2021 is Hindsight
In January of 2021 I reviewed the Visconti Homo Sapiens series for the very first time. Soon after, I added a different Homo Sapiens to my own collection, after years spent eying that line of pens. It was a big move for me as a collector, but 2021 was a year filled with big moves and big moments for me, and for Penquisition as a site.
While my father began toying with some pen block designs back in 2020, 2021 was the year that we began 3D printing, first on some really terribly Polaroid machines (one is still laying in pieces on the floor of my office) and later on the much better Prusa Mini+. 2021 was also the year that we launched our web store. The store launch, and the accompanying migration of the site from Wordpress to Squarespace, were very much influenced and encouraged by our biggest product launch of 2021: the “Susan” Retro 51 Tornado. We dreamt up this Maryland Flag rollerball years ago, and having it come into existence, and getting to share it with all of you, has been an absolute highlight of this past year. I’m also proud that we have made a donation to the Living Classrooms Foundation a part of each “Susan” pen sale. We sent over a check for $582 at the beginning of this month, for all of the sales from September through the end of November, and I’ll post another update in early March when we send our next quarterly check.
2021 has also been a year of immense personal growth. My daughter Scarlett was born on June 1, and has been a welcome addition to our home dynamic (except at night time, when she forgets that she’s supposed to be sleeping.) Her absolute favorite family member is her now-4-year-old sister Luna, who has taken to the big sister role with aplomb. My wife and I couldn’t be happier. We are especially happy now that, as of a week or so ago, I am completely finished with the MBA program that I’ve been working on. The Omicron variant robbed me of my chance to walk in full regalia, but as of yesterday my degree has been conferred, and I am done with grad school.
Getting a master’s degree while also raising an infant and a preschooler, and holding down a full-time professional job as well, doesn’t leave a ton of time for running a blog, which is why content has been a bit sporadic for the last couple of years. My father has done amazing handling fulfillment for all of the orders from our shop since June, when the baby was born, but the site migration and launch of the webstore and other features was all me, Luckily, running a small business goes hand in hand with some of the content found in MBA courses, so there was some synergy going on.
What hasn’t been going on with the frequency I would have liked are reviews and other posts, and that will be changing in 2022. I have a backlog of products that I want to review for you all, and I’m itching to explores some new avenues for those reviews, such as live-streaming and more. Custom designed 3D pen-rests have been a secret offering in the past, because of a lack of time for design work, but with no class work to do anymore, that will change as well. And, with any luck, we will hopefully be back to penshows in 2022. We have our table reserved for the BWI show in March, and if pandemic conditions improve, maybe we’ll branch out a bit further.
One thing that has been nice through the course of 2021 is having the monthly Baltimore Fountain Pen Club First Saturday Video Meeting. Every month, on the first Saturday, pen club members, both in and around Baltimore, and those who are just spiritually in Baltimore wherever they might roam, join up for an hour or two on Google Meet starting at 2pm Eastern. Our next meeting is tomorrow, January 1st, and the one after will be on February 5th. Anyone who wants to talk pens is welcome, just send me an email at Evan@Penquisition..com if you’d like to be invited.
See you all next year!
