AJOTO pens have weight in your hand — the front-loaded barrel glides forward, pulling ink and hand across the page. This is typical for AJOTO’s designers, Chris Holden and Tim Higgins: they design products finely tooled for human usage, that fit like a key into the writer’s life.

Misc Store first met Holden in 2015, and quickly fell for the craftsmanship and attention to provenance at AJOTO. It’s unusual to come across pen designers with such a modern attitude to design, and the values that Chris and Tim had in mind when they designed the AJOTO range – simplicity, longevity, elegance – reflect Misc Store’s own.

Made from materials sourced entirely within the EU – Greek brass, Portuguese cork, Belgian aluminium – AJOTO creates their products with the help of a selection of English manufacturers. There are the leather workers in Leicestershire, the anodizers in Wycombe, the metal platers in Watford (the world’s finest, they promise). Their card stock is sourced from legendary Hull paper merchants G.F. Smith.

Working with local suppliers helps to ensure a sustainable, ethical and high-quality product with a low carbon footprint. It gives their products the weight of place: a rarity in today’s world.