Favorite Pens and Stationery of the Year: A 25-Item Roundup

Introduction

A year of daily fountain pen use leaves a mark, and the items on this list are the ones that refused to be forgotten. This roundup collects the pens, inks, and desk accessories that earned a permanent spot in rotation over the past twelve months. It is a mix of artisan one-offs, clever practical accessories, and a few surprisingly affordable pieces that punch far above their price.

Some of these picks are about craftsmanship you can feel in the hand, others about smart engineering that solves an old problem. Either way, each entry earned its place through genuine daily use rather than novelty.

Storage, Inks and a Clever Converter

Before the pens, a few non-pen items deserve the spotlight. Strong storage and ink options round out any collection, and this year produced some excellent ones.

NFP Pens 20 Pen Warehouse

For storage, the 20 Pen Warehouse from NFP Pens stood out as the favorite. It is very solidly constructed, and the allante fabric feels especially luxurious, making it a satisfying piece to reach for whether pens live in it permanently or travel in it.

Papier Plume Nutcracker Ink

Papier Plume had a strong year for limited edition inks, and the Nutcracker holiday offering was a highlight. The set arrived with gold and red sealing wax plus two solid, ornate metal wax seals, and the ink itself is a dusty red that feels perfectly seasonal without being loud.

Papier Plume Rat King Ink

The companion ink from the same Nutcracker set is the Rat King, a dusty purple that pairs beautifully with its sibling. The packaging even displays the matching wax seal impression on top, so you can see exactly what each seal produces before pressing it.

Schmidt Mini Converter

The Schmidt Mini Converter is a genuinely ingenious bit of design. The piston handle folds out for filling, then folds back down so the converter can fit into short pocket pen barrels that previously accepted only cartridges. Small improvement, big practical payoff.

Honorable Mention Pens

A few pens earned special recognition even though they were on loan and no longer in hand. Each one left a strong impression during testing.

Visconti Homo Sapiens Carbon Mau

The way gold is mixed into the carbon fiber creates a look and feel that is genuinely unusual, and it ranks among the favorite Homo Sapiens models tested all year. If you attend a pen show, it is worth tracking one down just to see it up close.

Danitrio Sho-Blue Dragon

Coming in at $12,000, this was the most expensive pen reviewed to date, and the price tag felt justified. The urushi artisanship on the maki-e work is some of the finest seen in person, packed with small details, and the pen performed exceptionally as well.

Tom’s Studio Studio Fountain Pen

The pen body itself is not the star here; the architect nib is. Angled so that side strokes come out thicker and vertical strokes thinner, it proved one of the best architect nibs tested all year and a lot of fun to use.

Hind Tashen Stiff

The eye-catching material is what sells this pocket pen, which was an Atlas Stationers exclusive. It can be used unposted but posts nicely into a larger offering, and the nib performs very well too.

The Main List: A Baker’s Dozen

Thirteen pens made the core list, and the artisan maker representation is strong. Each of these earned its place through design, materials, or sheer writing pleasure.

Pen 18111 Momiji

The Momiji pairs green resin with colorful fall leaves, each one engraved into the pen and filled with resin rather than painted on, so it is all one solid piece that will never wear away. The bronze roll stop is a cool finishing touch, and news that the maker may move production to Japan made grabbing this third pen an easy decision.

Esterbrook King of the Night

This one wins the year for coolest packaging, a cloak-like case with a bat-winged, vampire vibe. The deep red and creamy white resin differs on every pen, and the gold trim matches the theme better than silver would have.

Good Made Better Muse

A recent Kickstarter success, the Muse features a tree-like surface that is hand engraved, so every pen is one of a kind. The contrast with the gold hardware looks great, and the nib arrived outstandingly tuned, which makes the whole package easy to recommend once it becomes more readily available.

Palisades Northern Light

A sister company to Tasia, Palisades produced a pen so good it never went back. The urushi and maki-e work arranges larger pieces toward both ends with a fine sprinkling between, and the twisted facets throw a different sparkle at every angle. It will not post, but the in-hand feel and performance more than compensate.

Kilk Celestial Tortoise

Kilk pens have yet to disappoint, and this Galen Leather collaboration delivers on details: a beautiful band, a cool finial, and a solid clip. The creamy golden brown color and a nicely tuned nib round out a partnership between two Turkish makers that shows how much good work is coming out of that scene.

Leonardo Momento Zero Grande Van Gogh

A limited edition through Limetens Korea, this Momento Zero Grande wears an impressionist resin with a Van Gogh-style palette. The large number 8 gold nib in fine writes smoothly without any scratchiness, and the oversized nib suits the pen perfectly.

Macar Knife Short

Mkar Knives, based in Poland, drills dimples into the titanium, fills them, then polishes everything back so only the color remains. The makume roll stop and rust-toned titanium nib fit the theme, and the dimpled texture makes the grip absolutely secure when posted.

Edison Jameson

Commissioned in Jonathan Brooks PM3.5 primary manipulation acrylic, this Edison pairs creamy, subtle color mixing with a large number 8 Magna Carta nib that feels like a hidden exclamation point when uncapped. It is also the first Edison to carry a metal band along these lines.

Hooligan Shawshank Redemption

This collaboration is a masterclass in what a talented artisan can do with ideas. Tim Cullen packed in symbolism from the film: the gray of the prison, hidden prisoner numbers beneath the clip, “Brooks was here” and “So was Red” engraved to match the movie exactly, wood salvaged from the storm-felled tree featured in the film, a raven-engraved number 8 nib he crafted himself, and a rock hammer on the finial. It went from concept to cherished possession that will never be sold.

Narwhal Rainbow Ras

A limited edition through Goldspot Pens, the Rainbow Ras combines a rainbow PVD finish with sparkling swirled resin and a matching rainbow PVD nib. It is subtle flare rather than loud, and it stands out as a favorite Narwhal of the year.

Schmidt North Pocket Fox

Ruth creates all her own artwork, and the Kraken version carries a cool octopus on the nib with a rainbowy finish. It is a pocket pen you will mostly want to post, and a custom version with personal artwork shows what artisan makers can do.

Schmidt North Cthulhu

The engraving on this stainless steel version is incredible, with a distinct Cthulhu motif and grooved section detailing. It was also very reasonably priced, which makes snapping one up when available even easier. As with any artisan maker, availability comes and goes.

Maverick Marauder Stratified

New to the scene, Maverick pours this resin layer by layer, drying each stratum before the next, so the whole body is one solid piece that takes several weeks to create. The color mix is striking, the pen is eye-catching in hand, and supporting a craftsman doing something genuinely new feels good too.

Collaboration Projects of the Year

Three personal pen projects capped off the year, each one a collaboration with a maker to bring a specific idea to life.

Radius Blue Flame

The Blue Flame pairs a deep, velvety blue resin with rainbow nib and trim, and the result genuinely evokes a blue natural gas flame. It is a satisfying first entry among the year’s custom projects.

Visconti Voyager Del Mare

This Voyager wears a Jonathan Brooks resin with a custom band unlike anything Visconti had done before, plus a personal logo on the finial in place of the standard one. It is a vacuum filler with a gold Visconti nib, limited to 50 pens, and only the last one remains available.

Montegrapa Northern Lights

Built around a Tim Crow resin from the Turn Pen Company, this design aimed to combine the blackest black with the glowiest glow. It landed on a very dark black with a strong glow-in-the-dark feature that charges under light and comes alive when the lights go out. The Monograpa nib is outstanding, and only a few remain.

Buying Advice

If you are newer to fountain pens, the Schmidt Mini Converter and Papier Plume inks are the friendliest entry points here: affordable, practical, and instantly useful. The Esterbrook King of the Night and Tom’s Studio Studio Fountain Pen offer strong value with distinctive character for mid-range budgets.

For collectors, artisan makers like Pen 18111, Mkar Knives, Maverick, and Schmidt North reward patience, since availability comes and goes and the craftsmanship justifies the wait. Limited editions from Leonardo, Narwhal, and Visconti tend to move quickly, so act when you see them. And if you ever get the chance to commission a custom pen from a talented artisan, this year proved it can turn an ordinary purchase into a treasured possession.

Conclusion

This was a year defined by artisan craftsmanship, from layered resin and hand-engraved details to urushi masterpieces, alongside smart practical accessories that make the hobby easier to live with. Whether you are drawn to one-of-a-kind artistry or clever everyday engineering, there is something on this list worth chasing. Here is to whatever the next twelve months bring.