We asked visual artist, creative director, and fountain pen lover Ruchika Agarwal Dsouza about her favourite stationery and for her stationery tips for artists.
Q. What profession would you switch to for the stationery you’d get to use?
A. Well, I am a visual artist and designer, so I pretty much get to use whatever I want in terms of stationery, and I love that. I work a lot with digital graphics, and acrylics, and I use a lot of pens because I sketch a lot … Lots and lots of notebooks, sketchbooks.
If I want something more that would be using charcoal and probably work with oils, that I haven’t done much of. So I would like to do more of that and experiment and see where that goes. But, yeah, I’m having a good time with what I’m currently doing!
Nobody likes to share their pens and I understand why!
Q. What is a specific piece of stationery you’d never part with?
A. When we started writing with those fountain pens (in school), oh my god, I just loved that. My handwriting improved and I used to look forward to writing English essays in cursive writing. I used to love that! Fountain pens are something I’m still a lot into and I don’t like anybody touching my fountain pens. I just feel it’s really personal, the kind of fountain pen you use. I know nobody likes to share their pens and I understand why!
Q. Do you have any stationery tips for beginning artists?
A. If people start with a fountain pen it’s a great way to train your hand, it was useful for me too. I would like to show you these brush pens, which are two-sided pens. When you want to just start your sketching journey and you’re not really into inks, this is something that can give you great results. I do a lot of colorful work and casual sketching.
Have a great time buying great stationery and enjoying it!
