PEN SHOW VISIT: DUTCH PEN SHOW (UTRECHT)

If you feel like there haven't been nearly as many new posts and reviews here lately, you're absolutely right! I'm still unfortunately very much working my way through my (hopefully) last ever exam period. But last week, smack dab in the middle of my exams, there was an event that I simply couldn't pass up on: the first 'Dutch Pen Show' in Utrecht! So I got my priorities straight, crammed five days of studying into three, and went on a short trip to the Netherlands to catch a glimpse of this completely new pen show! (#priorities... because exams can wait, right?)

The show was organised by two members of the dutch FPNL community, Chaïm and Christa. The show took place in a brand new hotel in Utrecht, which is a fairly centrally located city in the Netherlands.

Joost from Appelboom was there and had brought along some dangerously good deals on his table. I kind of regret not picking up the Pineider honeycomb for half off! Oh well...

The peeps from Appelboom also brought a piece of Kaweco equipment with them for you to create your own custom Kaweco sport - Neat!

Appelboom's resident nibmeister Annabelle Hiller was seated right next to their table and had her fair share of work fixing dropped nibs and poor writers into marvellous nibbages!

John Sorrowka preferred to stay anonymous, but I was allowed to fotograph the hands of the master. Splendid guy with an incredible wit, while also grinding a beast of a cursive italic on one of my Pelikan M800 nibs that I brought along! Believe it or not, this is my first-ever professional custom nib grind!

Another first encounter with penmaker John Twiss. Some amazing handmade beauties on his table, and very reasonably priced too (kinda regret passing up on one).

This Twiss pen caught my eye: striped acrylic cut and glued in a radial fashion so the stripes go all the way around the barrel. Very cool!

Armando Simoni Club (which is actually a collection of brands like Wahl-Eversharp, ASC, Molteni, Leonardo Officina Italiana and brought their A-game with the full array of Wahl-Eversharp Decobands, and the new ASC Bologna Extra Afrika. I may or may not have one of those Wahl-Eversharps coming to me in the near future...

The new ASC Bologna Extra Afrika. Very nice material, prettier in real life than I expected.

Sarj was his ever-joyful self (how could you not be happy with this many pens, right?) He told me he had some back pains, but that's what you get when you bring about a dozen of suitcases full of pens Sarj! I was lucky to have some time to chat with him during a calmer moment. Sarj is such an incredibly friendly chap, even though I have never bought anything from him (My self-control is incredible!).

Phoenix laquer art was also present at the show. What can I say? This brand is extra, everything about it is extra, down to the beautiful magnifying glass that you can use to drool over the amazing handpainted details of the pens I can probably never afford.

Papier & Stift came over from Germany and brought ALL THE INKS. This poor chap had the impossible task of organising all of those (They brought the Sailor Ink Studio inks, so you just know he had a mental breakdown trying to organise those!).

Then there were these two friendly looking peeps: Dennis and Rik from La Couronne Du Comte. They brought the usual great deals as well of course! Also got to see the new Pelikan Dunes blue: kinda meh about this special edition to be honest. My wallet thanks Pelikan for releasing too many blue special ed

Had a nice chat with the people from Maxpens and for the first time in my life I was truly captivated by Montblanc pens. They had some truly amazing vintage and prototype Montblanc pens on display. Expensive as hell, but damn they were pretty!

Arco Montblancs, because why not!

More handmade pens in the form of Corpus Woodworks. Not immediately my cup of tea to be honest, but damn impressive craftsmanship nonetheless!

Yunus of Galen Leather came all the way from Turkey, and brought a ton of their beautiful leathery goodness! Zeynep from Write To Me Often had come along to help manage the table. Both extremely friendly people and it was great meeting them in real life. My father bought the new 40-pen collector case, so I'll kindly loan it (hehe) and do a review of it very soon...

Scrittura Elegante is doing a closeout sale of all their writing-related products. Great deals on inks and pens, definitely worth checking out if you're still looking for a good deal!

And of course there were giveaways, lots of giveaways! Over 100 bottles of show-exclusive Robert Oster 'Nederland's Eerste' ink were graciously given away to visitors, and were personally handed out by Patrick from Robert Oster! This photo was taken over by the buy&sell table, where one could bring in pens to have on display and maybe make a few bucks. I made use of the service and think it's a brilliant idea. Didn't have to worry about the sales and made some money at the end of the day! Great initiative and undoubtedly a lot of work for show organizers Chaim and Christa! - Thanks for a great show guys! See you next year (Save the date: June 7th 2020)!