(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!.)
By the time I figured out that I could make it to the 2nd BunguLA Stationery Expo, the tickets for Friday and Saturday had already sold out, but Sunday tickets were still available. I booked my plane tickets and pounced on the opportunity to go on Sunday morning with my SoCal shopping buddies, Jeremy Saumere and Ryan Finnegan of Flax Pen to Paper.
I wasn’t able to attend last year’s BunguLA as I was at the Empire State Pen Show. I heard that it was a good event, but it was far too crowded at the Union Station where it was held last year. This year, BunguLA was held at The Westin LAX, right by the airport. This hotel is massive, with lots of lobby space with chairs/tables, and a huge parking structure as well - not surprising since it is right next to LAX. Parking for the day would normally cost $85, but thankfully you can get validated parking from BunguLA for $35.
I was only at BunguLA for a few hours on Sunday and I didn’t take any classes, so there was a lot more to the event than what I was able to see and experience.
BunguLA poster at the entrance.
A listing of the various classes, workshops, and break-out rooms on display in the hotel lobby.
The theme for this year’s BunguLA is air mail and that was reflected in this adorable mascot’s outfit, as well as many vendors’ collabs.
The workshops were held on the second floor and did not require a BunguLA ticket, though they required separate advanced registration and payment.
L to R: Jeremy and Ryan, and friends we met at the Chicago Pen Show earlier this year, Abe and Ryne! (You can see the lines of people behind our group.)
No, I didn’t take a crappy people picture - I wanted to show the Disney-like line markings on the ground so people would be queued up and enter in an organized fashion.
First things first, check in at the reg desk with your QR code and get a wrist band. You could exit/reenter as often as you liked, which is nice.
The BunguLA guide & map.
The map of the show and workshop schedule and locations.
The back, showing the sponsors, as well as two stamp areas for the Stamp Rally. Once you get both stamps, you can get the ticket punched and get a little BunguLA swag.
The merch table was also up front in case you wanted to pick up pins, notebooks, bags, etc.
There were a few vendors that were set up on one side of the main hallway. As you can see, there is A LOT of room here, but that’s because everyone went inside on the left (across from JPT America).
Muji was one of the vendors that were in the hallway, and I was kind of surprised since they closed their California locations some years back. But rumor has it that maybe, just maybe, at least one California location might be coming soon? Please oh please, let this be true!
I’ve never seen such cool calendars from Ichikudo!
These onigiri calendars were making me hungry!
These 3-dimensional calendars show a different scene or country every month!
This is a view of the ballroom from the far entrance. As you can see, the aisles were very wide - most of the folks in our entry group were in the front part of the ballroom, which is why it’s relatively “empty” in this photo.
Bryan Hulser of Esterbrook had long sold out of their prototypes (shocking, not). As with other shows, they always had a lot of people at their tables.
What a pleasant surprise to see Sey Pen at the show! He was one of many vendors who traveled from Japan to be at BunguLA.
Taizo Yamamoto always has a big smile whenever I see him! He said it was his first time in LA and he was going to spend a couple extra days sightseeing afterwards!
The Yamamoto build your own “house” was getting low on stock when I stopped by at 12:30pm.
I’m usually not too tempted at Hachimonjiya’s table since they usually do Sailor collabs (and it’s not my favorite brand, though I do like them). But Vanishing Points/Decimos? Be still my beating heart! Sadly the Milk Tea was already sold out and they only had a few of the beautiful Bloom Pink left. I was good and my wallet was spared.
At the MD Product table, where they had lots of notebooks as well as sample notebooks showing how people use their products.
Love all this cute art and children’s books from Heidiroo!
Inside the event, there were white lines in front of the tables for folks to queue up. This minimalized the amount of people crowding the tables. At times, it was very efficient as folks took turns looking at things, talking to the vendor, and making purchases. Other times, especially at the larger tables, I wanted to move around people because they were looking at things that I might not be interested in, but I wanted to see something next to them. I asked if I could scoot around folks and people seemed fine with that. I am curious how it was when it was busier.
I deliberately took a picture of some less crowded tables so you can see the lines on the floor. For some of the bigger tables/longer lines, there were also signs that said “End of the line for XYZ vendor”. That was cool so you knew what line you were getting into.
Pilot USA came and brought a very different set of products with them. Of course, yours truly forgot to take pictures of the Metros, Kakunos, Explorers, as well as G-2s and Frixions, because I was thoroughly enamored with these crayons that looked like edible treats. (Do not eat the crayons).
These crayons are formed with multiple colors and you get some really colorful effects by using different sides or edges of them.
The LCN Design Studio table had a long line because they have such cool products! The shirt is pretty funny (it says “Probably out of stock”) because many of the items I was interested in were indeed out of stock!
WHOSMiNG is a Taiwan-based artist known for making live portraits at events and having very cute merch too! There was a line out the ballroom for folks wanting one of his live portraits! One of these days, I’ll stand in that line too!
I know I “just” saw Judy of Tokubetsumemori at the SF Pen Show, but it was great to see her again! Hers is one of those dangerous-for-the-wallet tables!
I am kicking myself for not making it back to ditto ditto’s table because they had so much awesome Hong Kong art.
Artist Authan Chen came from NYC with his gorgeous art. I have a couple of the stamps he’s designed too!
I hadn’t seen Ash of Ash Made Me in several years and the last time it was in NYC, where she is based! She sold out of a lot of cute stuff by the time I got to their table.
Jennie and Leo of Rin! Studio are not only the most insanely fit people I know, they are also the sweetest! And Rin! Studio has the cutest stuff too, it’s hard to leave the table empty-handed (that’s why I did not leave empty-handed, lol).
Check out this mini letter press that Oblation Papers & Press had at their table! It was so cool to make my own little souvenir!
It was tough resisting the minimalist aesthetic of stamps, washi, and ephemera from Nyret Design.
Look at these cool layering stamp sets from TO-MEI HAN!
This was a super surprise for me to see Pocky at a stationery event (or any event for that matter). I LOVE Pocky sticks and they were here to hype up their new Dark double dipped “biscuit sticks”. You had to follow them and fill out a short survey and in return you get a pack of Pocky, a discount code for online purchase, and a spin at Pocky-themed prizes.
One of the super cool events they held outside behind the ballroom was this “pop-up” with China Airlines. Folks had a whole trip experience where they could build-a-travel bear and win prizes, etc. It was a long line for this and it was toasty outside, so I didn’t participate, but it looked really cute!
What a beautiful day for this China Airlines experience!
BunguLA is only my third stationery event so it was cool to see how they were similar to, but also very different, from others. The show was very well-organized and you can just tell they put a lot of thought and effort into making it run as smoothly as possible.
The website was well-organized, with online and downloadable maps, as well as vendor links which opened up to a vendor “bio”. I liked that it told you the vendor’s story, what products they create or sell, their online and social media links, as well as methods of payment accepted. This is especially important for the international vendors who may or may not want cash, or would prefer card or PayPal, etc. Some vendors only accepted cash, so this is good information to know ahead of time.
The ticket prices were very reasonable, with the VIP 3-day ticket costing $89 + fees (cc and ticketing platform fees), and single day tickets costing $25-35 + fees. They limited how many tickets could be purchased at a time, so tickets wouldn’t sell out all at once. There were multiple entry windows (3-4 per day), with each block limited to however many tickets they set aside for each window. That meant that at the 10:30am window, for example, there would be a bit of a rush as that group of folks entered the show, but it would slow a little, as people made their way through the various tables, before picking back up at the next entry at 12:30pm. This is how the show was still busy late on Sunday afternoon as there were plenty of people still waiting to get in. This is in contrast to many pen shows where some vendors start packing up at noon and there are hardly any attendees by 2pm.
This was one of the lines for the 2:30pm entry.
Not sure why, but they had a separate line for the 2:30pm entry on the other side of the escalator - I think it’s to utilize all the available space so it doesn’t flow into the lobby too much. It was nice to see that there were lines for folks to get into this very popular event, even for Sunday afternoon.
One of the things I liked was the two tables of BunguLA stamps where people could stand in line and stamp their journals. These included BunguLA’s own stamps, as well as those from vendors who created their own BunguLA stamps. Some vendors still had stamps at their table, but having this setup made it less likely that people came to your table just to stamp. I was too busy doing my own stamping to take pictures of the table. Oops.
I stamped a bunch of different stamps on this postcard pack that I bought from PaperTreats last year. (The front is blank for stamping, and the back is for writing, addresses, and postage).
As I mentioned above, the main hallway was wide and roomy, with space for people to grab some water or just take a quick break from the shopping. The hotel lobby also had a LOT of places to sit and chill too. The aisles were also wide and wheelchair-accessible, though some of the more popular tables were a little tight at times, but not too bad at all. The timed-entry made the traffic flow manageable for attendees and vendors, though I would bet that it was more intense on Friday and Saturday morning.
I loved the variety of vendors at BunguLA. I don’t know how the various stationery shows do it, but I believe most have an application and selection process. With BunguLA, you had to be invited (not sure if begging works, lol). For a SoCal show, there weren’t many local vendors - which I think is a good thing, since there are a ton of events in SoCal, both the CA Pen Show as well as stationery events and pop-ups. Unless you travelled to other shows, you might not see some of these vendors at other SoCal events. I’ve already mentioned that one of my faves was seeing the Pocky!
I told myself that I wasn’t really looking for anything in particular and that I “probably won’t get too many things” but to no one’s surprise, I got a few things.
L to R in 3 rows: Stickers and Penlux Delgado Butterscotch Ebonite FP from Itoya Studio, sticker sheet from Everyday Explorers, BunguLA charm from LCN Design, stamps from Kuboandlucy (who wasn’t even vending at the show!), pouch and screen wiper from JP Trading, BunguLA charm (from the stamp rally), washi/stickers/charms from dana ate oatmeal, inks and stickers from Oblation Papers and Press, stamps/stickers/patch/pouch from Amarillo Stationery, the already-eaten box of Dark Chocolate Pocky (and sticker), stickers/PET tape/insert,clip from RiN!Studio, mini notebooks from Lihit Lab, Daigo, and Maruman, stickers/washi/folder from PaperTreats, two adorable ballpoints from Itoya (they’re cute, so it’s ok that they’re BPs), sticker and erasable highlighter (I didn’t know these existed!!!) from Pilot, and a MD notebook with embroidery on the cover.
Thank you to the organizers and volunteers at BunguLA! I had a great time and hope I can make it back next year!
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