Taiwan Pen and Stationery Shop List
Following a few days in the lovely city of Taipei, I would like to thank Andy (@Atsaichu) for all the foodie and stationery adventures he took us on. I would also like to thank Alice (@aliceinwanderland11) for all her tips.
9 days in Taipei flew too quickly and I must share the shops I discovered there. The list is long, and though I was tempted to break it into two (pen shops vs stationery), it just didn’t make sense to me.Though there are certainly more, these are the ones I can recommend. More articles will be posted shortly recommending specific brands and products.
Juspirit ( No. 11-28號, Section 2, Nanya South Road, Banqiao District, New Taipei City) is heaven for ink lovers. It is also a place for pen, calligraphy and art lovers of all skill levels to unite and share their passion. Yes, I really love the family run Juspirit shop. The shop is run by Ting who is an ink collector herself. Their selection of inks includes local brands (Lennon Tool Bar, Ink Institute and their own shop brand), rare Japanese inks (Bungubox, and Kingdom Note), plus, many international brands (Robert Oster, Kyoto Tag, Colorverse, etc.). They make it easy to pick inks by sharing artwork by their in-house artist Wella.
In terms of pens, they sell a curated selection of Opus 88, small Japanese artisans, Platinum, special edition Sailor pens, and good quality lower end pens that are especially useful for shimmer inks.
If you are in Taipei, I highly recommend that you visit their shop and even keep an eye on the many calligraphy, zentangle and other workshops they organize at the shop. If you live abroad, you should definitely check out their website (using Chrome to translate) since they ship (even ink) abroad at interesting rates.
Fine Writing International ( 335, Section 3, Roosevelt Road, Daan District, Taipei City No. 12 on the 12th floor): is a lovely shop and a brand. Though an article dedicated to the brand and reviews of their pens are coming soon, I must recommend the shop. Situated on the 12th floor of an office building in the busy National Taiwan University are, the shop is a little piece of heaven for anyone passionate about writing. They have an amazing selection of Italian paper, KWZ inks, Clairefontaine and Rhodia products, plus their own pens, and calligraphy items. In the shop, they have both their standard selection of amazing fountains pens, plus many one of a kind fountain pens made by some of the best artisans Taiwan has to offer. Visiting the shop is also having the unique opportunity to meet the creator of the brand, hear first hand about his inspiration and get inspired to write!
TyLee’s Pen Shop (No. 76, Lane 78, Section 2, Fuxing South Road, Da’an District, Taipei) is easily the most complete in all of Taipei. The store has two floors: a ground floor full of the best fountain pens from Taiwan (FWI, Opus 88, TWSBI, SKB, etc.) and the world, mostly new and some vintage; the basement is paper, ink, calligraphy and student pen central with all the major international brands, plus many local gems (ipaper, tylee’s own paper brand, Kala inks, Lennon Tool Bar, Ink Wall, etc.). I would recommend setting some time aside to explore all the wonders this store has to offer.
Plain Stationery (100 No.4, No.16, Lane 56, Section 1, Xinsheng South Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei ) is a shop and café for those of us who are passionate about good craftsmanship in all its forms. It has a fountain pens and inks, but it also has amazing unique items from fully wooden handcrafted nib holders and ballpoints (with a fully functioning wooden mechanism), to whale shaped knives to sharpen pencils. All the best stamps, papers (Midori, Life, etc.) and traditional stationery items are also available in this amazing shop. The best part though was talking to the owner who had a twinkle in his eyes as he presented some of the most unique curated items I have seen in the world. Seriously, this is a stationery shop I would not miss out on!
Molly’s Lifestyle (No. 4, Lane 27, Linyi Street, Zhongzheng District, Taipei) is full of local inks and pens, and should not be missed if you are seeking to be surprised. The shop is small and packed full of stationery and photography material. The pens are at the counter, and it is most definitely worth taking a close look. Other than Platinum pens at a great price, I found there FuFu Pens, Lin pens and others with very original nibs. It’s a lot of fun!
Vision (No. 8號, Lane 209, Section 2, Jilong Road, Da’an District, Taipei City) is a small but very complete stationery shop that shines due to the kindness of its owners and its fun selection of journaling products. The full Life Paper, Midori, Traveller’s journal and other paper brand collections are nicely complemented with all the accessories a stationery lover could dream of. They are especially awesome for those of us in stamp art, collage and funky creative tools… oh and their small selection of local inks and pens is lovely!
Tools to Liveby (No. 15, Lane 72, Leli Road, Da’an District, Taipei City) is perhaps the most international of the Taiwan stationery shops. Their website is available in English and they ship (most products) internationally. The shop itself is very nice, full of unique stationery and lifestyle products, most which cannot be found elsewhere. Though it is a tad pricey, the high quality of its products makes it worth the detour.
Eslite Xinyi (No.11 Songgao Road, Xinyi District, Taipei) is the biggest of the Taiwanese bookstores of the same Taiwanese brand. Amongst its 8000 m2, there is both a stationery section with quality products from around the world, and a fine writing section with many lovely products, including Sailor’s Ink Studio with a testing stand. The stationery sections are open up to 10pm and has duty free on site. The bookstore which has a lot of books in English side by side books in Mandarin is open past midnight and an amazing place for late night exploring.
Pen Ink Studio (No. 50, Lane 260, Guangfu South Road, Daan District, Taipei) is actually a distributor that happens to have a (messy but fun) shop. They sell their own brand products (Birds of Taiwan ink, Monuments of Taipei ink, notebooks with Tomoe River or Bank Paper...), plus a variety of small local brands (Yaching, Lin, Confuscious…), and all the major international brands (Platinum, Aurora, Pilot, …). This is a shop worthwhile for those with patience who like to rummage and look at all the little details regardless of the presentation. Though despite not being pretty in terms of display, the shop’s pet bird really made me smile!
FuFu - Hualian is definitely off the beaten path and, though I was not able to visit the shop (yet), I just love the FuFu Pen I found of Molly’s and wanted to share the lovely documentary below that shows the magic of this unique fountain pen shop and it’s creator.
To visualize where these shops are, please check out this map!
