There's a particular sound that anyone who grew up in a Korean classroom knows instantly: the soft click of a 153 ballpoint pen going back into its cap, repeated a hundred times an hour by a bored student two desks over. It's an annoying sound. It's also, somehow, one of the most nostalgic ones there is. Monami has been making that click since 1963, and lately, half of Instagram and TikTok seems to be rediscovering it, one pastel-coloured pen case at a time.
"Stationery TikTok," aesthetic bullet journals, "study with me" livestreams: the physical pen is having a real moment again, and Korean stationery brands are leading it. Monami in particular has become a kind of shorthand for it, instantly recognisable by its retro tricolour logo, its rainbow product lineups, and the fact that its pens simply write beautifully. So we thought it was time KASHOP gave it a proper, colourful introduction to Australia.
Why good stationery is harder to find here than it should be
Walk into an Australian newsagent or Officeworks and you'll find plenty of pens, but almost none of them are Monami. The brand has essentially no retail presence in Australia outside a handful of specialty importers, which means most people who want it are either paying inflated marketplace prices or importing it themselves from Korea, refill by refill.
That's a shame, because Monami isn't a novelty brand riding a K-culture wave. It's Korea's actual best-selling pen manufacturer, the 153 ballpoint has been in continuous production for over 60 years, and the Plus Pen 3000 fibre-tip is considered one of the smoothest, most vividly coloured fineliners on the market. KASHOP imports it directly, so you're getting the genuine, Korea-manufactured product without three layers of resellers marking it up along the way.
💡 Tip: If you're new to Korean stationery, Monami's product names double as their model numbers, so "153" and "Plus Pen 3000" aren't marketing names, they're the actual model lineage Koreans have grown up with. It's part of why the brand feels more like a design classic than a trend.
Five pieces, five colour stories
Monami's full range runs to dozens of products, so we've picked five that show off just how colourful this brand gets, from a rainbow of highlighters to a set that runs the full spectrum on its own.
1. Monami EasyClick Highlighter Set, 12 Colours
This is the set behind most of the pastel-toned study spreads you've seen online. Twelve soft, true-to-swatch colours in a click-retractable barrel, so there's no cap to lose and no drying out at the bottom of a pencil case. Genuinely useful for colour-coding a diary, textbook, or planner without the ink bleeding through the page.
2. Monami EasyClick Board Marker Set, 12 Colours
Same click mechanism, built for whiteboards instead of paper. Wipes clean without ghosting, which matters if you're running a home office whiteboard, a kid's homework schedule, or a small business planning board. Twelve colours means you can actually build a proper colour system instead of making do with black and one sad red.
3. Monami EasyClick Permanent Marker, Basic Colour
The workhorse of the range. Fine, permanent, and reliable on everything from parcels to labels to fabric, this is the one that quietly lives in every KASHOP staff member's own desk drawer. Available in single colours so you can pick exactly what you need rather than buying a set you'll only use one of.
4. Monami Plus Pen 3000 Fibre Tip Fineliner, 60 Set
The set that started the trend. Plus Pen 3000 is marketed in Korea as "Korea's best-selling water-based pen," and once you've used one you'll understand why: the fibre tip glides rather than scratches, and the water-based ink means true, saturated colour with zero bleed-through on standard paper. The 60-piece set is the full spectrum in one box, from muted earth tones to saturated brights, which makes it the obvious pick if you want the complete Monami colour story for journaling, lettering, or illustration.
Not ready to commit to the full set? The same pen also comes in 36-piece and 48-piece sets, so you can start smaller and build your collection over time.
5. Monami 153 Gold 0.7mm Pen
The 153 in its most premium form: a real gold-plated body (available in Yellow Gold, White Gold, or Rose Gold) built around the same reliable 0.7mm ballpoint mechanism that's been the Korean office standard for six decades. It uses standard ISO 12757-2 refills, so it's a genuine daily writer rather than a display piece, but it also happens to be a proper gift, the kind of thing that photographs well and means something.
💡 Tip: Fibre tip pens like the Plus Pen 3000 last longest when stored horizontally with the cap firmly clicked shut. Standing them nib-down for long periods can flood the tip; standing them nib-up can dry it out.
Quick guide: which one to start with
| Product | Best for |
|---|---|
| EasyClick Highlighter Set (12) | Journaling, colour-coded notes |
| EasyClick Board Marker Set (12) | Home office / whiteboard planning |
| EasyClick Permanent Marker | Everyday labelling and parcels |
| Plus Pen 3000 Fibre Tip (60 Set) | Journaling, lettering, illustration |
| 153 Gold 0.7mm Pen | Everyday writing, gifting |
None of this really has to do with needing a new pen. Most people reading this already own several. It's about that click, the one that's been going since 1963, and the small, genuine pleasure of writing with something made well, in a colour that actually makes you want to pick it up. That's the whole appeal of stationery having a moment: it was never really gone, we'd just forgotten to pay attention to it.
