Last month, I took a trip into Manhattan to meet with Karen Doherty at Exaclair to discuss Rhodia Drive. I know many of you have communicated with her and isn't it nice to finally put a face to a name?
Karen's office stash of Clairefontaine, Rhodia and Herbin goodness.
We took a trip to Art Brown International Pen Shop because Mr. Nagahara from the Sailor pen company was going to be there doing pen clinics and we wanted our Sailor pen nibs tweaked by the master. (Kind of like having Gordon Ramsey sharpen your kitchen knives.)
Mr. Nagahara examines the nib of my Sailor 1911.
Mr. Nagahara perfecting the surface of my pen nib.
Adding the finishing touches. I had him tweak my 1911 and my Sapporo. Each tweaking took only minutes to perform and it was free.
This is Karen having the nib of her Sailor Magellan tweaked while Exaclair intern Max watches.
It appeared that there were Sailor sales reps on hand to demonstrate the new Sailor Realo - Sailor's first fountain pen utilizing a piston filling system. (That woman should be a hand model)
The Sailor Realo up close and personal. It appeared to be a very large pen. As I was pressed for time and since there were people looking at it that seemed to be interested in buying it, (at $400) I decided to not interrupt a potential sale with questions or additional photos..
All in all - a glorious day which included the BEST falafel EVER from a place in Chelsea called Pita Pan. I need to get back to the city fairly soon so I can spend a little more time at Art Brown and maybe also New York Central Art Supply. NYC has so many glorious old fashioned specialty stores and I could spend all day there!
8 comments:
VERY cool, great report!!! ;-)
Art Brown is the absolute COOLEST pen store for afficianados of writing, with or without large wallets. Their customer service and true appreciation for the writing arts has made me a fan for life. No "attitude" and positive customer service whether you're buying a bottle of ink or MB Limited Edition = something above the run of the mill. Andy
We're going to NYC soon, so you've helped ensure that I'll get to Art Brown. :)
stephanie, thank you for showing Karen to us. :) now there is a face to the name. :) the series of cabinets in her office looks like a dreamland to me: notebooks and inks galore!
Thanks so much for posting this. I didn't know about Art Brown's - that place is H-E-A-V-E-N, and located conveniently near the NY Public Library main branch, where I often work. Much cheaper for me to stop by and pick up inks instead of paying shipping each time.
Thanks!
Picture 1 is fantastic, Picture 2 is seizure-inducing! Thanks so much for sharing these.
I've been wanting to ask about a pen-ink-paper tour of NYC. We did this a lot at nother site I was a regular on, get togethers where we'd go from one store to another looking at specific items. Start a tour at Art Brown, then down to Kinokuniya, somewhere else, then maybe lunch, then AI Friedman/ Muji/Paper Access, then maybe a place for coffee/tea/a drink depending on the time.
If you'd be interested, I'd love to be in on it.
Karen is the patron saint of fountain pen users. Her generousity with ink and paper enabled me to try products I never would have known about and am now addicted to. My writing really took off thanks to her!
That is so cool...I have to check out Art Brown too someday!
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