07

Jun

Venvstas evolves again: meet the Calibro 8 ‘Black Tie’

This, the Calibro 8, is a perplexing pen for me to review. It’s clearly a made-in-Italy Venvstas like I’

07 Jun 2026

6 min read

20

May

Overdue. A gear update.

I’m overdue a lot of things. First, a review of the new Venvstas fountain pen. It confounds me. But

20 May 2026

4 min read

14

Apr

Thomas Slim comes out swinging in the pocket fountain pen category

When Thomas Slim (the brand) reached out to me (the person) offering a review sample of their new pocket pen,

14 Apr 2026

6 min read

24

Feb

Rimowa: engineering comes at a cost

Packing is a hobby, right? I don’t travel loads, but I travel often enough that I spend a lot

24 Feb 2026

8 min read

28

Jan

The Conid Maximalistica is supersized, but still stripped back

Conid is back… worth the wait? I bought my first Conid way back in 2018, and since then I’ve

28 Jan 2026

7 min read

13

Jan

Explaining the radio silence

I have some new year pen reflections to post, and about a dozen more post ideas at various stages of

13 Jan 2026

1 min read

29

Dec

Back with Hobonichi and Tomoe for 2025

I just checked Gmail and my first Hobonichi Cousin A5 order was way back in 2016. I used Hobonichi as

29 Dec 2025

5 min read

15

Dec

An ode to the Platinum Preppy

It’s easy to see how making a product for an expert user is challenging. Experts are discerning, they have

15 Dec 2025

3 min read

03

Dec

All I want for Christmas is…

Not Mariah Carey. Sorry Mariah. Following on from last post, my holiday gift guide, which was all items I own…

03 Dec 2025

5 min read

25

Nov

A gift guide of deliberate objects

It’s Black Friday week. Soon it’ll be Christmas. Yep… it’s that time of year again, when your

25 Nov 2025

5 min read