I just finished updating one of our most popular site resources: “Hierarchies of Fountain Pen Friendly Paper,” which was originally a blog post first published in 2021. Due to the expansive comments section, I’ve left it in blog format rather than move it to a stand-alone page. I periodically update the main article to account for changes in paper performance, new brands, and customer/reader feedback. Because I can’t test everything, I leave the comments open for suggestions.
What Were the Major Developments in 2026?
I added a handful of brands to the resource, and removed one or two others mainly due to availability issues. Here are the major changes:
Graphilo and Nebula Note Enter Tier 1. Graphilo paper, from Japanese company Kobeha, is one of the most ink-friendly papers I have used, and given that it’s now far more available in the U.S. than it has been in the past, I feel good about adding it to the first Tier. Similarly, I’ve been consistently impressed with Nebula Note, a slightly textured paper from the makers of Colorverse Ink, which comes in a super-convenient spiral format with perforated pages.
NOLTY Makes an Appearance. NOLTY is a relatively inexpensive Japanese brand that is sold everywhere in Japan but still uncommon in the United States. NOLTY paper comes in white and off-white variants, and while they are known for their planners, their notebooks are also excellent. I’ve added NOLTY to Tier I, and we look forward to carrying their notebooks in the near future, having previously carried their PAGEM B6 log books.
Notsu and Blackwing belong in Tier II, and Baron Fig Drops Off the List. I feel more comfortable including Notsu as a Tier II brand, not because there’s been any decline in their paper quality (they make the best fountain pen friendly notecards on the market), but rather because they have been rapidly expanding their line to include a wider range of notebooks and papers of different types, some of which may not be intended for fountain pens. Similarly, standard Blackwing paper is pretty good, including the “Illegal Pads,” but there can be wide variation in the paper used in the special edition notebooks. Baron Fig has fallen off my radar entirely, and has gone more mass market in recent years so I do not feel comfortable ranking it in terms of fountain pen friendliness.
Note that this is not intended to be a “ranking,” and the order in which these papers appear in each tier are not intended to suggest that any one is objectively “better” than another. Also, even non-fountain pen friendly paper can be quality stationery. Certain high-end cotton papers are tactile and highly absorbent - quite pleasant to write on with pencil, ballpoint, and rollerballs - but they can’t handle the water-based ink found in most fountain pens. Enjoy, and as always, drop a comment if you have suggestions on paper I may not have tried.