How to Start Collecting Enamel Pins
At A Glance I still remember the first pin I bought. It was small, bright, and full of charm. That […]
Author name: Nurul Afser
I started collecting enamel pins in 2017 while living in Chittagong, Bangladesh — a coastal city with high humidity, heavy monsoon seasons, and salt-laden air. Those conditions quickly exposed the weaknesses of popular storage solutions I’d read about online. Display frames warped. Cork boards developed mildew. Metal pin components corroded far faster than expected. Rather than accepting product claims at face value, I started testing storage methods myself — systematically, over months, on my actual collection. Binders, acrylic cases, foam inserts, silica-gel systems, archival materials. All documented. After my BSc in Computing from BRAC University in 2019, I applied the same structured evaluation mindset used in software testing to physical products. Later that year I moved to Los Angeles — and discovered an entirely different set of problems: acrylic micro-fracturing, material shrinkage, seam failures, UV fading. Two climates, two extreme sets of challenges. Today my collection sits at 400+ pins across pop culture, nature, artist-designed, and limited editions. I also collect patches extensively. Every product on this site has been bought with my own money. That’s not a disclaimer — it’s the whole point.
