Paris 2024

But not the Olympic Games--the Paris Pen Show.

Last weekend (October 5th and 6th), the first Paris Pen Show was celebrated at the Hôtel de l'industrie. It was a two-day event, organized by Stylographie, a magazine on the matter.

The Pen Show attracted over 30 dealers and about 800 visitors, although this official figure is questioned by a number of dealers and visitors. The total available space was 270 square meters divided in two lounges.

This decision, two different spaces, caused some problems. A number of aficionados, and even some organizers, were not aware of the smaller exhibition area with just half a dozen dealers. But at the same time, the bigger lounge lacked light and became crowded hampered by the narrow circulation areas in between dealers.

Then, how was this event? One more pen show is always good news, but good wishes are not enough for it to succeed.

Paris, always attractive, is also unbelievably expensive, this creates a number of obstacles  for all the parties involved—expensive hotels, expensive meals, expensive transportation...

Attracting visitors is never easy—you must organize the event, advertise it, and then... cross your fingers. Making it a paying event –EUR 10 per day, EUR 20 for early admission on Saturday-- filters some uninterested public, but also reduces the capability to reach newer and younger aficionados, and the current demographic of the European stylophile is far from being young.

800 visitors, then, is not a bad figure, but as mentioned before, some dealers were skeptical about it. And on top of that, the volume of business was not what some expected. Not enough visitors? Expensive pens? Mismatched supply and demand? Who knows...

This Pen Show was good news, but more work needs to be done.

Jinhao Dadao 9019 – Montblanc Irish Green

Bruno Taut
October 10th, 2024
labels: evento, París