#2025StationeryHighlights: Now as a Journaling prompt!
It is now a tradition on this blog that I highlight the best fountain pen and stationery finds of the year in early December. I am changing the format a bit. Inspired by Lisa/Olive Octopus Ink, I am offering the #2025StationeryHighlights as a seven-question journaling prompt!
Seven questions for 2025 Fountain Pen and Stationery Highlights:
If you could only keep one pen out of the pens acquired in 2025, which pen would you keep, and why?
If you could only keep one ink out of the inks acquired in 2025, which ink would you keep, and why?
If you could only keep one paper/journaling/planning product you acquired in 2025, what would you keep, and why?
If you could only keep one accessory and/or a stationery-adjacent item you acquired in 2025, what would you keep and why?
Is there a standout stationery item from previous years which you rediscovered in your collection?
If you could go back to January 1, 2025 and give yourself a piece of advice for your fountain pen/stationery hobby adventures in 2025, what would you tell yourself?
What is a word (or a phrase) you would use to describe your fountain pen/stationery hobby in 2025?
Here are my answers.
(1) If you could only keep one pen out of the pens acquired in 2025, which pen would you keep, and why?
My Montegrappa La Sirena/Mermaid, after which I did not buy a single pen. It’s so good. There are no runner ups, this is the only pen I should have bought this year. The silverwork, the beauty, the clip, the weirdness of it, the lovely nib, the imperfections, I just love this pen so much.
Montegrappa Mermaid tells them no.
(2) If you could only keep one ink out of the inks acquired in 2025, which ink would you keep, and why?
This is much harder. I think the finalists here would be Akkerman Steenrood van Vermeer, Taccia Ainezu, Diamine Maple Leaf, and Teranishi Antique Black. And the One Ink to Rule them All prize goes to…. sorry, I can’t choose between Ainezu and Maple Leaf. They are fighting it out in the Ink Ring right now. Splatter…splash… splatter…. they are now resting in their corners. But I think Maple Leaf won.
Oh wait… they are going for the second round… and it’s Ainezu!
I won’t wait for the third round. I can’t choose, which is a bit hilarious given I can’t answer my own question. There’s a recency bias with Ainezu and established love with Maple Leaf, since I previously finished a sample, and have refilled from the bottle three times this year. I wouldn’t give up on either.
Writing and drawing with Ainezu in my Life Stationery Noble Note A6 journal in Grid. The pen is Visconti Homo Sapiens Bronze Age.
(3) If you could only keep one paper/journaling/planning product you acquired in 2025, what would you keep, and why?
My Life Stationery Noble Note A6 journal in Grid, which was a new acquisition in August 2025. I really like the format of this journal, and I’ve used it daily since. I’m likely to buy another when this one runs out.
(4) If you could only keep one accessory and/or a stationery-adjacent item you acquired in 2025, what would you keep, and why?
I would keep my perennial favorite, the Stickii sticker subscription (Vintage, which I sometimes switch to Pop). My runner-up this year is the bicolor hourglass from The Gentleman Stationer (I am not affiliated! Just love his shop). I use this hourglass to help me persevere through difficult tasks, like writing difficult emails or the more frustrating parts of grading.
On my desk: bicolor hourglass from The Gentleman Stationer, and letterpress notecards I like to use in early stages of outlining a fiction project.
(5) Is there a standout stationery item from previous years which you rediscovered in your collection?
Definitely the Homo Sapiens Bronze Age. I acquired this pen in 2021, thanks to a birthday gift card from my in-laws and an incredible sale at Appelboom. 2021 was a wild time in the hobby - people were buying and selling endlessly, the sales were deep, and the QC… not always there. 2021 was a year of churn for me - I was figuring out my preferences, and pens came and went all year long. The Homo Sapiens Bronze Age is one of the very few remaining “survivors” from that year. It’s not a perfect pen, it was a miserable writer out of the box, and I had to have it tuned. I have enjoyed it since, although intermittently. This summer at St. Louis, I asked Kirk Speer to put a cursive smooth italic grind on the nib. This was a great decision. I am loving the pen now, and it has been my daily driver in November - inked with Taccia Ainezu.
The Visconti Homo Sapiens Bronze Age enjoys a new lease on life thanks to a cursive smooth italic grind.
(6) If you could go back to January 1, 2025 and give yourself a piece of advice for your fountain pen/stationery hobby adventures in 2025, what would you say?
“Don’t buy any pens until July 2025.” I should have skipped them all except the catch and release Scribo Feel from which I swapped the nib - that EF Flex Scribo nib is perfect in my Maddalena. I did not make or lose money on this purchase, so it was a true “catch and release.” Other than that, I should have just bought the Mermaid.
Maddalena and Mermaid chilling on top of Kanban: Traditional Shop Signs of Japan.
(7) What is a word (or a phrase) you would use to describe your fountain pen/stationery hobby in 2025?
So the first half of 2025 was definitely “Jittery.” The political situation in the US and the world, the economy, the job market landscape, the tariffs, the worry about being able to still enjoy my hobby… “jittery” was the word. I’m now feeling much more grounded, but also not really buying pens, so there’s that. I’ll keep “jittery” as the word for 2025.