® M815 Metal Striped Blue. Also announced recently is the Souverän® M600 Art Collection Rudi Rother. The one that particularly interest me is the M815 Metal Striped Blue. The design of this pen is simply gorgeous. In particular, the silverish stripes contrasted beautifully with the blue barrel , bringing both style and finesse to one's hands as this pen glides gracefully across the paper when writing.  Internal to the pen is a brass base which adds extra weight to the instrument, for those who like their writing tool to be a bit on the heftier side. The pen's rings and clip are palladium-plated and it comes with a 18K rhodium-coated gold nib . Overall, this pen is a beauty. Product photo of the  Souverän® M815 Metal Striped Blue  from Pelikan Next up is the M600 Rudi Rother , the second pen from the Art Collection Series. This pen comes with a bi-colour 14K gold nib . The story behind the pen is engr...

Being a relative "newbie" in the world of Fountain Pens, I had previously only attended a Pen Show once. This was the Tool Internal Pen Show in November 2024. This year, I have two Pen Shows in my calendar schedule. The first will be the Malaysia International Pen Show to be held in Kuala Lumpur on the last weekend of September while the second will be the Singapore International Pen Show to be held in my home city on the last weekend of November. In-between these two Pen Shows, Pelikan Hub is scheduled for the last friday of October. While I will need to give this year's Pelikan Hub a miss due to my work schedule, I will be attending both the Malaysia and Singapore Pen Shows. My air tickets and accommodation for the Malaysia Pen Show have been booked and I am all ready! TWSBI Eco

This Montblanc Orient Express fountain pen was my first ever Montblanc pen which I purchased in June 2023, slightly more than 2 years ago.  Limited to an edition size of 1883 worldwide, this pen was released on the 140th anniversary of the celebrated luxury train service, the Orient Express in the year 1883. Part of Montblanc's High Artistry series , the pen comes in a beautiful box set that includes a bottle of similarly coloured ink and an A4-sized notebook. Montblanc Meisterstück Fountain Pen, (18K) Medium Nib,  High Artistry A Journey on the Orient Express Limited Edition 1883 Coffret Set Using the base body of the Montblanc M eisterstuck 149, the blue coloured  resin was a delight to behold when held in my hand. The nib is large and produces a constant flow of ink as it glided across my journal. What a delightful tool to write with!  The large 18K gold nib is engraved with an Orient Express emblem while the cap bore a laser-engraved of another Orient Express e...

Although announced a month later this year compared to 2023 and 2024, Pelikan Hub 2025 will still be happening. And it will be on Friday, 24th October 2025! Registrations are currently open. So, do register fast so as not to miss out on this key event in every Fountain Pen enthusiasts' annual events diary! 🖋 Pelikan Hub 2025 on 24th October 2025

The Traveler's Notebook (TN) system from Traveler's Factory simply works for me. I have tried other systems both digital and analog but somehow keeps coming back to the TN system. I love the fact that using the TN system, I can customise my notebook in as many ways as I can imagine. In particular, I love TN's association with travel and cafe. I suppose cafes always come into the picture when we travel and need a place to rest and catch up on our journaling.  In addition to its notebook covers and notebook refills, there are also stickers, inserts and of course, cloth pouches. These cloth pouches are super handy and can be used to carry my TN cover and its notebook refills around. It also double up as my makeshift coin pouches when I travel. Using the smaller size cloth pouches, I segregate the various foreign currencies inside my crossbody bag. Besides this, there are numerous other uses for the cloth pouches and they can be washed and reused.  My favourite cloth pouch from...

This was my first ever purchase of a Sailor King of Pens a.k.a. KOP .  Limited to 500 worldwide, this KOP comes with the so-called Sailor Naginata Togi nib, which supposedly provides variation of line widths and has a degree of flex. This is due to its relatively longer tines compared to normal fountain pen nibs. Officially named as the Naginata Togi Ebonite Fountain Pen, MOUKO, 猛虎, According to the Sailor product page, this pen is based on the painting of a Tiger by the artist, Jakuchu . The contrast of black and yellow is made to resemble a tiger's stripes pattern.  The nib is 21K Gold with bi-color plating and the pen itself measures about 15.2 cm in length. My pen comes with a Medium Fine (MF) nib . While this pen also comes with Fine (F) and Broad (B) nibs besides the MF that I chose, the store in Tokyo which I bought it from only had the F and MF versions available during my visit. Besides the fountain pen, the box also includes a bottle of fountain pen ink (50ml...

Finally, I was able to add these two Pelikan M200s to my personal pen collection.  I had missed out on the M200 Smokey Quartz that was first released in 2017 and the M200 Golden Beryl that was first released in 2021. Needless to say, I grabbed them both when I saw them at a store in Kuala Lumpur. Even though both of these pens were the last ones the store had in-stock, I just could not pass up on the opportunity to add them to my pen stash (a.k.a. collection). For some reasons which I can no longer remember, I started to collect the M200/205 series of Pelikan pens that were released each year in conjunction with the Edelstein Ink of the Year.  To date, I have collected 10 out of 11 in the series. The only one missing from my collection is the M205 Amethyst from 2015. The price of this now very rare pen in the secondary market is really high. Therefore, the M205 Amethyst  is likely to forever evade me and remain firmly in my "White Whale List" of pens. Nonetheless, I ...

Pelikan's Edelstein Ink of the Year for 2025 is the Apricot Achat. I do not have any original photos in-hand because the product has only just been announced and has not yet ship at the time of this blog post. However, product pictures are available in the internet and a simple search will bring up lots of similar photos if one is interested to know what the newly announced ink looks like.  What will the ink swap of the newly announced Apricot Achat looks like? We will all have to wait for someone somewhere to get those first bottles in hand, have that ink swap done and to post the photos online. Fingers crossed that this will be a good ink to add to my ink pool!  Pelikan Edelstein Ink of the Year, Moonstone in 2020 and Star Ruby in 2019 I am an avid collector of the M200/205 series of Pelikan pens that are usually released each year in conjunction with the Edelstein Ink of the Year. The first of this series was in 2015 starting with the M205 Amethyst and the most recent relea...

This was my very first time attending a pen show. I did not actually planned to attend this event. But somehow, my travel dates to Japan in autumn of 2024 coincided with the show. Realising this, I gladly took the opportunity to include the show into my travel itinerary and through social media, managed to get in touch with a kind gentleman based in Tokyo who helped me with my event ticket booking. Thus, on 3 November 2024, I attended my very first pen show, the Tokyo International Pen Show (a.k.a. TIPS). I woke up early on the Sunday morning of 3 November 2024. My Japanese friend, a fellow fountain pen user, arrived at my hotel lobby and together, we walked to the Monorail Station to travel to the pen show. Arriving at the venue's reception, we showed the QR codes for our tickets and were assigned wristbands before being led to join the queue based on our ticket numbers which also indicated our schedule arrival time. As with all things in Japan, everything proceeded like clockwork...

Whenever I travel, one of my favourite activities is to write. During these trips, I wrote about anything that simply caught my attention when I had pen in hand. Now, I do not simply sit down and decide on what to write. Often at night when I was back in my accomodation, I sat and wrote about anything that came to mind. It could be a log of the day's activities, people I observed, my personal thoughts, descriptions of the places I visited and if I was really inspired, a short story centred around the places or events that I experienced. The main aim was simply to enjoy putting thoughts to paper, through my pen. To me, my pens are tools that enabled me to transfer my thoughts into words on paper. I take good care of my pens but I also use them. If I imagine my pens to have their feelings of their own, then nothing is likely to excite them more than to have ink flowing through their nibs!  Looking forward to taking more of my pens with me on my travels in 2025 and beyond! 🖋 Myself, ...

My fountain pen journey has taken me from a few entry-level pens to pens that cost a lot more money to buy. Cost is of course relative and when I mention the term "cost a lot more money", I am referring to myself and my pens and stationery budget. Thus, while I may consider a certain pen to be very expensive, it may be considered just an entry-level pen to others. Similarly, a pen whose cost I consider to be entry-level may instead be a grail pen for others. Thus, depending on our personal budgets, cost is rather relative. Every year, I set aside a small amount of money to fund my pens and stationery hobby. This is my so-called pens and stationery budget. Of course, I must admit that I have consistently broken this budget by spending more than the amount of funds I had initially allocated for the year. That being said, being over budget had often resulted in me pulling back on more purchases for the year and that I think, at least indicated that the pre-set budget had done it...

To celebrate Christmas of 2024, I finally bought myself this Pilot Custom Urushi in Vermilion. I chose a Medium Nib for my Custom Urushi. A local pen store was having  Christmas promotion and when I visited the store and saw this pen, I just could not resist plonking down the cash for it. An awesome Christmas gift for myself. I have yet to ink up the pen although I had dip-tested the nib at the store. Now I need to find the time to ink it up and do a proper pen test review. My first Pilot Custom Urushi! 🖋 Pilot Custom Urushi in Vermilion, Singapore (2024)

And so I attended my second Pelikan Hub event in my home city of Singapore on 27th September 2024. My first Hub attendance was last year, also in my home city. As usual with Pelikan Hubs, I got to make new friends in the community, tried out lots of fountain pens that I had never seen or held in my hands before and of course, I allowed my new pen friends to try out my pens as well. This year, I brought along 12 fountain pens for the Hub; mostly Pelikan.  M1000 Black & Green Stripes, M800 Green Demonstrator (Original 1992 version), M805 Black & Blue Stripes, M600 Vibrant Orange, M600 Glauco Cambon, M600 Green-White, M605 Stresemann Anthracite, M200 Smokey Quartz and M205 Aquamarine.  I also brought along a few pens from other make and models including a Pilot Custom 823 "Smoke", a Delta Gallery and a Sailor Shikiori "Manyou". And there were the usual Hub souvenirs courtesy of Pelikan; an event commemorative Notepad and a bottle of Pelikan's 2024 Ink of th...

This post starts off my new blog on anything related to Fountain Pens, Rollerball Pens, Ballpoint Pens, Mechanical Pencils and other stationery related items. Monde des Stylos loosely translates as World of Pens. All posts in this blog are my personal opinions. There are no sponsors so I will not be beholden to post only positive reviews or opinions. I will say it as I feel it. Of course, I also accept that diverse views exist and I will take care to be sensitive to the opinions of others. So, let's get started. Stay tune for my very first review... 🖋