A recent article in The Guardian posed a thought-provoking question: are we losing the ability to write by hand? In an age of voice-to-text and lightning-fast keyboards, it’s a fair concern. But the decline of handwriting isn’t just about a dwindling skill—it’s a symptom of something bigger. It’s about losing our connection to the tangible, the personal, the crafted.
As fewer people put pen to paper, we risk losing not just legible penmanship but also the deeper benefits of writing by hand: mindfulness, personal expression, and a connection to our thoughts.
In the workshop, we’re passionate about keeping hands-on practices alive. When we recently designed our wooden pen tray, we set out to make something more than a functional accessory. It’s a small celebration of craftsmanship—a tactile antidote to the fast pace of instant communication.
Handwriting: A Quiet Resistance
Handwriting in 2025 feels almost radical. It’s deliberate, slow, and imperfect—everything the digital world is not. But that’s precisely why it matters. Each letter you write reflects your individuality and state of mind; it’s a unique and irreproducible moment.
We wanted to reflect this ethos in our pen tray. Each one is crafted using steam-bent ash, and every curve is shaped by the unique grain of the wood. Just as no two handwritten letters are identical, no two trays are exactly the same.
Making Is Thinking: The Craft Connection
As Richard Sennett notes in The Craftsman, “making is thinking.” The same principle applies to writing. When you write by hand, your thoughts slow down, becoming more deliberate and reflective.
This philosophy is also at the heart of how we make our trays. Every bend of the wood is intentional, every curve carefully considered. The process mirrors the experience of handwriting: steady, thoughtful, and intentional. In both craft and writing, we find rare opportunities to slow down and engage with the moment.
Each ash strip is uniquely steam bent, following the grain of the wood
Objects That Mean Something
Why does any of this matter? Because the tools we surround ourselves with shape how we live. A pen tray may seem like a small thing, but when it’s crafted with care, it becomes a quiet partner—whether you’re taking notes on a Teams call, writing a love letter, brainstorming ideas, or simply enjoying the feel of pen on paper.
Mass production gives us countless disposable options, but we believe in making things that last, that feel good in the hand, that have a bit of a story.
The Handwritten & the Handmade
As handwriting and the handcrafted become less common, they feel more precious. They carry forward traditions and skills that connect us to history and to ourselves. In a fast-paced world, it’s worth pausing to appreciate the tools that enable these moments of reflection.
Of course, at the end of the day it’s just a wooden tray for storing pens, but we like to think of it as a small yet meaningful symbol of what we stand to lose if we let the tactile, human elements of our lives slip away. By surrounding ourselves with well-crafted objects and taking time to write by hand, we keep a little of that, and that can only be a good thing.