On my Instagram feed, I follow a lot of stationery store blogs. Not just the stores I’ve personally shopped at or bought stuff from, but sometimes just ones that post pleasant pictures or cool items. One of these is 1912 Amax Stationery, a company in the Vancouver area with two outlets specializing in Japanese products.

Deco Journal is a Brittany-based stationery shop with a curiously large selection of stamp-theme stickers. Their Etsy store caught my eye whilst browsing one day and I nabbed a huge number of washi tape-style stamps and postage stamp sheet-style stickers.

I’ve been desperately searching for more local makers of stationery lately. As noted before, Canada lost its pencil industry in the early 2000s, and despite being one of the world’s largest paper pulp sources, does not do very much of the final production of quality paper products. Many of the Canadian makers of stationery accessories source their goods in mainland China, which has a well-established bespoke washi and sticker industry. Canada, alas, is just a little too small for local manufacturing in our globalized world.

My first stationery purchase from a vendor in Mexico comes from Letras Literarias. Like many boutique stationery sellers, the package arrived lovingly wrapped with attention to the little details that only stationery nerds notice, like a string tie, wax seal, and a gift tag and thank-you note written in fountain-pen calligraphy.

A friend recently referred me to a Montréal shop specializing in Japanese-style paper and book binding. I found the shop, Au papier japonais, to be quite intriguing. It seems to be of the same species as Bari Zaki, another book-binding specialist in Chicago which I’ve featured previously, intended for the more crafty among stationery enthusiasts.

Early this year I joined the American Pencil Collectors Society (APCS). It took a bit of effort, as it’s a solidly analog affair, just like the hobby behind it. Membership dues must be paid by cheque, which in my case meant paying for a USD cashier’s cheque at my bank. The membership application required a few months to process, and once part of the club, all member communications happen exclusively in their bimonthly newsletter.

Note & Wish is a UK-based stationer specializing in journaling and letter-writing supplies. This was one of numerous small purchases I’ve made after encountering the seller on an Instagram ad. My impulse-buy was spurred on by their lovely aesthetic and original designs that I’ve not seen elsewhere.

I’ve been on a tear with letter-writing lately, and at the same time trying to restrict my writing to those who sincerely appreciate the effort and intend to reciprocate. For this reason, I’ve been looking for places to get more penpals who are dedicated to the hobby. After seeing a terrific writeup of the London Letters Writing Society on The Bartleby, I sent off for my own box, which promised to connect me with a wide and deep international cache of fellow writers.

Dearest Nicky is a letter-writing-centric stationer based in Ontario, and I picked up a cache of nice paper and stickers from them recently for writing and embellishing my mail. I ran into some problems with their degree of customer service, though, as the package had not yet been delivered more than 6 weeks after placing the order. Multiple enquiries went unanswered, but the package eventually arrived after more than 2 months, with no further explanation.

Samesjournal is a lovely little stationery shop from Germany, that I found whilst browsing Etsy for journal supplies. Their selection of stamps and stickers are well-curated and attractive, with a slightly wide variety similar to other shops that I’ve frequented, including Cora Crea Crafts and Baum Kuchen. One really nice item I grabbed on my first purchase was a small washi tape dispenser that holds 4-5 rolls, which I find helps meter and control my washi tape addiction in a healthy way.

In Montréal’s picturesque old city, there is a tiny stationery shop called Casse-Noisette. They have been around for a while, and have existed all this time with no online presence, and thus I feared the worst for them in the midst of a pandemic that has hollowed out bricks-and-mortar retail and tourist trade all at once. I was quite relieved that I was able to recently visit them and find quite a few lovely things to bring home.

I’ve been on the hunt for a subscription box that really matched my stationery desires for a while. I love the idea of recurring goodies that help me discover new makers and brands, but accompanied by useful goods regardless of mark or origin. Cora Crea Crafts comes close, with a monthly thematic box of journaling/ scrapbooking supplies.

I love it when new papeteries open, and if my Instagram ad feed is anything to go by, this market is booming right now. I especially love it when a new bricks-and-mortar one opens near me. Nueva Era is the latest I’ve seen in Montréal, and which I had the pleasure to visit recently.

It was inevitable. It was bound to happen. We couldn’t stop it. I had obtained all the pencils on the market so I started looking at pens. My first venture was whilst ordering some custom pencils from Viking, when I decided to toss one of their lovely fountain pens into my pannier. Of course, that order was going to take a while to arrive, so in the meantime I decided to stop into my favourite stationer, Nota Bene, and speed up the process.

Kawaii Pen Shop is a Hong Kong-based stationer that has what I would so far consider one of the best selections of journaling and letter-writing supplies I’ve found so far. In addition to their great selection, they have free international shipping with fairly low thresholds, and their packages arrive super fast despite their remote location.

Many people have been lamenting the recent departure of CW Pencil Enterprise from the market. This Manhattan-based pencil specialist was run by Caroline Weaver, a giant in the hobby, who since 2014 has been central to getting it recognized and in the cultural conversation. Weaver has also written or contributed to several pencil-themed books on the brands, the tool and their histories.

Citron et Miel is a small letterpress printshop and home goods store in Montréal. I stumbled onto them from an Instagram ad, and grabbed a box of their greetings cards and some of their house-designed lined notepads.

Bari Zaki Studio is a stationer and bookbinding supply shop in Chicago. In addition to a great selection of cards and paper, their bookbinding supplies are excellent and they run a series of instructional online classes teaching various bookbinding and box-making skills. I placed an order a while back for one of their mystery packs of “stationery joy” and a few other custom sets and supplies.

I haven’t usually had good luck with electric sharpeners. I generally find them overpriced compared to their manual counterparts, especially as so many of them are not of the best quality. The last one I tried out also sharpened pencils with a quite short and convex point which challenged even my best firm pencil cores. And it stopped working after three months. Though I haven’t had my latest that long, it has proved my favourite sharpener I’ve ever used.

It’s no secret that I like stickers. I do a lot of journaling and letter writing and enjoy adding interesting decorations throughout these efforts. I saw an ad in my Instagram feed a while back for a shop that sells little else, and this shop just happened to be near where my family home in San Luis Obispo, California. Pipsticks is a sticker shop that collects many of their products into monthly subscription packs, so I ordered a couple of these, as well as a couple rolls of washi tape, and some postcards and greetings cards.