Yoseka X Ink Istitute No. 1 Origin Ink Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

Yoseka Stationery in Brooklyn partnered with the Ink Institute in Taiwan to create Yoseka X Ink Institute - No. 01 由 Origin Ink that pays tribute to their shop's colors and founding.

This is a dye-based ink that comes in a 30ml bottle made of frosted glass. It's a really nice bottle--sturdy and easy to fill from. It costs $18, which is standard for a bottle of ink this size.

The color of this ink is fantastic. It's a deep, complex green that shows shades from pale pine, to emerald, to deep green, with a bit of red shading on the right paper. Chromatography shows a wild color split with some orange and gold, lime green, emerald, and bright cyan. Definitely in my top three most exciting chromatography tests. It shows a lot of shading, so your writing shows the full range of its complexity.

I don't have any duplicates for this color in my swab library, and it fits in nicely with my other greens, so it easily justifies its place in my ink collection.

While the ink is nicely lubricated and flows very well, it also dries quite quickly at 20 seconds. I didn't even have to use the 25-second spot I'd already written down, as there was no trace of smearing at 20. There is no sign of feathering on Rhodia paper, and the only place where the ink bled through was where I let a full-liquid drop sit until it dried. Even the ink swabs show very little show-through.

This ink has no water resistance. All traces of lines disappeared at the slightest hint of water, and where water was wiped away, the ink was completely erased.

This is, overall, a very balanced ink. It's a fun color, but calm enough to use at work. It's dark enough to read in low light, but bright enough to bring life to your writing. It has fantastic characteristics while still remaining practical. It's the first ink I've tried from the Ink Institute, but it won't be the last.

(Yoseka Stationery provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Yoseka Stationery - A Quick Visit

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

One of the newer shops to have joined the stationery world is Yoseka Stationery. Starting with pop-up shops in 2017, owners Daisy and Neil first opened their brick-and-mortar store as a way of introducing Asian stationery to the US. Originally located in the Sunnyside neighborhood in Brooklyn, Yoseka recently moved to the Greenpoint area in 2020 and is currently located at 63 West Street, Brooklyn.

I have ordered from their site multiple times and I really enjoy their posts and videos on Instagram too. So I knew I just had to visit their shop during a recent trip to NYC, even though I knew I didn’t have a lot of time (this is what happens when you get on the wrong subway train, but I digress) …

The shop itself is fairly small but also spacious at the same time. Pieces of antique/vintage furniture alongside the clean lines of bookshelves and lots of wood everywhere - all of it gives you a sense of warmth and coziness and modern organization.

Look at this gorgeous cabinet filled with goodies from the Traveler’s Company!

There are shelves on both sides of the room with a variety of stationery goods and accessories including washi tape, hourglasses, stamp pads, letter sets, stickers, pouches and more. Display samples are available in front of many of the items so you can feel the texture of the paper or see how a pen case opens.

Desk accessories in all shapes and sizes.

I have been on a washi tape buying ban but it was hard to resist some of these cute tapes!

The main focal point of the store is in the middle of the room, where a long table is lined with writing implements of all kinds. There is room and paper for you to try out their pens, markers, and yes, fountain pens and inks too!

Finally saw 3 of the 4 Pro Gear Slims from the Sailor Sound of Rain series.

The staff was approachable and helpful, periodically checking in to make sure I didn’t have questions or needed help, without being pushy or overbearing. It really made shopping there a calm and chill experience. In the end, my willpower was mostly intact, though I did break my self-imposed washi tape ban, haha!

A bottle of their exclusive ink and washi tape of Esther’s paws - I just HAD to!

So if you’re ever in or near New York City, make the trip to visit Yoseka and give yourself plenty of time to explore this wonderful little store. And if you can’t get there, check out their website - there are a lot of gems to be found, including 3 or 5ml ink samples in their adorable glass vials or this cherry blossom washi tape set from Bande. I don’t know when I’ll get a chance to visit again, so until then, I’ll be doing some “research” on their site too!!