Origami Ink In Asheville, Nc

October 22, 2012

I spend the weekend in Asheville and had the opportunity to stop in (twice) at an intriguing little store called Origami Ink. Of course, I have no affiliation with the place; I just thought I'd share my 2 cents on it since I had a very good experience.

First off, I'll just say that the store is not a dedicated pen store. It seems that their specialty is as a stationary store. That being said, they have the widest selection of pens and inks of any non-dedicated pen store I've ever walked into.

They stock the following Inks:

- Noodlers

- J. Herbin

- Private Reserve

- Pilot Iroshizuku

- Pelikan Edelstein

And the following pens (off the top of my head):

- Pelikan

- Pilot

- Lamy

- Visconti

- Platinum

- Faber Castell

- Noodlers

In addition, they have Rhodia, G. Lalo, and dozens of other papers/pads in stock. Aside from that, everything else in the store is just plain cool. Lots of very unique desk accessories, cool clocks, etc. Definitely would be worth checking out even if they didn't have any pens.

I walked out with two pens (Noodlers Flex and Faber Castell Basic) and 3 bottles of ink (Noodlers Air Corp Blue-Black, J. Herbin Rouge Opera, and Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo). I was allowed to try several pens before selecting ones that I wanted, and am very pleased with all of those purchases.

Their prices are quite good for a brick and mortar store, although not as good as you can get from some online retailers. That being said, I do think there's some value in both getting to try things before you buy them, particularly pens. From time to time, I don't mind paying a few extra bucks for a) instant gratification and the ability to compare.

What sets them apart, though, is the customer service. The owner of the store is very attentive and is very interested in fountain pens himself. At the same time, he knows when to step back and let you just look around (in my case, for about 2 hours). He's more than willing to let you try before you buy, seemingly regardless of the price level of the pen. Typically, salespeople make me uncomfortable if they are too attentive, but that wasn't the case here. He seemed much more interested in talking about fountain pens that in making a sale as quickly as possible. In fact, one of my friends that I was with wanted to buy a $35 of Iroshizuku; his response: "To be honest, the Noodlers in a similar color is 1/3 the price and much better."

Overall, a very pleasant experience. Asheville is one of my favorite cities besides; if you're ever in the area, definitely stop in to Origami Ink.

January 7, 2013

Origami Ink is a wonderful eclectic store front and the customer service is outstanding. My husband and I were in there in November 2012 and I purchased my first Franklin-Christoph Model 02 Instrinsic in Emerald Green http://www.franklin-christoph.com/model-02-intrinsic.html.

Then my husband called back in December 2012 and purchased the other pen that I had tried with only a vague description color and case location.

The owners are wonderful folks and I highly recommend that if you are in the area to drop by and visit. My only caution would be to call or email ahead of time and confirm that they are going to be open. During certain festivals and colder weather they may be closed or opening under altered hours.