CW Pencil Enterprise

It was a year ago today that Tazz forwarded me a New York Times feature regarding a quirky little pencil shop in Lower Manhattan, and all indecision about our prospective holiday faded in an instant. Upon first impression, CW Pencil Enterprise seemed like the kind of shop you might find on a stroll around East London, however Tazz and I were oddly captivated by the shop's dedication to such a simple an item of stationery, one often overlooked in our digital age. Thus we earmarked the store as a priority on our long list of places to explore.

Fast forward to February of this year, Tazz and I cross Chinatown and spot a giant pencil printed above a glass shopfront, through which we see pencils of every colour surrounding a checkerboard floor. On closer inspection, CW Pencil Enterprise is nothing less than a pencil paradise, with pencils of all grades and sizes - from countries around the globe - neatly bunched in transparent pencil pots. Scented pencils from Portugal, bi-colour pencils made in Switzerland, and pencils from Japan crafted to resemble cigarettes are just some of the wonders on the store's shelves, alongside an array of HB and No.2 pencils.

Displayed among this handsome collection are all the accompanying stationery a pencil enthusiast would desire, including erasers, sharpeners, and notebooks. And to one side of the shop is a testing station with samples of every pencil on sale. As I chatted with two of the store's "Pencil Ladies", Caitlin and founder Caroline Weaver, Tazz settled down at the desk to scribble vigorously.

In a world in which computers have become the standard tool for many creative works, CW Pencil Enterprise is certainly a curiosity, but its triumph as an independent business goes to show the resilience of the faithful pencil. If you ever find yourself on the Lower East Side, do pop into this stationery heaven and pick up a pencil or two.

CW Pencil Enterprise is located at: 100a Forsyth Street, New York.

Barefoot Folly, 14th Street

Yusuf works at 14th Street vintage clothing store Rags-A-Gogo, alongside which he is also an unsigned musician and producer, under the pseudonym Barefoot Folly. He hopes that in three years, his music will take him to Europe.

New York Revisited

My first visit to New York City was in April 2008. I was a lanky 15-year-old with an unkempt washmop of hair, a mouth full of braces, and a suitcase overflowing with disastrous fashion choices. But no amount of adolescent awkwardness would detract from my excitement to explore the impossibly huge city I knew from countless Hollywood movies and American television shows. I had never felt more like a wide-eyed tourist.

Eight years later, and following a major overhaul of my wardrobe and social aptitude, I touched down at JFK Airport for the second time. A return visit to New York had been lingering at the back of my mind since my first season at Paris Fashion Week, when I acknowledged that spending money to see the world wasn't such a terrible idea after all. Somewhere along the way, I inspired Tazz to accompany me; impelled by her obsession for British Airways sales, and a New York Times feature about a pencil shop in Lower Manhattan, we booked our city break during my birthday dinner, somewhere between steak and sticky toffee pudding.

February is the cheapest month of the year to see NYC, albeit it is arguably the coldest. With temperatures never rising above zero degrees during our one-week stay, it wasn't as easy to enjoy New York as I had done previously. For instance, a sunny seaside trip to Brighton Beach and Coney Island isn't nearly as fun when an icy wind bites at every square inch of exposed skin.

All the same, Tazz and I refused to be deterred by such a minor detail as not being able to feel our own faces. We trekked through the city as eager explorers, seeking occasional warmth and refuge in diners and 5th Avenue stores. A memorable attraction was The High Line, a disused freight railway line elevated above the streets of Manhattan, revitalised into a public park. Even in the winter, when the grasses are brown and the trees are bare, The High Line is a beautiful and calming space amidst the glass and concrete jungle. Its modern renovation combined with physical reminders of its industrial past perfectly complement the antithesis of contemporary and traditional architecture in the surrounding cityscape.

Having both been to New York on previous occasions, mine and Tazz's greater objective was to seek out the city's lesser known treasures. To that end, we dedicated much of our holiday to exploring Williamsburg and Lower Manhattan, where we discovered the quaintest boutiques and hidden entrances to secret speakeasies. CW Pencil Enterprise, whose feature in the New York Times had been the final push to booking our holiday, was everything I had hoped for and more. And a stroll through Manhattan's Meatpacking District led me to my new favourite menswear label, Ports 1961.

Towering and sprawling, New York is an imposing city to the casual tourist. From street level, the ascending skyscrapers, hotels and apartment buildings give an air of mystery, hiding the rest of the city from view. And from the open space of Central Park, the encompassing skyline isolates you from the rest of the world. I know the city holds much else to discover, and I hope I have the chance to return in the near - rather than distant - future. Perhaps when the city doesn't fancy turning me into a human popsicle.