Saw something strange at a drafting supply store in Pittsburgh last week

I stopped by a place near the Strip District that's been around since the 80s to grab some new leads for my mechanical pencil. The guy behind the counter was probably 70, and he told me they don't stock half the paper they used to because nobody buys it anymore. He pointed to a dusty shelf with vellum and mylar rolls and said those just sit there for months. I asked him what drafters are buying now and he just laughed and said tablets and styluses mostly. It got me thinking about how the whole feel of drawing on paper might just disappear in another ten years. Has anyone else noticed their local shops cutting back on traditional drafting supplies?

2 comments

2 Comments

morgan.cameron7d ago

Nah, gotta push back a little on this one. Maybe it's just that shop getting old and not keeping up. There's still plenty of places selling good drafting paper and vellum online, and I see young architects and artists buying it at art supply stores all the time. Digital is convenient for final drawings but nothing beats laying out ideas on paper with a pencil for actually thinking through a design. Plenty of folks still grab those rolls for hand drafting, model making, and even just sketching. The market shrank, sure, but it didn't vanish.

sam_harris687d ago

And here I am still doodling on napkins like it's 1998, so clearly the old ways aren't dead.