From SF Stationery Fest, with love

 
Last weekend I went to SF Stationery Fest, and I walked in not knowing quite what to expect.
 
What I found was a room full of warm, kind, genuinely enthusiastic people who care about paper the way I do. I didn't feel like an outsider. I felt like I had found my people.
 
I spent most of the day talking to Japanese brands. People who have been doing what I'm trying to do with Paper Bento, some of them for years before stationery became the thing it is now. There was something humbling about that.
 
One conversation stuck with me from that day. I was talking with someone from Yamamoto Paper, a Japanese paper maker who has been coming to the SF Pen Show for the past seven years. He told me that when he first started coming, people were confused. "Can't you just get paper here? It's cheaper." But he kept showing up. And slowly, he started finding the fountain pen community. People who couldn't find the right paper for their craft and who genuinely wanted to understand what made Japanese artisanal paper different. He said he loves (in his own words,)  "geeking out" about it with them.
 
Seven years. I've been doing this for a few months.
 
But it reminded me why Paper Bento exists: to be one small part of how Japanese stationery finds its people outside of Japan. That's the shared goal I felt in every conversation I had that day.
 

One of those conversations led to something I'm really excited to share with you.
 
I've had Daigo on my radar for a while. A Japanese stationery brand known for their simple, minimalist designs and notebooks that won the Good Design Award. The kind of brand that felt like a natural fit for Paper Bento from the moment I came across them.
 
At the fest, we finally met in person. And they offered to include their notebooks in the April boxes. The designs on them are exclusive to SF Stationery Fest. You won't find them in any store or online. The only way to get them was to be in that room, or to be a Paper Bento subscriber.
 
I've been using one as my work notebook for the past few weeks, for jotting down ideas, brainstorming, planning. It's the kind of notebook that makes you want to write things down. The paper quality is exceptional, and the design is understated enough to work with anything; from a morning journaling session, a work meeting, or a brainstorm at a coffee shop. It's versatile enough to go anywhere with you.
 
Every April box will include a Daigo notebook. And if you're joining on a 6-month plan in April, you'll also receive one of their notebook cover as a gift from us. We don't have enough for everyone, so we wanted to give them to the people who are committing to the longer journey with us.
 
I have a lot more to share about Daigo and the story behind the brand. I'll save that for a future newsletter.

Orders reopen this Sunday, April 5th. 
 
The April box is themed around sakura. The kind of beauty that only means something because it doesn't last. I think it's the right theme for spring, and quite frankly, for where Paper Bento is right now too. Everything feels new and a little fleeting that its very worth paying attention to.
 
I hope you'll join us.
 
 
With gratitude, 
 
Paper Bento