A Place for Everything

Being of the nerdly notebookish persuasion, I’ve long been in the habit of carrying around too many pens. Whether to the office, on my travels, or just when I’m out and about, an assortment of pens is almost always at hand, or at least nearby in the backpack as it’s nice to have an available assortment of point sizes, ink colors, and a spare or two of ones favorite pens.

The little plastic sandwich baggie which had served as my pen case for a number of years.

I am somewhat ashamed to admit this, but for a number of years my trusty pen case was a cheap little plastic sandwich bag. It held an assortment of pens and other odds and ends and lived in  the front compartment of the backpack. The pen baggie in the photo to the right has been in service about four years. While it’s waterproof and obviously durable (Are you paying attention, people at random sandwich bag company? Are you paying attention? A collaborative and lucrative bit of advertising might be in order here), it leaves something to be desired in terms of a pen case (ignore this part, people at random sandwich bag company).  Completely lacking in aesthetics and organizational capacity, the pen baggie was little more than a minimalist approach to keeping pens together instead of strewn about in the bottom of a backpack and/or overcrowding a shirt pocket.

A couple months ago the decision was made to finally upgrade to a real pen case (sorry about this, people at random sandwich bag company) and after a rather extensive search I opted for the book-style case from Lihit Lab which is available from Jetpens. The series of photos below constitutes a review of sorts of this very workable pen case.

Having used a plastic sandwich baggie to store pens for so long and being the creature of habit that I am, the transition from cheap baggie to a real pen case proved altogether confusing.

 

The Lihit Lab book-style case comes with this handy card replica which give one an idea of what goes where.

 

My reenactment of the card insert with a few modifications. There’s enough room in the back pocket for a small notebook. Featured here is a Moleskine (cheap-ass paper not pictured). The three pockets on the center “page” of the case are large enough for a jump drive (pictured in the top compartment) as well as providing space for one’s emergency tea supply.

 

Space for 15 pens with room for more (space will vary depending on the type of pen used)

 

And finally (once I sorted out the complexities of the transition from baggie to case) a shot of the outside of the case. Note the two small pockets.

A few closing points: The Lihit Lab book-style pen case feels rugged, durable and is very well designed with oodles of storage for pens and all sorts of related paraphernalia including a pocket notebook which rather surprised me given the modest size of the case. One of the stand out design features is the case’s organization: there’s no digging around in a deep pocket for a pen; everything is laid out nicely in front of you with pens in the front half of the case and related supplies neatly arranged in the other. Remarkable product this is.

6 thoughts on “A Place for Everything

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