As a stationery brand, we are always curious how and what people use our stationery goods for. With this blog series, focusing on the hands at "work" and beyond, we ask five questions about the usage and meaning of the stationery tools to our friends in Los Angeles.
The day we visited Dário, it was one of those LA cloudy days. It was delightful to see the eye-catching colors of Hightide items he uses.
Q1. We really love the bright color select on your penco Carry-Tite laptop case & Carry-tite case in Medium! Why did you choose the color red for your penco laptop case and the green for the M size?
I absolutely love my red Penco laptop sleeve. The color keeps me inspired and “hungry.”
What do you use your MD gridded notebook for?
A gridded notebook is my go-to for both drawing and writing.
Dario's choice of the primary colors – the green Carry-Tite in M and the dodger blue Baseball Bat Pen by Penco.
What do you use your Mini Tool Box in yellow for?
That mini toolbox gets used for so many things, it’s the perfect size. One day it’s holding various snacks like nuts or Xylitol gum, another day, it’s collecting pencil shavings.
Here, the Mini Tool Box is used for storing a stack of gift cards – it's a perfect size for them.
Q2. In our technology driven world, what does it mean to make things by your hand to you?
Making things by hand is everything to me, while I respect the precision and efficiency of machine made items…nothing beats something handmade that carries the intentional energy of whoever made it.
A perfect pairing – a spiral Book Jewelry by Rest Objects and Cosmos by Carl Sagan, available at Untitled.
Q3. Pencil or Mechanical Pencil?
Oh my, this is a difficult one, I’m choosing both. I absolutely adore pencils: they’re an analog nostalgia dream. The smell immediately takes me back to childhood, and the feel…the soft wood that has some give when you bite it, and the graphite that never feels truly black but almost a dark silver. I like getting a box of them.
Mechanical pencils, on the other hand, feel more clinical, and sometimes that’s what’s needed. Encased in metal or plastic, they feel functional and architectural, they say “design” or even “digital” to me. I used mechanical pencils throughout architectural school and during my brief stint in the architecture world. For some reason, my daughter is obsessed with them, I can’t seem to get enough; she always wants a new one.
Drawing, for me, is such a ritualistic practice that everything needs to slow down in a certain way, so both traditional and mechanical pencils serve different functions at different moments.
Q4. What’s in your pen case? If you don’t use a pen case, how do you organize your stationery?
My pen (and pencil) case usually contains the expected items: a couple of pens and markers, often one highlighter, a mechanical pencil, an eraser, and a cutter of some sort. I also tend to include things like vitamin supplements or a small bag of tea, one should always be prepared to make a cup of tea. :)
Q5. What is your most favorite stationery?
My favorite stationery is probably my gridded MD Midori Notebook. It has impeccable paper quality(no bleed or smearing) and feels like so much attention and care have been put into it that it sets the right tone for creating. It even has a translucent dust jacket and a bookmark, and as a book curator, small details like that really elevate the experience and create meaningful intention.
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Dário Solari curates a collection of beautifully arresting books and magazines at Untitled Love in Echo Park. The project space is open on Wednesday through Sunday.
Untitled Love
1505 1/2, Echo Park Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90026
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