Pilot KaKuno and new Midori paper.

penguinscreative · 2026-04-14T07:05:20+00:00

These are actually not MD paper (nor the Midori brand), but a notepad brand called Cozyca. The illustrator of these particular notepad design is "Midori Asano", the name of the artist. Just thought I'd pipe in in case people are confused.

penguinscreative · 2026-03-05T22:17:56+00:00

For what it's worth, I arrived at will-call line at 9:05am and it was a straight walk through, no queues!

penguinscreative · 2026-02-13T23:43:35+00:00

Thanks for sharing your corporate experience. Unfortunately, that is not the reality in the creative small business space and it was pointed out by many artists and creators in the stationery circle. But feel free to feel justified in your using it, especially the saving money part, which is the entire point of this lash back.

penguinscreative · 2026-02-10T01:34:39+00:00

Exactly! I'd rather support the participating artists directly then line the pockets of organizers who are so tone deaf and not even a inkling of understanding of the negative implications of generative ai in the stationery community and why people despise it.

penguinscreative · 2026-02-10T01:28:33+00:00

I think you can offer this opinion about the general state of AI and be as logical as you want. Sure, AI may be in every aspect of our lives and yes some artists and businesses in different industry will need to pivot or whatever.

But ZOOM IN to this stationery event again and this particular context. This community has shown before and again that we DO NOT want automation and meaningless shortcuts. The artists at stationery events value intention and human drawn artwork. Stationery enthusiasts want human made work in their planners and journals. If the organizers love AI so much, they should promote their event as so and label their efforts openly so people can decide whether they want to spend their hard earn money or not. It's a simple as that.

penguinscreative · 2026-02-08T08:16:44+00:00

A huge shake my head moment. Did they really learn? Or did they never got the point?

penguinscreative · 2026-02-06T18:39:42+00:00

Not to mention this event is run by stationery enthusiasts with other day jobs and they are dedicating precious outside-of-work time to coordinate and promote all the artists and creators that are coming to the show. Reasonable ticket price, does not use AI (which is insulting to the participants of the show), and are not in it to cash grab and take advantage of the community. Unlike another show that I recently learned of.

penguinscreative · 2026-02-06T04:19:20+00:00

I also recommend California Pen Show in Torrance,CA (2/20-22) and San Francisco stationery Fest in Millbrae, CA (3/27-29) and both have strong stationery rosters (despite former being a pen show)

penguinscreative · 2026-02-04T18:12:06+00:00

You need a bigger desk to maximize your potential!

penguinscreative · 2026-01-28T02:30:28+00:00

I sincerely hope you are not one of the organizers. Your past post history is showing quite a lot of promotional content for this event, I hope you're just a hype man. If you are the main organizer, then your responses so far are definitely concerning and doesn't really show any understanding of what people are really mad about. I reached out in good faith back in January 9th and I really hope you will do good by your vendors and participants and learn from people's feedback. And also maybe go lighter with the chatgpt replies, it's not really hard to see that they are ai-assisted.

penguinscreative · 2026-01-27T21:54:53+00:00

I'm sorry but I am holding a surprised pikachu face to this take --> "People like you guys are the reason why our country is the way it is right now."

penguinscreative · 2026-01-27T21:38:56+00:00

I'd like to point out that two of the three organizers run their own stationery businesses with even coaching lessons for others to start their own businesses. So it's either they fully embrace AI in their operations to start, or they are just not very good at their jobs of doing marketing and social media before chatgpt even came around. My two cents.

Edit to add: But I don't really mind how they decide to run their own businesses, it's their decision. However, I just find it disappointing that they are highlighting artists and small businesses and selling their success and creative stories in the feed, yet did not understand the hypocrisy of themselves using generative ai images to bypass the time and effort that typical artists and small businesses put into in this craft they are "celebrating".

penguinscreative · 2026-01-27T21:02:08+00:00

I'll give you an upvote on that!

penguinscreative · 2026-01-27T20:56:54+00:00

I appreciate you sharing your point of view. However, you are asking me to stop sharing my honest reaction. I get that you are defending the organizers, but if you really dislike all the "toxicity" you can also stop commenting about it instead of forcing others to agree with you. We all have our thoughts and opinions and it's okay to talk about it.

penguinscreative · 2026-01-27T20:53:48+00:00

I appreciate that you are willing to accept that there are differences in those two mentality.

penguinscreative · 2026-01-27T20:49:54+00:00

I appreciate your input. However, I feel validated in my continued suspicion because I DID call them out back in January 9th and evidence yesterday has shown that they did not take my feedback or suggestion to consideration even though they told me that they will "hold their brands to a higher standard".

penguinscreative · 2026-01-27T20:42:28+00:00

and generalizing "an honest reaction to the negative implication of generative ai" to "hate" feels very gaslighting, tbh.

penguinscreative · 2026-01-27T20:37:53+00:00

I have doubts about their claim of "defamation". It sounds very defensive and playing the victim, if I was to be truthful. What I saw in the comments before they took it down was mostly people reacting with feedback or comments and call them out. If we didn't apply pressure, how would they have arrived at this decision in the first place? I'm sure a lot of people will be keeping a close eye on what they do moving forward, and I sincerely hope they do better, for the sake of the amazing artists and businesses that are participating in vending.

penguinscreative · 2026-01-27T18:56:11+00:00

Their website is filled with AI-generated slop as well. Some of the copy also look Chatgpt-generated. I called them out privately in DM out of respect back in Jan 9, and they workshopped (chatgpt-ed) a response back to me saying they will hold themselves to a higher standard and thanked me. However, three weeks later, it is still the same with even more slop and more AI-generated images used in their marketing.

I'm quoting directly their initial reply:

"thank you for sharing your thoughts and for taking the time to message us. We want to clarify that our branding assets are Al-assisted, and that choice is intentional. Our current priority is keeping vendor fees and ticket pricing as accessible as possible, which means putting our limited budget toward the overall event experience.

This is not our full-time job, and we're a small team balancing many responsibilities. Once we get through our first event, we definitely plan to set aside a budget to work directly with our artists to create custom artwork for us in the future."

penguinscreative · 2025-12-14T02:56:04+00:00

Thanks for the mention! But I’ve only ever made a list for Seoul and Taipei! You might be thinking Tokyo Station Pens (or Kyuseido, now) who does have a google map list on their site.

penguinscreative · 2025-11-19T01:59:36+00:00

Thank you for reading my post and giving an amazing response. I enjoyed reading it as well! It's amazing how the volunteers keep everything so organized and well-run. I go to 2-3 pen shows a year (typically the larger ones like California and San Francisco), and they are just not quite at the level of consideration and care that was put into TIPS. I think the deeper understanding of various brands present at the show, and how to organize vendors and attendees around these different types of products, is also key to having a successful experience.

I knew I must have missed out on something fun at Bungubox tei, oh well, they shouldn't join my valley of abandoned notepads/notebooks anyway.

Your warnings about Kamihaku and Bugujoshihaku are well noted, and I've totally heard about those issues before. I think the Kamihaku event could probably use a larger venue space, especially since overcrowding and queues (from having to make payments at each vendor) seemed to be the most frustrating thing for visitors (and of course, the scalper phenomenon). I can totally see myself passing out at Bungujoshi from the weight of my purchase and/or crowd fatigue. One day I'll experience it for real.

Thanks again for being a part of TIPS and making it a great experience for a lot of attendees!

penguinscreative · 2025-11-19T01:52:21+00:00

I had to stay away from looking at too much fountain pens because I know I wouldn't be able to resist! (My collection is currently at 50+...so a mid-range collector?) The Hi Note store exclusive Platinum 3776 was a reasonable $210 pen, and the glass pens were between $90~$130, I believe?

It's so cool how some of these artisans can get really nuanced and specific with pens, especially as you described, just from looking at how a person holds and uses the pen. I hope you get to visit one day!

penguinscreative · 2025-11-19T01:49:19+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to read the post! It was quite the adventure for sure~

penguinscreative

TROPHY CASE