I never met Om Malik. And yet, I was helping create an experience that needed to feel unmistakably like him to a room full of people who had known him for decades. So, where do you start? For me, it started with reading. A lot of reading.
Om had spent years writing about the things that interested him. Technology, photography, watches, fountain pens, coffee, music, fashion, travel. His blog was an incredible resource, but it wasn’t exactly organized for someone trying to turn his interests into a twelve-hour experience.
I started following threads. A mention of a fountain pen would lead me to a particular maker. A photograph would lead to a place he’d traveled. A favorite coffee shop would lead to questions about what he actually ordered there. One answer almost always led to five more questions.
Somewhere along the way, I became a bit of a journalist myself. Which felt fitting, considering Om was such an extraordinary one. I was chasing leads, tracking down sources, interviewing people, checking facts, and following stories wherever they took me.
A 45-minute conversation about pens
One of my favorite examples was a call with Alexander Chen from the Pen Posse, a community of fountain pen enthusiasts that Om was part of. I went into the conversation knowing Om loved fountain pens. I came out realizing I knew nothing about fountain pens.
We talked about how Om wrote horizontally, the importance of how a pen fits someone’s hand, and how choosing the right pen could be compared to a race car driver having a seat custom-fitted to them. Then there was paper. Not just what looked nice, but how different papers actually felt to write on.
Alexander described how we could create something almost like a wine tasting, but for writing (finally, something I could relate to). Guests could try different pens, inks, and papers, comparing how each combination felt. Apparently, there’s a lot more to a pen than whether it writes in blue or black. Suddenly, this wasn’t just about displaying Om’s collection of pens. It was about letting people experience something Om loved doing.
We also worked out how to set up the table, what materials we’d need, how to protect Om’s personal pens, and how to make the experience approachable for someone who had never picked up a fountain pen. And, importantly, how to protect the table itself. Thank you, Alexander, for potentially saving me from a very expensive damage fee from the rental company!
He suggested displaying Om’s actual pens museum-style, with numbered cards and stories about each one. Alexander pointed me toward makers, articles, blogs, and Om’s own Instagram posts about his pens. I walked away with a whole new collection of things to read, people to contact, and ideas to explore.
It was fascinating to go from hearing someone describe Om’s habits to reading Om’s own thoughts about them, like his post about his Montblanc Collodi pen. That became a recurring part of my research process: someone would tell me a story, and I’d go looking for the version Om had told himself.
From research to experience
That conversation eventually turned into a remarkably detailed plan for a writing table.
I also want to give Alexander a special thank you. He was incredibly generous with his time, knowledge, and stories about Om. What started as a 45-minute conversation about pens helped shape an entire experience at OmFest. I hope he knows how much of that room he helped create. It wouldn’t have been the same without him.
I wanted to understand why Om loved the things he did, and then figure out how to translate that into something people could experience. The same thing happened with watches, tea, photography, fashion, music, and food.
Research also meant tracking down original quotes and reading old posts for context, so we knew what was actually true. Sometimes we found exactly what we were looking for. Sometimes we discovered something entirely different. And sometimes we simply didn’t know. But every conversation, every article, and every detour helped build a more complete picture.
The Writing Table: What We Sourced
Since this is about sharing how OmFest actually came together, here’s the final list of materials we sourced for the writing experience. These weren’t necessarily the exact products Om personally used. They were selected to help guests explore the craft of writing for themselves.
Pens
Inks
Paper & Notebooks
- Tomoe River A4 Loose-Leaf Paper
- Tomoe River A5 Loose-Leaf Paper
- Mitsubishi Bank Paper
- Red Pine Wood Loose-Leaf Paper
- Papermind Notebook
- Maruman Mnemosyne B6 Memo Pad
Writing Accessories
- Kiwami A4 Gridded Writing Board
- JetPens Kanso Blotting Paper A5
- JetPens Kanso Blotting Paper A6
- KOKUYO Blotting Paper
- Handcrafted Washi Paper Pen Trays – Purple, White, and Gray
References:
- https://om.co/2026/03/10/life-has-a-hex-code/
- https://om.co/2026/01/01/a-pen-hobbyist-looks-back-at-2025/
- https://www.instagram.com/p/DYvYOgVjy2m/?igsi=c2hma2d0d296bm8w
I started with a question about Om’s pens and ended up discovering an entire community of people who cared deeply about the experience of putting pen to paper.
And on September 29, all of that research became a table where someone could sit down, pick up a pen, and write. Which, I think, was the point.
Post 3 of 60 · Making OmFest