GNYPIG is made possible by our hosts, who organize meet-up events in various Upstate NY cities. If you’d like to host a GNYPIG event, get in touch and we’ll get you on board!

Rochester, NY

Dave Rea (a GNYPIG founder) started his quest for the perfect pen in middle school, fed up with smudges of greasy ballpoint ink on his left palm. He scoured the pen aisles of Staples and OfficeMax, and eventually fell for the Pilot V-Ball after becoming a paid notetaker in college, at RIT. His first fountain pen – a Parker Frontier – was a graduation gift from his Dad, and while it lay dormant for a few years, he dug it out after happening across the Pen Addict Podcast in 2013. It was all downhill from there…

Utica, NY

Phil Olin (a GNYPIG founder) has always liked nice pens. Picking up various Pilot, Zebra, and Pentel pens, he ended up using either a Pilot G2 or Zebra Sarasa most of the time. It wasn’t until a few years ago that he picked up a Lamy Safari on a whim, and fell in love at first write. Since then he has been adding inks and pens to his collection as fast as he can afford them.