(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)
I started this recap by looking at last year’s DC Pen Show recap and I can almost copy/paste the first paragraph, lol. Like last year, it was a whirlwind weekend, I missed Thursday and Friday’s show hours/activities/etc (due to annual family camping trip), and I also worked behind the Franklin-Christoph table on Saturday and Sunday. It felt a bit busier at our table this year, though it was more spread out instead of in big bursts, so I got even less time to walk around and take pictures. Like last year, the biggest thing was the hotel renovation, but thankfully, it was a big improvement over last year. Let’s see if I can actually explain all this in a “really quick recap”!
Welcome to the DC Fountain Pen Supershow!
The DC Show felt bigger than it did in prior years. There were more vendors, more tables, all spread across 3 different ballrooms and hallways. There were 190+ vendors (20+ more than last year) with 340+ tables and 80+ of them had more than one table. I do not know how many people attended the show, but it definitely felt like more than when I went in 2019, 2021 and 2022. (I did not attend prior to 2019).
The line of excited people waiting for the show to open on Saturday morning!
As in prior years, the DC Pen Show was held at the newly renovated Falls Church Marriott Fairview Park. There was the large ballroom and the hallways leading to it. There were a variety of vendors, from vintage, to modern, to local and international sellers alike. There were distributors like Kenro, Pilot USA, Luxury Brands, Itoya and more as well as plenty of vendors to choose from. Lots of modern and vintage dealers that I’ve mentioned in many other recaps, like Myk Daigle of Mad Mercantile, Paul Erano, Schon DSGN, Dromgoole’s, Franklin-Christoph and more. Lots of international vendors attended this year, including Galen Leather (Turkey), Roses without Thorns (Canada), Sarj Minhas and St. John’s Pens (UK), Osman Sumer (Germany), as well as first time attendees Nagasawa and Toyooka Craft (Japan), Leonardo Officina Italiana and Santini (Italy) and others. Scan the Exhibitor List and you can see how many folks were there! I like that the website has sections for International and New Exhibitors.
My view of the main ballroom from behind the Franklin-Christoph table Saturday morning. Looking left…
...and then looking right.
I agree with Barbie and Ken, a pen show day is the best day ever!! (Montegrappa Zero Barbie & Ken pens at the Kenro table.)
Always lovely to see a smiling Jaz and Sarj Minhas at a pen show!
Leave it to S T Dupont to take pens and accessories to the next level!
Marty & Kimberly Henderson, along with Mark Dwight of Rickshaw Bagworks, were busy helping Dromgoole’s sell their Retro 51s and Rickshaw products!
Behind those lenses is Josh Lax, one of 6 nib workers at the show this weekend.
This gorgeous Leonardo had a massive size 8 nib.
Bonjour, André Mora of Mora Stylos, who came all the way from Paris, France! (Did you see those Oldwins?!)
In addition to the main ballroom, there was also the Alexandria Ballroom and the strangely named “Ticket Room”, which caused a bit of confusion since it didn’t sell tickets nor required a different ticket to enter (it is what Marriott calls it, not the show). That room was off to the left side of the hotel reception (which was a small, almost cubby-like space) and the Alexandria Ballroom was on the other side of the hotel, past the lobby/new bar and the old bar. The DC Show registration desk was situated in between the old and new bar areas and volunteers directed you to the Alexandria room (the smallest of the 3) to pick up a free tote, courtesy of Galen Leather. Between the volunteers at the reg table, putting Galen Leather in there and all the signs in the lobby, I think they did a good job directing traffic to the Alexandria room. Both the Ticket Room and the Alexandria rooms had about 25-30 vendors each.
There were signs on the lobby pillars which were helpful since you can’t see any of the rooms from the lobby entrance.
Always gotta go to the Registration Desk first!
This way to get to the Alexandria room!
Another sign for the Alexandria room from across the lobby.
Inside the Alexandria Room (taken from the corner where Galen Leather was located.)
Ticket Room and Grand Ballroom that-a-way!
The “Ticket Room” included folks like Little Black Rabbit Paperie, Maruman, Roses without Thorns, and Toyooka Craft, as well as several nib grinders including JC Ament, Mark Bacas, Matthew Chen and Gena Salorino. This room was aptly nicknamed “The Maker Room” because of the many custom pen makers including Carolina Pen Co., Edison Pen Co., Hardy Penwrights, Kanilea Pen Co., Newton Pens, Schon DSGN and more. The other nib workers, Kirk Speer of Pen Realm and Josh Lax were in the main ballroom. We missed Damien Alomar of All in the Nib, who had a great reason for missing the show - the birth of a new baby boy! Congratulations, Damien and family and we hope to see you at a show real soon!
All smiles from Toru Yamazaki-san at the Toyooka Craft table!
I swear, Little Black Rabbit Paperie always gets me to break my no-washi ban!
Can you tell that Tom Forsythe of Sugar Turtle Studio kinda likes colorful stuff? Also, congrats on the Rickshaw and Diamine collabs!
Ben from Mayfair Pens and a photobombing Shawn Newton!
Maryland-local Evan Rosenberg and father Julian of Penquisition with their array of pen holders, blocks, cases and other accessories.
In addition to the ballrooms, there were also plenty of vendors out in the various hallways leading to and around the main ballroom. Pilot USA, Sailor USA, Nagasawa, PLOTTER, and many others lined the hallways with their wares!
Tina Dammeyer from Pen World Magazine always has a smile and a beautiful (and free) magazine or two to share with you!
Crowds packed the hallway by Pilot USA and Vanness Pens (and this wasn’t even at its busiest time! (PC: Joe Crace of The Gentleman Stationer.)
Pilot USA had a regular and giant-sized demo Vanishing Point showing the inner workings of the capless mechanism!
Doing Pilot’s handwriting analysis was so cool! I also got a Thank You gift (postcards and a Plumix) for completing their analysis and survey.
It was neat to see that I don’t have a heavy hand (phew), though I think that the cord on the pen made my writing angle lower than it usually is. And yep, I like the FM, though the F is a bit too fine for me.
So nice to see the folks from Nagasawa! I resisted any purchases since I will see them in SF, but they brought so many exclusive pens and inks!
Don Takemura and his team from Sailor USA had a cool “build your own Sailor Compass” event.
Some examples of custom Sailor Compass pens to spark your creativity!
One of the rare moments when April Wu wasn’t mobbed at the PLOTTER or Traveler’s Company tables.
There were quite a few free and paid classes and seminars ranging from free sessions on Roaring 90s in Italy, Lesser Known Vintage Pens, and Have You Seen My Bag? as well as paid classes on Calligraphy, Ink Mixing, Nib Tuning, and more. Seemed like there were more classes and workshops this year compared to the last two years, which is great. Workshop prices ranged from $25 to $150 USD, with most of the spots in the $70-80 range.
Now that the hotel renovation is done, the ballrooms were mostly able to accommodate the vendors. I don’t think there was enough aisle space, especially in the Ticket Room and hallways where folks in wheelchairs or otherwise needed a little more space and time to maneuver had a difficult time doing so. The hallways were also especially cramped since it was the only way in/out of the ballroom. This is one of those times when I worry about the show getting too big.
Fortunately, the renovations meant there was plenty of room for post-show hangouts! The hotel now had two bars, though only one was staffed. There were now two dining areas - one by the new bar and one by the old bar, which was also where breakfast was served. A lot of folks congregated in the lobby and new bar/restaurant area. All the new marble/granite/hard surfaces in that area resulted in terrible acoustics. It was very loud and people had to yell to talk with one another. A lot of folks got sore throats from screaming at each other all night. Thankfully, there were plenty of people gathering outside (good thing it wasn’t too hot or muggy at night) and the old bar area was much quieter with plenty of tables for pen play. It was wonderful to see people gathering, chatting, playing with pens and enjoying each other’s company. All in all, quite a change from last year’s abysmal options for hanging out.
The lobby (and part of the restaurant) as taken from the new bar area. Lots of folks were hanging out at the various couches and tables.
A quieter, more chill environment at the old bar area where there were multiple tables of pen people hanging out.
Lots of folks outside too - it’s dark out there, since there’s no outdoor lighting, but if cigars and scotch are your thing (or you don’t mind the smoke), this is a great place to hang out. The Grand Poobah is out there somewhere too!
A few thoughts:
- Hotel issues - for the most part, this is on the Marriott, but I think that the organizers can/should pass on the feedback to the hotel.
- Hotel food - I only had one meal and it was enough. The food was not great. Most hotels have decent food and I’m generally not too picky, but my beef with noodles was pretty bad (dry chunks of meat, clumpy sauce). They did have good fries, but that was about it. I heard from enough folks that I didn’t want to have a second meal there.
- Bar staff - The staff was pretty slow and generally inattentive. I stood for 10 minutes at the bar, while one of the staff was standing there, doing nothing and was avoiding making eye contact with anyone.
- Bar/lobby acoustics - As I mentioned before, the bar/lobby area has been redesigned with lots of stone and bouncy hard surfaces, making the acoustics terrible. I spent my Saturday night at the old bar area where it was nice and quiet even with 20-ish people there, and when I walked to the lobby, I instantly left because it was deafening. And this is coming from me, the crazy social butterfly who loves jabbering all night with people! I can only imagine what introverts and others who are sensitive to all that noise might feel like! I don’t think the hotel will change this, but maybe the organizers can find some other space for people to congregate?
- Bar closed at 11pm - I was a little sad and disappointed to know that the bar closed at 11 p.m. Yes, even on Saturday. 11 p.m. is when I get going! Seriously, even if you’re not drinking alcohol, it would have been nice to get water, soda, etc. at a later hour than 11pm. People were still up past 1 a.m. on several nights, so why wasn’t the bar open til at least midnight? It would also have been great to have the second bar open as well, especially since the main bar’s service wasn’t great. I know that other show organizers have requested (and gotten) later bar closures at their shows, so this is definitely something worth exploring.
- Chilly temps indoors - It was cold inside the hotel, especially in the lobby. I heard that many of the bedrooms were also cold. It was hot and muggy outside but downright frigid in some areas inside. Moral of the story: bring layers.
- Share the Wealth - I love that this show (and the Baltimore show) have Share the Wealth tables that are run by volunteers where folks can leave their no-longer-used items for others to take. It gives people a chance to part with stuff they don’t want any more as well as folks to pick up things to try. I wish more shows would do this because it’s great for the community.
- Special Events - I love that there were a variety of show events (aside from the workshops and classes) ranging from product raffles, show exclusives/launches, puzzle competitions and live podcast recordings. It’s a nice way to take a break from the shopping (and the noise) and learn something new and meet people too.
- Regardless of size, pen shows can feel big and overwhelming to many folks, even if you’re an extrovert like me. If you don’t already know people at a show, plopping yourself down at an empty chair next to a group of people is daunting and can feel like you’re being rude or intrusive. And it’s 10x worse at the largest US pen show! To that end, I think the show could take a more active part in organizing space and events to make this happen, and not just rely on vendors to put on events, or people who know each other to form groups. Maybe something like Pen Show Round Tables where people gather at tables and learn about different topics from others, or just play with whatever pens people have.
- Pen Show Map - The show had physical maps printed and prominently displayed by the registration table. They also had an online interactive map made by community member Alexander Kramer, which allows you to filter based on location, find a vendor based on name or on location. Very handy tool!
It took quite a few easels to display all the maps for the show!
- Pen Show Crud - It’s Wednesday after the show and I’ve since counted at least 40 people across multiple groups/servers who have some form of pen show crud, and 7 of them have tested positive for Covid. I know there are no mandates for masking so I’m not surprised that there weren’t many folks masked at the show. I think that the lobby acoustics had folks yelling a lot, resulting in sore throats, which may have made them more susceptible to getting sick (I’m not a doctor, just tossing out thoughts). This isn’t about shaming or lecturing, but about transparency. I hope that folks who got sick feel better soon, and ask that folks consider masking up at future shows and large gatherings to protect themselves and others.
The (very informal and tongue-in-cheek) Annual Meeting of the Black Pen Society was held by the old bar area. The Grand Poobah, aka Paul Erano, is telling folks about past and current BPS pins.
Anyone who has ever attended a well-run show knows that it takes more than just the show organizers to make it happen. This show gets a fair amount of help from the local DC Metro Pen Crew, who volunteer in shifts to make sure vendors get what they need (someone to watch the table for restroom breaks, water, etc) and that attendees are able to find vendors/tables/etc. The group is always doing what they can to make this show (as well as the Baltimore show) as successful as possible, and it definitely shows.
Trinita Johnson McCall from the DC Pen Crew was one of the many friendly volunteers helping out all weekend.
Despite the noise, the crowds, the tight spaces, and yes, despite the crud, the 2023 DC Pen Show was great. I heard from a lot of very happy attendees and vendors. Everyone was having a great time, spent lots of money (vendors love this, that’s for sure!) and enjoyed each other’s company. The post-show experience was much better this year with the renovations behind them but there is still room for improvement. I do wonder if the show is getting too big for the current space and for the community. I wouldn’t want it to become so large that it gets even more crowded, or needs to be in a convention center, or lose some of the intimacy that comes from meeting and spending time with kindred spirits who love this hobby.
Show haul left to right: Michael’s Fat Boy S-Model New York Hot Pink RB & stand, Sailor 2023 Pen Show ink, Vanness Pens Hootenanny ink, Colorverse x Vanness Pens Think Pink ink, KWZ It Smells Like Coffee, Anderillium Potomac (show ink), Monteverde Viva Magenta (show ink), Papier Plume Rebirth, rubber stamp, washi and wax seal from Black Rabbit Paperie, Toyooka pen rests and tray and Nahvalur x Galen Leather Blue Demo FP.
Welp, so much for a shorter recap, lol. All in all, another show weekend came and went way too quickly. I was a little pickier with my spending this time around because my home show is right around the corner! Even though it was much too short, I’m grateful for the little bit of time that I got to spend with pen friends. The wallet is a little lighter but the heart always leaves a little fuller. Now to get that wallet (and the rest of me) ready for the SF pen show! Hope to see you there! Stay safe and stay inky!
Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.
Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!
