Thursday Drops: Happy Thanksgiving from T.G.S.! TWSBI Cosmo + Onyx, New Midori Desk Accessories and More!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Or should I say “Inksgiving”? This week’s new arrivals include the latest TWSBI ECO release (and it’s a good one), as well as the entire range of the Midori XS Stationery Accessories, which you can now purchase separately from the XS Stationery Kit. We continue to restock on existing brands in advance of the holiday shopping season, including Pilot, Tom’s Studio, TWSBI, Diplomat, and more! Don’t forget to take advantage of our ongoing Thanksgiving Week promotions, including:

• 10% Off Most Items in the Shop Using the Code “INKSGIVING” at checkout. Some brand exclusions apply. Be sure to check out the 2025 T.G.S. Holiday Gift Guide for ideas on how to use your discount, especially if you’re buying for others.

• 20% off Clearance Items, Automatically Applied at Checkout. We’ve added additional items to our Clearance section.

• T.G.S. Sticker Promo. Any orders over $75 (pre-shipping and taxes) automatically qualify for free domestic U.S. shipping and will also receive a large 3” T.G.S. holographic vinyl sticker for your water bottle, laptop, notebook, flask to get you through Thanksgiving dinner, etc.

• A New Notebook Gift Promo! Any order over $150 (pre-shipping and taxes) will include a nice A5 Notebook, while supplies last, or another gift of equivalent value until we run out. This promo will be automatically applied to all orders placed between Weds 11/26-Sunday 11/30 at 11:59pm US CT, so if you placed an order in this window no action is necessary.

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We have the new TWSBI ECO Cosmo+Onyx fountain pen, which will be available both in-store and will start shipping tomorrow (11/28).

Note that our Nashville Store will have special hours this week. We are closed Thursday (11/27) for Thanksgiving, but will reopen Friday (11/28) and Saturday (11/29) from 10am-6pm for extended post-holiday hours. Online shopping remains available 24/7, and all online discount codes will be valid in-store.

1. TWSBI ECO Cosmo + Onyx Fountain Pen. TWSBI has released it’s latest ECO, and this latest entry in the “swirled acrylic” series features blue, green, and purple mixed together and paired with Onyx trim for a look that reminds me of the Earth from space. I posted a video yesterday which might give you a better idea of the look.

2. Pilot Vanishing Point Birchwood Capless Fountain Pens. Pilot uses birchwood finishes in ballpoints such as the S20 and multi pens like the Legno 2+1, but now it’s also available in the Capless Vanishing Point fountain pen for an ultra-elegant look.

3. Pilot Custom Heritage 92 Demonstrator Fountain Pens. One of the best pure demonstrator fountain pens on the market, the Pilot Custom Heritage 92 features crystal clear acrylic and an excellent 14k nib.

4. Pilot Kakuno Fountain Pens, Including Transparent Colors + Madoromi Series. The Pilot Kakuno is one of our favorite entry level fountain pens because it’s so accessible, and I’ve been glad to see Pilot expanding the Kakuno’s offerings because it’s not just an excellent pen for beginners, but a great everyday carry for anyone.

5. Tom’s Studio Lumos Pro Duo “Clementine”. Tom’s Studio has released the Lumos in a warm matte orange finish just in time for the holidays. If you’re interested in reading more about why I love the Lumos (and refillable fineliners in general), check out this post where I walk through how they work. Other colors also have been restocked.

6. Tom’s Studio Wren “Clementine”. The Wren works similarly to the Lumos, only it uses a standard writing tip rather than the micron-style tip used by the Lumos. The Wren is an excellent option for those of us who love to write with marker-style pens and want one that goes anywhere. In addition to Clementine, other colors are back in stock as well.

7. Midori XS Stationery Kits and Individual Components. As we gear up for the holiday travel season, I’ve had a few inquiries about travel kits and portable stationery. One of my favorites is the Midori XS Stationery Kit, and we now offer the individual components separately.

8. Zenith Staplers from Italy. By far one of the more overlooked desk accessories for paper aficionados, a good stapler is critical to my own workflow, and I’ve enjoyed these plier-style Zenith Staplers from Italy. Check out a video demonstration of how they work here.

9. Life Airmail Stationery (Pads + Envelopes). We once again have both Airmail writing pads and matching envelopes, for those who want to get a jumpstart on their holiday letter writing!

10. Original Crown Mill Stationery. We’ve recently added the line of Original Crown Mill laid stationery out of Belgium, with A4, A5 and correspondence card sets available. These and more are now available to browse in our dedicated correspondence section of the shop.

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I almost forgot, we added a ton of new specialty Japanese erasers this week from Seed and Kokuyo, including many with multiple edges for precision work.

Happy INKSGIVING! Don't Miss the T.G.S. Thanksgiving-Week Sales and Promotions!

It’s the day before Thanksgiving, so you all know what that means…. It’s time to kick off the Holiday shopping season. As we do every year, we are running a series of discounts and promotions through Sunday, November 30 at 11:59pm US Central time. Here they are:

• 10% Off Most Items in Store using the Code “INKSGIVING” at Checkout. Some brands (i.e., TWSBI) do not allow us to discount, so exclusions apply.

• 20% Off any Clearance Items, which will be automatically applied at checkout. Note that you won’t see the discount until you click the “Check Out” button in the cart, and it will be applied before you pay.

• All orders over $75 will receive a large 3” T.G.S. Holographic water-bottle sticker in addition to your free shipping! Since quantities are limited, only those who use the INKSGIVING code will receive the promotional gift.

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Though not eligible for promotions, the new TWSBI ECO Cosmo + Onyx fountain pen is now available for pre-sale online. Pens will ship Friday (11/28).

Special In-Store Nashville Hours This Week: Closed Thursday on Thanksgiving

Due to the holiday this week, we have special hours at our Nashville shop. Note that we will be closed Thursday on Thanksgiving. We will be open Wednesday afternoon (11/26) from 2pm-6pm, Friday (11/28) from 10am-6pm, and Saturday (11/29) from 10am-6pm. All discounts will be honored in-store with mention of the INKSGIVING code! We hope to see you there!

Note that our showroom/shop has moved! To shop in-person, please come to Suite 107 on the front of our building (behind the “Tower”). You’ll know what I mean when you see it. ;)

New Arrivals: More Notsu Notecards, New Notecard Holders, Plus Midori XS Stationery Accessories!

Just in time for the holidays, we received a giant box from Notsu yesterday with more Centre Rise Notecard Sets (featuring vertical “To Do” cards), the Centre Notecard Set (featuring horizontal “To Do” cards), and two new colors of Notsu’s vegan leather Notecard Holders, which are now available in gray and dark brown!

We also offer the Midori XS Stationery kit components available for purchase separately, including the XS Staplers, Glue Tape, Correction Tape, and Paper Cutters. We’ve carried the popular XS Stationery travel kits for a while now, and you can now buy refills or the mini components separately to build your own kit. These are excellent office supplies for a go-bag or travel journaling.

Check out these items and more in our latest release of the annual T.G.S. Holiday Gift Guide! Note that we have special hours this week in our Nashville store, and will be open from 2:00pm-6:00pm Wednesday, Closed on Thursday (Thanksgiving), and will open from 10:0am-6:00pm Friday and Saturday to kick off the holiday shopping season! We hope to see you there!

Sunday Reading for November 23, 2025

1. 12 Pen Person Questions (via A Gathering of Curiosities). Once again, I love reading all of these responses to the #12PenPersonQuestions exercise. As always, R.B.’s responses are thoughtful!

2. Who Are Your Human Mycelium? (via From the Pen Cup). Another very thoughtful post from one of the best in the pen community!

3. Inks for the TWSBI ECO Plum with Onyx Fountain Pen (via Pen Addict - Kimberly). Kimberly does all the research so you don’t have to - if you’ve been struggling to find the perfect ink color match for your ECO Plum + Onyx, be sure to check this out.

4. New Spoke Design Pencil, Looking at All 20 Lamy Crystal Inks and More (via dwrdnet). The Lamy Crystal inks are an often overlooked series that contain some excellent colors, including perennial favorites such as Amazonite and Peridot.

5. Tactile Turn Deep Sea (via Figboot on Pens). I love the color but I still prefer the Tactile Turn Side Click format and might pass on this specific release.

6. November 2025 Ink Palettes (via Mountain of Ink). I love the dark reds, burgundies, and scarlets here.

7. Paper Review: Sterling Ink, Owl Paper, Hobonichi, & Aura Estelle’s New Sanzen Paper (via Well-Appointed Desk). For those of you looking for paper comparisons for 2026 planners, Ana takes a look at several different options from smaller brands.

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Zenith 591 Staplers in three colors.

In Case You Missed It…

This week on the blog I took a look at a unique desk accessory: the Zenith 590 (and 591) plier-style stapler, which is something I’ve personally coveted for my own collection but never ended up getting my hands on until now. I also did a YouTube video demonstration. Yesterday I published the annual T.G.S. Holiday Gift Guide, which I’ve updated annually since 2017 and look forward to revisiting every year. In Saturday’s post I also added some commentary on five of my personal favorite stationery gifts that I lean on every year during the holiday season.

Most Traveler’s Notebook Refills and Accessories are restocked as of yesterday!

This Week in the T.G.S. Curated Shop

We have a ton of new arrivals this week, including a restock of Passport-size Traveler’s Notebooks in Olive, Midori MD Notebooks in all sizes, stickers and washi tape from MT Taps and iLootPaperie, and more! There’s even new Pilot pens including the Custom Heritage 92 Demonstrator and Pilot Birchwood Vanishing Points, as well as newly arrived colors of the Tom’s Studio Wren and Lumos refillable fineliners, which are a warm matte orange perfect for fall. Be sure to check out each week’s Thursday Drops post for a list of all new releases and arrivals.

Our Nashville shop will be open this week Friday and Saturday from 10am to 6pm, but closed on Thursday (Thanksgiving). Yes, there will be extended hours on Friday given that it’s a short holiday week. Keep an eye on the main store page for announcements regarding any additional special hours during the holiday season.

Pilot

Traveler's Company

Levenger

Desk Mats

How You Can Further Support T.G.S.

If you enjoy our content (whether here on the main website, Instagram, YouTube Channel or elsewhere), and would like early/extra access to shop releases and special promotions, consider supporting us via Patreon. The T.G.S. Patreon includes early access and discounts on exclusive shop releases, a monthly updates newsletter, and of course our monthly meetups. Patreon supporters also have access to the first two episodes of a new podcast experiment I’ve been working on with Lisa Vanness of Vanness Pens. More on this later, but for the time being the initial episodes are Patreon-exclusive.

The 2025 T.G.S. Holiday Gift Guide is Live! Plus Five Favorite Stationery Gifts

Our annual Holiday Gift Guide has been updated and is live on the site! Each year we revise this page to reflect new gift ideas and trends from the past year of stationery, and everything featured in the guide is not only available for online shopping but in person at our Brick-and-Mortar store, located in Nashville, Tennessee! We will have regular hours through the Holiday season and possibly open on a few additional Sundays between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day so stay tuned. If you’d like to make an appointment to shop on days that we are not showing as open please do reach out because I know everyone’s holidays are chaotic and we want to be as flexible as possible.

My Thoughts on Gifting Stationery and My Favorite Gifts I Give Every Year

It probably comes as no surprise to anyone that I give stationery as gifts every holiday season (and birthdays, etc.). But what I give does sometimes surprise people, because I try to keep it simple and relatively inexpensive as I don’t want the recipient to be afraid to actually use the item. Here are five of my personal favorite stationery gifts for family, friends, and colleagues. Most of these are featured in the Guide but I figured I’d add a bit of personal color for fun. I love recommending gifts for people, and find it one of the most fulfilling parts of running the retail side of T.G.S.

• Pocket Pens. Even if they don’t know it, everyone needs a pocket pen, and there are several out there that even the most non-stationery obsessed person can appreciate. The Lamy Pico was our top seller last holiday season, but we’ve also added Rite-in-the-Rain bullet pens which are great options for outdoorsy types. Rite-in-the-Rain makes a “nice” metal version, as well as a two-pack of the pressurized plastic pens.

• Pocket Notebooks. Field Notes always make a great gift for non-fountain pen users because you can usually find a theme to match their interests. (The National Parks series is a perennial favorite). For those with recipients who might want better paper, the Lochby versions aren’t as ornate but feature 68gsm Tomoe River Paper, and the Lochby Field Journal Mini or Pocket Journal makes a nice complement if you want to scale up the gift.

• Pencils. Some of my favorite gifts ever were thoughtful pencil gifts, and I’ve never had a pencil-themed gift go bad. Turns out may people like wood pencils, especially if you can find good ones because most non-stationery nerds assume that all pencils made these days are poor quality. Favorites include Camel pencils from Japan with the integrated erasers, Uni and Tombow “handwriting” pencils, and all of the novelties from Begoody that despite their quirkiness are good writers with excellent graphite. For recipients who enjoy technology, the Uni Kuru Toga KS or Alpha Gel Switch are inexpensive mechanical pencils that feature the Kuru-Toga’s auto-rotation mechanism.

• Bookmarks. I’m a reader, and most of my family and close friends appreciate a solid bookmark (or pack of “writable bookmarks” that you can use to take notes and annotate). Small and inexpensive, bookmarks make great stocking stuffers or small items for gift exchange parties.

• The Lamy Swift Rollerball Pen. Do I have a go-to recommendation for a gift for a nice pen for a “non pen person” (or even a pen person whose preferences you might not know)? Yes, and it’s the overlooked Lamy Swift retractable rollerball. Most people are sold when they see how the clip retracts into the barrel, which should keep you from trying to stick the pen in your pocket with the tip extended - NOT a good thing to do with a liquid rollerball. :)

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No, these aren’t made anymore (in 20 years) and I don’t sell them, but they remain one of my favorite holiday gifts ever received. (I later bought up several dozen on eBay.)

Get Your Holiday Orders in Early (Or Shop in Person), and Other Tips for Surviving the Holiday Season

Thanksgiving is late this year (and the weather here has felt like Spring), so there’s been a delayed start to the traditional holiday shopping season. While our shipping times have remained fairly fast, with orders typically out the door within 2 business days, we have no control over carrier delivery times and things like carrier strikes. I would advise giving yourself 10 days grace if you need something for a gift by a specific date. Note that during the holiday season, due to unpredictable delays, some carriers are not considering a package “lost” until 20 days have passed on a domestic delivery, and up to 6 weeks for international shipments. If you need something expedited, please send us an e-mail and we can explore overnight or express shipping options. And of course, you can always come by and shop in person all the way up to Christmas Eve!

As stressful as it is, I always love the holiday season! Enjoy the gift guide, thank you for your support, and as always, please reach out if you have any questions.