Getting to know Adam Blaine

by Tony Short

I first got to know Adam on Twitter and since then I have been fascinated with his love of stationery and his ability to create frequent and compelling content, including blogs, photos and videos, about his passion for stationery.

1) Describe yourself in three objects

I guess the three objects that I always keep nearby on a daily basis describe me pretty well, so a large mug of coffee, a pen & headphones.

2) Wood or Mechanical Pencil?

Wood for sure, there's nothing quite like the feeling of writing with a wooden pencil.

3) Ballpoint, Gel or Fountain Pens?

Ballpoint. Specifically a Fisher Space Pen, I do love fountain pens but it's what I grab for the most.

4) Sketchbook or screen?

Easy. Screen. I love all things analogue but I'm a tech junkie deep down.

5) Tell us about a couple of your favourite materials to work with?

Word notebooks always have and always will be a favourite of mine, the bullet system works incredibly well for the way I plan elements of my life and projects I'm working on. I can also tend to be very picky with paper quality, especially because I use fountain pens frequently. I need something than can take ink well and be a smooth surface to write on, Rhodia knocks the ball out of the park with their vellum paper, I always have one of their dot grid pads within arms reach.

6) Which country or continent is your favourite for Stationery?

Hands down, Japan. The fact they have stationery stores with 11 floors sounds like my idea of heaven (and bankruptcy).

7) Apart from your own blog, which other stationery blogs would you recommend following?

www.allthingsstationery.co.uk There's only one thing I can say about Tessa's blog, gorgeous photography.

www.clickypost.com Mike's reviews are always so on point and well written, it's one I've been reading well before I started my own.

www.wellappointeddesk.com is another must, reviews and ramblings of the broad spectrum that is office supplies and stationery.

8) Do you practice any productivity techniques or hacks?

Now you'd think me being a person who uses a planner religiously would know how to stay productive, but alas, I have a very short attention span and get very easily distracted. But I've found a couple of things that do help. The best one being a dry erase board that's on the wall above my desk, I make sure to write down any appointments and deadlines on here so they're always in sight. Another is reminders and to-do lists on my phone, no matter what situation or place I'm in you can be sure that my phone is in my hands. I use an app called 'Clear' which is a simple list app with a gorgeous design, and swiping items off of a list is so gratifying.

9) And… we’ve got to ask. What’s in your pencil case?

I sometimes have a habit of wanting to carry everything with me, recently I've been making a conscious effort to only carry the essentials in my pencil case. So I've got it down to this handful.

A generic ruler, Sharpie pen (a great fibre-tipped workhorse), Pilot Maica gel pen, Pilot Coleto multi-pen, Zebra mildliner, Muji gel pen, Blacking pearl & 602 pencils, Fisher space pen, Raymay Pencut folding scissors, Helix eraser and whatever fountain pens I have inked up at the time. Right now that would be a Lamy Safari F and Kaweco AL Sport M.

I always have a notebook with me too, the one I'm using currently is a Field Notes 'Cold Horizon', and my daily gratitude journal, the Word Notebooks 'Standard Memorandum'.

Thanks to Adam for taking his time out to chat with us this Summer. I'm a follower of Adam on all Social Channels and he really knows how to mix them up to maximise each channel. Start with his website at www.thedeskofadam.com along with Twitter, Instagram and his extremely popular YouTube channel.