Shanghai Stationary - Yamdrok
Shanghai Stationary Yamdrok - Ink drop
Based in The Netherlands, Shanghai Stationary came on to my radar sometime during 2023. With a brand aesthetic that blends a cool, minimalist sophistication with the warmth and comfort of time-honored, artistic craftsmanship, the company straddles two worlds and has been building a strong following. I’ve been looking forward to trying some of their inks, and Yamdrok is my first.
Ink Swatches on Cosmo Air Light and Tomoe River
High up on the Tibetan plateau, Yamdrok lake is known for its stunning turquoise, jade waters. Shanghai Stationary Yamdrok brings the colors to life. It’s a beautiful ink, both simple and complex in shading and color. Overall, I’d like to call it an aquamarine green, but from paper to paper, you’ll see it as a turquoise green, and even an emerald (Tomoe River and Takasago Bank papers). It’s a strong shading ink, and stroke ends bring out a lot of the aquamarine green highlights that for me define the color.
Ink Swatches on Iroful and Takasago Bank papers
Performance did not disappoint. It’s nice and wet in flow, but controlled and well-behaved. On all papers tested, writing performance was remarkably similar. Strokes were consistent and clean, and there were no issues with feathering or bleed. Even on cheap office copy paper, there was basically no show-through or ghosting at all. Drying was roughly average, so no concern there, either. This is a very reliable ink, suitable for everyday use, and the chromatography shows artistic versatility, too.
Writing sample on Cosmo Air Snow paper
Shanghai Stationary Yamdrok is an exciting color with nice shading and great performance, and I can’t think of any negatives! Although my image is of a 3 ml sample bottle, they aren’t normally available. You can find it in 10 ml bottles as part of a 3-ink set, or in a beautiful 50 ml bottle individually. Both options are nicely priced. You can find them at their website, or @shanghaistationary on IG. They offer 28 inks, and be sure to check out their beautiful, hand-made journals and notebooks!
Shanghai Stationary Yamdrok ink writing samples
Special thanks to Shanghai Stationary for sending this and several other inks over to try! (As usual, when I accept inks or pens to try, it is always with the clear understanding that I may or may not review them. If I do, I will always include all the negatives and positives that I find.)
Shanghai Stationary Yamdrok - Swatch Card
Shanghai Stationary Yamdrok - Comparisons
Shanghai Stationary Yamdrok - 3 ml (10 ml behind)