Dignified Doodling

I may have mentioned some posts back that I love beautiful pens and pencils (even though my penmanship, like almost everyone else's who taps on keyboard all day, stinks). I've been searching around for a source for these incredible pencils for months now, and it looks like I finally found one.

As you can see, these pencils are special, if only in how they look (I've yet to actually sharpen any of mine, lest they lose their perfection). Sleek, streamlined, perfect colors for the modern office, these pencils radiate true zen efficiency. They are, of course, manufactured by the Japanese stationer Ito-ya, a company which has a confusing, inscrutable, mostly Japanese site with no sign of how to order anything. A stateside source, Turpan, has two locations: one in the Hamptons and one in Brentwood (in the Country Mart), both in rarified air, and boasting a site that's nothing more than a tease of perfect items you can't order online (I suppose you could call, but how much of a Luddite do you take me for?).

Thus, I finally found the Japanese pencil site Pencils JP, that sells the coveted Ito-ya pencils in four perfect colors, to display on your perfect desk, and use to draw imperfect doodles. While these are no bargain, at roughly $22/bunch at Turpan (I can't do the yen/doller switch in my head), they're a wonderful gift for anyone who takes their desk time very seriously. At Pencils JP.