Top pen related in 2020

  • Best hobby related accessory: bone folder
    I started bookbinding in the spring and I like using my bone folder. Honourable mention goes to my vintage book press 🙂
  • Favourite country of origin: Japan 🇯🇵
    I had almost exclusively German and Italian pens and in 2020 I finally bought Japanese pens (1 Sailor, 1 Wancher with Sailor nib and an Eboya with Bock nib) and I love them all.
  • Top pen material: ebonite
    Though I had one ebonite pen before, this year I’ve acquired 4 new ebonite pens. Along with celluloid, ebonite is the most comfortable pen material for me so far.
  • Favourite ink: Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo
    This is not a new ink but something I haven’t used before. I was delighted by its colour and performance. Honourable mention goes to the Taccia Ukiyo-e inks for their beautiful boxes.
  • Brand of 2020: Santini Italia
    This year I’ve bought 2 Santini pens and I have a lot of respect for this company, their fantastic in-house made nibs and their amazing customer care. My most frequently used pen this year was my Santini Libra Jungle having a fantastic Santini Fine 18k nib.

+1 thing that trumps these all: I’m very grateful for all my pen friends with whom I tried to keep in touch during the year in the face of the pandemic restrictions. I really enjoyed all the outdoors meetings, writing to penpals and last but most certainly not the least: all the online pen meets we had.

What were your top 5 pens or top 5 inks or just top pen related things in 2020?