EndlessPens is excited to welcome another amazing fountain pen ink brand to our platform: the creative powerhouse, Tono&Lims! In case you haven’t heard of them yet, allow us to introduce to you this excellent ink brand.
Saying that Tono&Lims has a huge ink collection probably does not fully describe the variety and diverse range of ink bottles you can find under their brand. It’s a kaleidoscope of pigmented, fluorescent, pastel, shimmer, and unique inks that stand out for their inks’ characteristics and their ink bottles’ artistic label designs.
But before we know more about their inks, let’s know more about their story.
The Story of Tono&Lims
Tono&Lims began in 2018, through the shared passion for creativity and fountain pen inks of its founders. Their interests and expertise inspired them to talk more and like kismet, they started something they both believe in building an ink brand!
With Takashi Ono’s passion for fountain pens and his creative direction, and Tae-kyun Lim’s expertise in ink production and infrastructure for manufacturing, their combined strengths helped build the foundations of the brand to become the Tono&Lims that it is today.
Each founder’s culture allows them to view and explore unique perspectives. Coupled with their profound understanding of the needs and sensibilities of fellow stationery enthusiasts, Tono&Lims exploded with a wide range of colors.
Tono&Lims, From Concept to Craft
EndlessPens wanted to know the brand better and share the inspiring story of Tono&Lims to our community so we reached out to Takashi Ono to find out more.
Brew some tea, snag a cookie (or three), and dive into this delightful interview with us!
Question #1: May we know more about how Tono & Lims began?
Answer: Tono is a nickname of Takashi Ono and Lims stands for Tae-kyun Lim and his family. Tono&Lims was set up by Tono and Lims in 2018 and we decided brand name is from just our name. Takashi Ono is Japanese and loves fountain pens, inks and stationery and is a collector of them. Tae-kyun Lim and his family have long experience and history in the ink industry. We met a stationery event in Japan in 2018 and reached agreement to build up an ink brand after several conversations.
Question #2: You have one of the biggest ink collections we have ever seen. How do you keep coming up with new colors to keep everything so different?
Answer: We pick up theme of ink colors from several fields. For example, Baby Color Line has 2 series, sweets series inspired by many sweets, and U and I series inspired by a story between boy and girl, Earth Contact comes from minerals or jewelries. We try to find any good target of ink colors every day in life and at same time we consider whether we can make colors of them differently from existing colors. Even similar target colors, we try to build up inks with different formula and techniques.
Question #3: For those who are not familiar with this yet, what is Tono & Lim’s Coloring Session? How did you come up with this activity/program? How does this session work?
Answer: [It's an event where] We enjoy mixing inks at Coloring Session together with customers and learn some background of ink features, for example “separating”, “changing” or “sheen”. Also we talk about some essence, topics or points which we think important for making unique colors. After 5 sessions, customers can think about ink colors in more depth and find some way to create own colors.
Question #4: What is your most popular colors?
Answer: First best seller for us was Strawberry Ice and other Baby Color Line. After their launch, colors in Earth Contact Line become also very popular. These days top seller inks are Puddle Story Line colors.
Question #5: Where do you see the company in 5 years and what do you think are the projects you would like to do explore in the future?
Answer: We would like to meet customers as many as possible in the world, therefore we are planning to have events in USA, EU, Asia and more. We hope we can provide customize inks to customers who want to have, together with more our regular colors.
Question #6: Is the bear indeed your official mascot? What inspired you to choose it as a symbol for your brand?
Answer: We have 2 official mascots, duck and bear. Duck is the first mascot from the beginning of our brand. After some year, bear came from the ink sticker of Peridot in Earth Contact, and we realized he is nice to represent each shop and area where we have our event A Space Walk. Now we design many bears with special costumes for partner shops as well as for events.
Question #7: What is the best place for people in the community to follow you to stay up to date with everything you're doing?
Answer: We announced new release of inks or our event in Twitter (X) or Instagram. We consider to set up new accounts with English soon. Also we conduct Live Show in Instagram with lettering artist “bechori” every Saturday night (in JPT) (Sorry it is in Japanese). We also welcome our event A Space Walk or in-shop events to talk about many things together.
For Takashi and Tae-kyun, what started as a fun day at an event led to something bigger and brought them to the growing success of Tono&Lims and today.
Knowing the spark behind the story, we can see that it starts with one conversation to unleash ideas and inspire the beginning of a creative journey. Perhaps it's not everyday that we get to meet someone to start an endeavor with but this encounter helps us see the possibilities in people we meet in our life.
Excited to see more of Tono&Lims? Read on!
Have Preview to Some of the Tono&Lims Ink Series
Here’s a preview of the wide array of Tono&Lims inks you can expect to find soon at EndlessPens.
- The Standard Series is a curated selection of crafted, dye-based fountain pen ink colors. Each blend of Tono&Lims 30 ml standard ink features a vibrant color that is excellent for artistic expression and other traditional uses. Whether you have the urge to draw or a page to fill with words or more, this series is a wonderful place to start.
- The Prefecture Series is a fun dive into the shade of floral colors of the prefectures in Japan and South Korea. Each lovely shade is bottled in a 30 ml glass labeled with the image of the shape of each prefecture. It’s a wonderful way to learn and be familiar with these places and an original Tono&Lims ink series you may want to collect.
- The Earth Contact Series enchants fountain pen enthusiasts with inks that burst with vivid hues and luminous shimmer. This collection reflects the natural beauty of each gemstone. Infuse every stroke with the quiet elegance from the brilliant stones naturally found on earth.
- The Baby Color Series is a line of delicate and charming pastel colors with playful names and as whimsical as youthful fond memories. This wide range of pastels is available in 30 ml glass bottles labeled with adorable and minimalist designs.
- The Adult Night Series is the complete opposite of the previous line. This collection of ink bottles showcases captivating fountain pen inks. Inspired by different episodes of a fun night out for adults, you can see each ink bottle label painting a picture of an evening a grown-up may have.
- The Shaved Ice Series is a nod to a memory of enjoying the hot season. Each color aims to evoke the cool and invigorating experience of enjoying shaved ice on a sweltering summer day. Dip your brush or fountain pen nib into each color, and with a touch of water, the color can bloom into nostalgic hues that evoke the taste of each shaved ice flavor.
- The Blacklist Series is a fun play on words that translates into an intriguing line of black inks that demands you take a closer look. Each variety reveals how each ink holds its own unique and subtle color nuances. Play with different kinds of black and discover which one is your favorite.
Every series is a reflection of a theme that explores all kinds of inspirations. From personal experiences to inside jokes, the sky may be the limit for their vast ingenuity and artistic energy when it comes to creating a new bottle of ink.
Watch Out For Tono&Lims
While Tono&Lims is known locally in Korea and is considered a trendsetter for inks in Japan, this ink brand is also growing globally. Their rise to popularity is propelled by the cult following inspired by the fun ink events arranged by the brand in different venues globally. Followers and members of the community can sign up to participate to join “A Space Walk,” “Coloring Session,” and “Ink Lab.” Collaborations with other brands also continue to add to the growing collection of inks crafted by Tono&Lims
Celebrated by fountain pen enthusiasts and communities, Tono&Lims is now more accessible with EndlessPens providing the channel for those seeking their wide collection of unique and expressive high-quality fountain pen inks, including the standard, shimmer, pigmented, and fluorescent varieties.
By Some Folks at EndlessPens
