Portland, Part 6: Yard Sale

 

9/20/25 Aaron 

When I travel, I wouldn’t typically put a yard sale on my agenda (I rarely shop at yard sales even when I’m home). But when a yard sale is promoted on Instagram by a man who has 227,000 followers, it must be special – and when it’s scheduled in Portland for the very weekend that I would be in town, how could I resist?

Aaron Draplin is a well-known graphic designer, co-founder of Field Notes Brand, collector of vintage ephemera, and an all-around great guy. I’ve met him several times at various events (such as this one in 2018) when he was selling his own products as well as Field Notes. His yard sale promised to have all of that, plus the usual old stuff that people typically sell at yard sales.

I got in touch with Portland friend Cindy, who is also an urban sketcher and user of Field Notes. We were already planning to attend the Portland USk outing together; why not swing around to Aaron’s yard sale together afterwards? It turned out that Andrew, another member of the Field Nuts group on Facebook, was also shopping (and muling rare Field Notes for other Nuts). 

Cindy and I pose next to Aaron's bright orange van. (Incidentally, the "Hell Yeah" patch on my cap is a Draplin Design Co. product.)

A meeting of Field Nuts: Tina, Andrew and Cindy (plus a regular nut)

Digging through Aaron’s old stuff was fun enough, but the highlight of the visit was a complete surprise: Seeing three Nuts in attendance, Aaron offered to give us a tour of his studio! I was humbled and awed by his generosity in allowing a bunch of Nuts into his personal space where he does his design work, stores his vast collection of vintage things and, of course, stashes his own stash of Field Notes. What a treat to see some extremely limited notebooks, including the early prototypes that eventually became Field Notes. Cindy, Andrew and I were dazzled!

Aaron's workspace and some of his collectibles and other cool stuff

Aaron's personal stash of Field Notes.

Aaron graciously autographed Field Notes for each of us Nuts.

I’m sure you’re wondering what I took home that day. Tempted by much but committed to my newly downsized life, I resisted most of the treasures (see image below for what I couldn’t resist). It was definitely the most fun I’ve ever had at a yard sale!

Years ago in a group live chat with Aaron, I remember he mentioned that he still had his old set of Prismacolor pencils from his design school days. I had been secretly hoping he would be selling that set. Unfortunately, the only vintage colored pencils I found were the handful at right, which included some coveted Design Spectracolor pencils.