Sunday, September 27, 2015

TILBURG PEN SHOW 2015 RECAP

Here's just a quick recap of the Tilburg Pen Show. I had a wonderful time at the show, spent all my money, and met amazing people. Meeting old friends, and making new ones is what makes a pen show awesome. It's not only about the endless heaps of pens, it's about being together with so many like-minded people, being able to share your passion with others, drooling over their recent aqcuisitions and trying them out!
Of course, no Tilburg pen show without the People from La Couronne Du Comte! Their shop is located just a few blocks away from the show location, so these guys are the cornerstones of the show! Their table is always filled to the brim with high-end Limited editions and great deals!
I spy an Azizah in her natural habitat, falling in love with all the pens at Sarj's table!
Petra from Scrittura Elegante, hard at work






A newcomer to the show, and also a friend of this blog, was Scrittura Elegante. Petra, the owner of the store, was super friendly, and brought an assortment of pens, paper and notebooks that couldn't be found anywhere else on the show!





Mister 'one man penshow' Sarj Minhas!



But no matter how cool the shops, there's one man that beats them all: Sarj Minhas, aka: 'The one man pen show'! This friendly English chap brought a ridiculous collection of pens, gorgeous pieces, both vintage and modern, and unfortunately all well above my budget! Nevertheless, I had a wonderful chat with him, and I drooled a bit over his wonderful collection of Danitrios and omas fountain pens!
Droolworthy pens, piece by piece, by piece,....!



The Visconti distributor, no need to guess this was Stephen Brown's favourite place to be at the show!



And of course, last but not least, the always lovely Frank and Agatha from Fontoplumo! They brought the good stuff, so I couldn't resist picking up a couple of small items while I was at their table. (Note the tail of the huge dinosaur skeleton hanging in the background, the show was, as always, hosted at the Nature museum in Tilburg!)
My haul was slightly larger than previous years, probably due to having Azizah -Enabler first class- by my side most of the time... I'm pretty happy with the stuff I came home with, I found some great deals that were just too good to pass up!
The Lamy 2000 in macrolon for example, I found one brand new for just 100 EUR with a superb Oblique BB nib! I also picked up a TWSBI Diamond 580AL from Fontoplumo. I figured my TWSBI collection wouldn't be complete without one! 
After the show, we all went to La Couronne Du Comte to continue on our shopping spree. I grabbed a couple Leuchturm notebooks. One of which was embossed in-store by the distributors of Leuchturm that offered the customisation for free during the show! I also grabbed a couple of inks while I was there, again because I had Azizah standing next to me, enabling me into buying way more than I anticipated! 
What better place to take a group pic of my (new) pen friends than in front of Couronne's shop?!

I will see you next year Tilburg!

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for this.
    A very stupid question from someone who hasn't been to a pen show. Is it just people selling pens? I thought there would be exhibitions, lectures, etc.

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    1. No problem, I was planning on doing a recap anyway! :)

      Not a stupid question at all! The Tilburg Show is just a selling/trading show, it's not a large, nor long show (about 30 vendors, and only one day), which is probably why there aren't any calligraphy courses or lectures...

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  2. I hope I can go there next year because I have to meet Stephen Brown and Azizah.

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