The Journey Behind Moonlit Voyage & Flowing Friendship

Taking Off

At the start of 2025, our team was excited to begin discussing our product development plans for the year. We had no shortage of ideas for products but with our 10th anniversary coming up, we wanted to do something big, something really special to truly represent the shop and our team. We came up with somewhere around 28 potential products, letting ourselves dream up all the fun items we could offer. The one product that stood out to all of us as both incredibly meaningful and maybe equally as challenging was creating a fountain pen. It was a milestone wish after our shop rebranded in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down in-person activities. We launched our online shop, began working towards bringing new stationery and fountain pen brands to the shop, and the flying mouse became our new logo representing this new direction for the shop–launching ahead on a new adventure.

Into the Unknown

Adding a fountain pen to our product offering presented so many questions and possibilities. Which company could we work with? What would the fountain pen look like? How long would it take? The innumerable variables to consider seemed overwhelming, but the process started almost like a breadcrumb trail, with one little step leading us forward to the next solution. In 2023, Jenny received an OPUS 88 Mini Pen as a gift from a long-time customer and friend with an adorable illustration of a rabbit on the pen cap. Jenny enjoyed this pen but didn’t know much about the brand. It wasn’t until our team attended Yoseka Stationery Fest, Jenny recognized the brand name OPUS 88 from the Rabbit Mini Pen.

During the event, Jenny talked with OPUS 88’s general manager, Kelly, and arranged to start off with a small selection of their pens to introduce to the shop. Within a few months, OPUS 88 pens began to emerge as a new top seller. OPUS 88’s mini pens were the first clue that this company might be the right fit. As we built a relationship with Kelly, we learned they had collaborated with several artists to make custom Mini OPUS 88 fountain pens. She sent us a few samples to show the different styles available: printing on the cap, metallic printing, and the option to have different color translucent pen barrels. The next step was creating the design.

The Adventure Begins

One of the main features we liked about OPUS 88 pens aside from the eyedropper fill system was the option to change out nibs by unscrewing the nib unit from the section. Although the price point for OPUS 88 pens are higher than many of the pens we suggest for beginners, this aspect allowed the user to explore the range of fountain pen uses with more flexibility. In April, we hosted nibmeister Kirk Speer at the shop. Seeing his custom engraved nibs along with doing some custom grinds for the staff, another idea occurred to us. We could have special nibs for our pens too. We pitched the idea to Kirk who was up for it and went back to the design of the pen. 

Jean started sketching on paper different ideas for the artwork until she could narrow it down to three designs. At the start of May, she shared the first digital sketches with the team to pick which one we would continue to develop. There were three main ideas: early versions of what became Moonlit Voyage and Flowing Friendship, and a fun forest scene with the paper mouse and bear. We were instantly caught between the early versions of Moonlit Voyage and Flowing Friendship in the first round of decision making. They had different moods and completely different color schemes. It was still very early on in the process so Jean could work on both of those ideas and see if one of them stood out to us as we got closer to submitting the design.

The fountain pens had some unique challenges we hadn't faced before. Preparing the artwork for the pen from the initial sketches slowed down during this time to account for the specific design requirements, which was the shape of the pen and the printing process. Jean described the design process in her own words:

“Every color in the digital sketch had to be isolated in Illustrator and assigned a Pantone color. Although the sketch had some gradients and glowy effects, the pen itself could only include blocks of solid colors. It took some thought to figure out how to translate the sketch in a way that looked nice. It was also challenging to envision how a flat design would look on a cylindrical pen. It took a while to realize I had to print the design out on paper and physically wrap it around the pen to make a mockup.”

Going With The Flow

As Jean worked at translating the artwork for the manufacturing process, Jenny and Victor started to figure out the purchasing details. We needed to decide on the quantity of pens to order and which nibs. Weighing the changing situation with tariffs along with the overall rising costs, we decided to add Flowing Friendship to this year’s launch instead of waiting until next year. After all, the two pens felt more complete as a pair. 

The inspiration behind Moonlit Voyage first came from the Fly Me to the Moon notebook. Jean used the gold and dark blue color combination as a starting point and elaborated the scene with more story. When Jean explained her idea behind the scene to us she mentioned: 

“I was thinking about how writing can connect people to each other. The Moonlit Voyage image might look a little lonely, since writing is usually a solitary activity. The concept was about the paper vehicles and the pen connecting the two characters, and how the pen and paper can bring people closer to their loved ones as well.” 

Flowing Friendship in a way displayed the second chapter of the story. The two friends are together in the same boat and sailing through a brighter and serene waterscape with tall lotus flowers growing around them. And, as the team bounced around ideas for the pen’s name, we found out lotus flowers were a symbol of lasting friendship. What a fitting theme for our 10th anniversary, thinking of the shop’s journey through ups and downs–trying new things, making friends, and going with the flow–this is how we’ve seen the small seed of an idea like starting a stationery shop flourish and spread joy.

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