Two years ago, I noticed that a very interesting handmade pencil was listed for sale at the now closed CW Pencil Enterprise. CWPE was sold out of the product, but I quickly discovered the manufacturer Numen Design and an interesting retailer named Apuntes.
I was able to acquire some Numen pencils, and a photo posted at the pencil talk Instagram account remains popular:
A visit to Apuntes was naturally at the top of my list for a visit to the City of Mexico last month. Apuentes is in the Roma Norte neighborhood. Roma, like Polanco and Condesa, is a very trendy and highly walkable neigborhood in Mexico City. The altitude (2240m) will be a consideration for some. Apuntes is on a narrow side street near the Estela de Luz monument, an impossibly thin soaring tribute to Mexican independence.
The front window makes a nice impression.
The compact interior displays many interesting products, but it is not a generic stationery store! Perhaps matched only by the shops on Paris’s Rue du Pont Louis-Philippe, everything is made by Apuntes, with many products both designed and manufactured within the City of Mexico! It is truly a special store.
I bought two A5 notebooks, two A4 pads of paper, two “half A4” pads of paper for lists, and some interesting paperclips, stickers, and pencils. The paper products were made in the City of Mexico.
An absolute must visit for the stationery aficionado!
Thank you for your report on this special store! It’s great that stores like this still exist.
Gunther, thank you for the comment. Yes, this type of store is rare. It was a great experience to visit them.