What’s in my pencil case | 2025 minimal, sustainable, luxury
I only use 3 pens regularly: A Kaweco Brass Sport fountain pen, a Tom’s Studio Wren pen for illustrations, and a Blackwing pencil (and eraser). This minimalist and luxury collection allows me to stay focused on the task at hand—journaling and planning—and helps me flex my creativity because of the limitations of the tools.
Pens always appealed to me, even as a kid. There’s a super nice rush to going into a stationery store and picking out a candy-colored assortment of pens, markers, and highlighters.
I’ve slimmed down my collection on my perpetual minimalism journey. The hundreds of pens and markers went down to a select few. Then, a few things happened to get me to hone my collection even further: I dove into the world of fountain pens in 2024, and then I also discovered the Tom’s Studio line while at a visit to Of Aspen in Swarthmore, PA.
In this post, I’ll go through which pens I use, why, and will provide reviews of them.
My illustration marker of choice - the Tom’s Studio Wren pen
Somewhere in the journey of starting and owning Lettering League, I discovered brush lettering with the ever-famous Tombow Fudenosuke brush pen. What a lovely and juicy felt-tip brush pen—always laying down super black strokes with a smooth and resilient tip. The Fude quickly became my favorite pen both for brush calligraphy and illustration because of the pigment ink and the quality of the nib.
But every time I finished a Fude, it hit me that I had to throw it out and buy a new one. So not only was my drawing habit creating trash in the form of dried up markers, I also considered the pen’s packaging and the shipping needed to get pen after pen to my house.
One happy day, I visited the brick-and-mortar Of Aspen store after my friend told me about it. Little did I know I would also discover my new favorite brand, Tom’s Studio.
The deal with Tom’s Studio is that he is a pen aficionado, and he designed a refillable pen for his wife (a calligrapher and artist, if I remember correctly), to help with the single-use pen phenomenon.
Their pens use a cotton core to soak up bottled ink over and over again. And, to my delight, their nibs are Japanese-made and are super high quality.
My first Tom’s Studio pen was the Duo Lumos, as I fell in love with the idea of having a dual-tip pen at my disposal in one beautiful aluminum body. (Save 10% with my code, HELLOBRIOSTUDIO)
I purchased the Tom’s Studio Lumos Pro duo tip and a bottle of the Tom’s Studio Pigment Ink right away, and I delighted in filling up the pen with the wicking action of the cotton core.
The Lumos Pro is a “beautiful & infinitely refillable fineliner, writing & brush pen including 11 professional artist's tips.” Yes—that means it replaces all of my Microns and similar fineliner pens all with one beautiful barrel. (And let’s face it, as much as I loved having a smattering of all the fineliner sizes, I only ever reached for two: a thick and a thin.)
I keep my Lumos stocked with the .1 fineliner and the brush tip. So why am I giving you all the backstory of the Lumos when I don’t use it? Well, honestly I don’t reach for it very often. For whatever reason, the pigment ink doesn’t show up very dark for me on MD paper or Tomoe River paper.
But in comes the Wren.
The Wren is “a beautiful and infinitely refillable writing pen, equipped with a Japanese-made writing tip.”
For whatever reason, the Tom’s Studio Pigment Ink works beautifully in the Wren, laying down black ink on both MD paper and Tomoe River paper.
AND… the Tom’s Studio Wren pen writes and draws like the Tombow Fudenosuke. It is truly the only illustration marker I need.
I am so in love with my black Wren pen, and my love for it even convinced my 8-year-old artist son to purchase his own, too!
Some quick bullet points about why I love the Tom’s Studio Wren pen:
ICYMI: It’s exactly like the Tombow Fudenosuke.
Even though it’s heralded as a writing pen, I truly love it for its nib flexibility and control.
It’s a pocket pen.
The cap pops off so easily and when posted, it’s the perfect length for drawing.
It’s a beautiful, timeless design.
It’s made from anodized aluminum so it will last and last.
You can buy spare parts at a very reasonable price—without all the plastic waste. A 3-pack of pen tips is $4; a 5-pack of spare ink reservoirs (the cotton cores) is $3.
Oh—and because Tom’s Studio is so conscious about the environment, all of their packaging and packing materials are made of paper and are fully recyclable.
Tom’s Studio Wren price: $45
Options: 8 colors to mix or match, engravable
Save 10% with my code, HELLOBRIOSTUDIO
Two quick notes:
For all Tom’s Studio refillable pens, only use non-permanent fountain pen inks or their pigment ink. Stay away from shimmer inks or permanent ink! I found this out the hard way.
Sometimes you need to warm up the pen a bit by drawing on scrap paper before the ink flows freely. A small price to pay for a luxury pen that could last me for the rest of my life.
My fountain pen of choice - the Kaweco Brass Sport pen, extra fine
Back in early 2024, I dragged a couple of friends to a fountain pen show. My goal was to go to see if I even liked writing with a fountain pen. Little did I know, I was introducing us to a world so intricate and huge and overwhelming, that we walked out with just stickers and maybe a notebook or two.
But I was sold on the idea of fountain pens:
Refillable ink
An unparalleled writing experience
The fountain pen community
The chance to get a fountain pen barrel that would appeal to the luxury minimalist within me
After said fountain pen show, I went to Omoi Zakka in Philadelphia and picked up my very first fountain pen, a Kaweco Sport in a limited edition color. It took me a bit of testing and fussing to learn how to use it and to discover that the extra fine (EF) nib was the one for me… but after I switched to EF from a Medium nib, I was hooked.
It wasn’t long before I had my eye on the Kaweco Brass Sport—the same design but in a much heavier duty material that would also patina beautifully with use and age.
So, the Kaweco Brass Sport became my second fountain pen purchase in my life… and still remains only 1 of 3 pens in my possession. It’s worth noting that even though I own 3 fountain pens, I only use this one, and I use it every day.
Why do I love the Kaweco Brass Sport?
It has a timeless design.
The heavy, solid brass material makes it so lovely to write with.
It’s a pocket pen.
It’s so beautiful that it’s a conversation starter.
I pair it with a permanent black ink, making it perfect for writing and drawing.
Kaweco Brass Sport price: Around $90
Options: Choose from Extra Fine, Fine, Medium, Broad, or Extra Broad nibs
The ink I use currently: Colorverse Permanent Black
My pencil of choice - Blackwing
A couple of birthdays ago, my husband bought me the Blackwing starter set. They’re the pencils of writers and artists everywhere—and it wasn’t until I tested them that I believed it. The graphite is so smooth and dark.
And let’s face it: wood pencils are sustainable. Period.
I carry a pencil because I use it for:
Sketching before inking
Drawing lines in my bullet journal (because I’m so tired of making mistakes or smearing ink lines)
I also got this beautiful Blackwing eraser to go along with it, keeping in the theme of metal luxury stationery items.
Usually, I’m a mechanical pencil person. However, my last mechanical pencil broke, and I couldn’t get myself to replace it with another plastic pencil. I do have my eyes on the Kaweco Brass mechanical pencil, however, but that’s a pie-in-the-sky wishlist item for now.
Blackwing Pearl: About $2.60 each
Options: They have a few different lead options, like Matte or Natural
Oh, and let’s talk about my actual pencil case - the Yuruliku flat tool case
The analog journaling and planning community is huge online. It wasn’t soon after I started diving into videos and posts that I discovered the Yuruliku flat tool case. Yes, I had to order it from Japan. It is so worth it.
Here’s why I love my Yuruliku flat tool case:
It is sustainable (canvas, no plastic).
It has a natural and neutral aesthetic.
It’s minimal and functional, keeping my supplies organized.
It is the same size as my Travelers Notebook.
It’s high quality—no weird stitching or mesh/plastic dividers here.
I can pack just a couple of items or I can throw in a few bonus stationery items, too.
It keeps my pens organized without me having to latch them each into their own pen loop (that “feature” drives me nuts with other pen cases!).
I customize it with enamel pins—another favorite of mine.
Yuruliku FLAT tool case: $44
Options: Beige or brown (I have beige)
Hope you enjoyed the longer-than-anticipated foray into my 3 luxury minimalist pens/pencils and my pencil case. You can watch my YouTube video for all of the accessories and a complete walkthrough and demo!
