Timber! Timber! TIPS 2023

The 2023 Tokyo International Pen Show (TIPS) took place during the first weekend of November 3rd to 5th, and it´s time to reflect on it and on the new trends in the market. Needless to say, what I might write is just my perception and I am sure I am missing many other movements.

First, the pen show in itself. 3 days, 180 tables, five shifts to attend it, most of them sold out. The figures clearly speak of a big success. It might not be what you expect from a pen show, but this East Asian style pen show does work, and, best of all, attracts younger generations of stationery aficionados.

And that because, as I have repeatedly said, TIPS is not a pen show but a stationery fair where many vendors simply display their latest products. More on this later.

The shift system –you pay to enter the show during a limited period of just four hours, morning or afternoon- is one of the unfortunate aftereffects of the pandemic years. What initially was a good idea to limit the number of people at the lounge at once and thus limiting the risk of infection is now an excuse to increase the total number of visitors and the revenue associated to selling tickets. The downside of it is easy to understand—this fair is not a meeting point for aficionados but just a market place where you better rush to see it all and to execute your purchases.

On this occasion, 2023, the large number of vendors –180- pushed the organizers to use two lounges on two different floors in the building. Moving between them could be very easy, but the organizers decided to make it difficult and unpleasant despite giving you a paper bracelet as soon as you entered the fair. It looked like they did not trust their own controlling mechanisms. But do not ask difficult questions...

So, what was on offer at TIPS 2023? More of the same things we saw on previous years: very few second hand and vintage pens, many more new pens, inks, paper, assorted paraphernalia...

Assortted paraphernalia...

However, I could see some new trends:

1. Timber, timber, timber! It seems wood lathes are on sale and the number of people making wooden pens –fountain pens, ball pens, mechanical pencils-- was surprising. But, is the market big enough for so many operations?

Timber! Timber!

2. Emerging markets. TIPS was a success in previous years and some see this event as a good stage to present new companies and new products. In previous years we saw some European and American traders. This year, we also saw dealers from India, PR China and Turkey.

An Indian trader--Endless.

3. Urushi might be from East Asia, but now it is everywhere. And by urushi I also mean urushi-based decorative techniques. At TIPS 2023 we could see some interesting examples of urushi and raden decorated pens made in India and in Turkey.

Urushi-nuri and raden from Turkey.

Conclusions:

– The TIPS model –a stationery fair- works and is here to stay. Its ability to attract younger aficionados is a powerful argument to support this event in the years to come. Pens might not be the argument to attract them, but it does not matter as long as they come.

– New trends come and go. Wooden pens and urushi-decorated pens might be fashionable now, but everything can change overnight.

– Look out for products and companies coming from emerging markets as they will pose a very serious competition to well established companies.

Would I come again? Not sure. I always end up disappointed, but it is a good place to find out what is going on in the world of stationery.

Moonman A2 - Diamine Bilberry

Bruno Taut
November 8th, 2023
etiquetas: mercado, evento, Tokyo, maki-e

The Four Seasons of Mr. Sato

(You shall excuse my recent silence on these pages. Some personal issues came in my way and had to pay attention to them. Hopefully I will be able to post more often in the following weeks).

In the last years we have seen how urushi-based decorative techniques have been adopted by a number of craftsmen well beyond the traditional locations in East Asia. Now we see urushi-decorated pens in Poland, Spain, Switzerland, USA, Turkey, India... and probably many more, plus some others waiting to be discovered.

In the meantime, the Japanese scene remains relatively calm. Sure some younger figures have made some beautiful noise –such is the brilliant case of Bokumondoh—, but there are some others hidden in their own studios scattered all around Japan. And few of them become known beyond their communities and customers.

Such is the case of Mr. Tateo Sato (佐藤建夫, Sato Tateo in Japanese), an urushi master from the mountains of Miyagi, about 350 km North of Tokyo. Mr. Sato was born in Miyagi in 1951 and has been active since very early age, first learning with masters Sawaguchi Shigeru, Nishiya Kazuo and Yamamoto Hideaki; and since 1981 as the head of his own studio in Narako, Miyagi.

And now, thanks to the initiative of Mr. Uehara Yu-ichi of Ohashido, another fellow from Miyagi, we can see some of the works of the urushi master. Uehara commissioned Sato Tateo with the decoration of some pens. The result, or part of it, is the following set of four pens:

The Four Seasons.

The name of the set is “The Four Seasons”, and the pens are individually named after some evocative Japanese word: tsukushi (土筆) for Spring, hotaru (蛍) for Summer, kagerô (蜻蛉) for Autumn, and tokiwa (常盤) for Winter.

Tsukushi for Spring. Note the signature near the pen end.

Tsukushi is a form of horsetail (equisetum) that grows in Spring. Initially it is yellowish in color.

Fireflies in Summer.

Hotaru is firefly. For this pen, Mr Sato used some subtle raden decoration combined with black urushi.

Dragonflies in Autumn.

Kagerô is an old word for dragonfly, an insect deeply associated with Autumn in Japan.

Evergreen Winter.

Tokiwa, finally, means evergreen、with its usual connotations of youth and longevity.

All four pens are signed with the kao –stylized signature— of the master.

As for the pen, not much can be said once you know the works of Mr. Uehara. They are regular Ohashido pens made of ebonite with a medium size nib (big in Sailor terms) made of 21 K gold, manufactured by Sailor.

The Sailor nib labeled as Ohashido.

Rare as these pens are, they won't become representative of the works made by Uehara and the Ohashido brand, but sure they will become collectibles sought after by aficionados. And maestro Sato might become better known.


My thanks to Poplicola-san.

Parker 50 “Falcon” – Sailor Yama-dori

Bruno Taut
November 6th, 2023
etiquetas: Ohashido, maki-e