Taking A Hike - Laywine's

Taking A Hike

My getaway for the past few summers has been a ‘camp’ in the Adirondack Mountains.  It is a series of rustic cabins scattered around an old farmhou...

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Pencils, Pencils, Pencils - Laywine's

Pencils, Pencils, Pencils

Depending on your sense of nostalgia, writing with a pencil can be a “Madeleine moment’. For me, the smell of wood shavings and sharpened graphite ...

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The May Sale - Laywine's

The May Sale

The people closest to me will gently point out that I tell the same stories again and again.  If you’ve heard this one, please forgive me.   I open...

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My First Sale - Laywine's

My First Sale

I have been selling fountain pens for 35 years.  My first day in retail was the day I opened the shop, back in September of 1987.  But it wasn’t th...

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Spring Training - Laywine's

Spring Training

Schoolkids are taught the equinox is the beginning of spring. For me, winter ends three weeks earlier. The beginning of March is the start of spri...

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A New Year - Laywine's

A New Year

I trust you had a reasonable end-of-year break. Almost certainly, some of you were bogged down, snowed in, or missed flights. I hope the frustratio...

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The Gift - Laywine's

The Gift

Now that Halloween is behind us (my least favourite holiday—but that is for a sidebar conversation), I feel the pull towards the intensity of the ...

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Pen and Paper - Laywine's

Pen and Paper

“Wow, you use a fountain pen!?”⁠⁠In our writing community, there is a shared understanding of why we love pens and paper so much. The combination ...

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35 Years! - Laywine's

35 Years!

September 2022 marks 35 years of Laywine's. It is hard to imagine that when I first saw the shops in London selling nothing but organizers, and s...

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Common Modern - Laywine's

Common Modern

When we first saw Common Modern's products in Paris in January of 2020, we fell in love immediately. Their vibrant and modern approach to stationer...

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