The pleasure of craftsmanship: the Alfie tray

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Addy/The Stationery Stack. I bought this tray with my own money. My opinions are always mine alone :)

Move the first: in which I admit to being a grump

My pen friends know very well how critical I often am of things that land on my desk. Even the most carefully selected items are almost never exactly to my liking. This helps keep the collection contained, as I usually have no qualms moving things that do not suit me. I’m not a perfectionist and have many things which are imperfect, but I love good craftsmanship and I want things a certain way. My baseline grumpiness rarely reaches the blog. In most cases, what does not work for me will be treasured by somebody else. I tend to post more endorsements than critiques - but in my actual stationery life, glowing endorsements are rare.

This is one of those.

The Stationery Stack Alfie tray on my rolltop desk, holding some uninked fountain pens and the grumpy beadcat.

The Stationery Stack Alfie tray is superb - it is well thought out, substantial, well made, beautiful. If you need a pen tray, I hope you consider this one.

Move the second: Craftsmanship is a human value

When I was a child in L’viv, my grandmother of blessed memory taught me about how to select clothing: “You have to look at the seams.” She taught me to sew too, which I did not enjoy, but finishing the seams became a migratory principle for me, applicable to many other areas in life. I want my own work to be well-crafted.

After our immigration, to our dismay we all discovered that Western style mass-produced clothing more often than not had horrible seams, with hanging threads, unfinished, haphazard, unable to withstand long term use. I did not know it yet, but I was entering a different world. What we considered a standard was no longer attainable unless one entered a high-end designer boutique (and hoped for the best) - and we could not afford that. But this level of quality used to be a part of our everyday.

In our mass-produced and rapidly unraveling world, things that hold to a soul of careful making are rare. As a young adult I discovered the pleasure of shopping for vintage and antique items that more often than not would survive the travails of time due to excellent fundamentals - good workmanship and natural materials. These objects were made with care and aged gracefully, and were often obtainable on my shoestring budget where more expensive (and often lesser quality) things remained out of reach.

These days I have more financial room to maneuver, and my preferences have evolved. I tend to prefer modern fountain pens to vintage ones, for example. But I want my new things to be evocative and beautiful, and to have good seams, so to speak. Sometimes such things are costly, and sometimes they are reasonably priced. Some are bargains. It’s not the expense or the novelty that I find alluring - it’s the craftsmanship.

Move the Third: The review

I first saw the Stationery Stack trays on the PenAddict Slack. A few people bought them, and were raving about the quality. I took a closer look. The maker, Addy, is relatively new to the scene. Here is how she describes the business:

Stationery Stack’s entire operation is run by a single person, me, Addy. This means the best method to currently get the goods out is by doing small batched product releases.

In a Youtube video describing the Alfie tray, Addy gives the specifications of the design. The name Alfie honors her grandfather, a craftsman and an immigrant from Mexico <3

The Alfie tray at an angle. I think the velvet lining is fantastic.

The trays are offered in different woods and lining options, and some painted finishes. At first I was thinking of getting the walnut, but in the end selected the maple with a light brown velvet lining. It is a soothing, almost Scandinavian palette, and I was charmed by the little walnut inserts at the corners. I was excited to receive it, but as always, felt apprehensive about whether or not it would work for me in person.

When the Alfie tray arrived, I felt it in my hands before I fully saw it - the solid feel of wood, the good shape. The velvet lining felt luxurious to the touch. After admiring the Alfie for a bit, I filled it with some pens. The tray’s deep grooves hugged my larger pens, such as the Scribo Feel, securely. I was delighted to discover that the pocket pen side of the tray can hold midsize pens; it’s lovely for my Aurora Optima, and the Aurora 88 also fits with ease.

The pocket pen side of the tray can fit midsize pens as well. Here it is with my Aurora Optima Viola, as well as two pocket pens - the Kaweco Lilliput Brass Wave and the Montegrappa Micra.

Now, let’s compare the Alfie to my Toyooka tray for 6 pens in brown alder. It is not exactly a fair comparison - my Toyooka tray is smaller, and perhaps a better comp would be the lidless Toyooka 15 pen tray. But this is what I have, and in terms of the market niche these trays occupy, I think the Alfie and the Toyooka trays are comparable.

The Toyooka tray for 6 pens in brown alder (left) and the Alfie in maple (right).The grooves on the Alfie are deeper, and the spacing gives the pens more room.

I got my Toyooka trays last summer, and used them pretty extensively since, but I never reviewed them. I cannot review every single thing, but the lack of review is not exactly an endorsement. I think the Toyooka trays are beautiful and I use them all the time, but I also have issues with them. The Alfie solves the issues I have with the Toyooka trays. It is heavier. The velvet lining of the tray feels luxurious. The grooves are deeper, holding my pens more securely.

The corners of the trays. I love the lacquer on the Toyooka brown alder tray, and the rounded corners are pleasant. The Alfie tray showcases the beauty of solid maple. It is not lacquered, but it is very well made and smooth to the touch. The Alfie tray is taller overall and more substantial than the Toyooka.

Perhaps my biggest issue with the Toyooka is the narrow grooves — I always feel that the pens are a bit too crowded. The Alfie offers wider spacing. The Toyooka trays are great for slimmer pens, but as a collector of Italian beauties, I much prefer the spacing of the Alfie for my Scribos and other large pens; they do not feel visually crowded, and there is no chance the pens would rub and clang against each other. The Alfie tray's pads are higher than the Toyooka's, lifting the tray a bit off the surface of the desk. It is a taller tray overall. And there is just more wood in the Alfie. As I mentioned, my tray also has the walnut insert corners (some of the walnut trays have maple inserts) - I love this detail, and the Toyooka tray does not have that.

Another look at the spacing on the Toyooka vs the Alfie

With only three pens inked in June, the smaller Toyooka tray is better suited for my pen situation right now, but I am drawn to the Alfie. If Addy makes a smaller format tray, I’ll want that as well, even though I already have the Toyookas. I am excited about the future of the Stationery Stack, and hope to see more designs from Addy soon. The thoughtfulness and the craftsmanship are fantastic.

The Alfie tray with two full-size Auroras on the pocket pen side - the Aurora Optima Viola and the Aurora Volterra.