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Nota bene, lockdown London: the last month has made scribblers of us all.
You are note-taking 24/7: your fridge (or family) demands a shopping list, that first novel needs writing, anxiety dream diaries need recording in painstaking detail, mystery ailments require symptom tracking, preferably the old-fashioned way (“woke up sweating at 2am again. Is this the untimely end of moi?!”). Everything is urgent: so much to do, so little to write it down on.
Time, then, to slow down, take stock and rearm your stationery cupboard. This is a matter of record.
If your study is in need of a little more character (or indeed multiple characters) check out Mustard, a stationer specialising in anthropomorphic deskmates. Googly-eyed highlighter markers, shark-shaped pens and sticky note dispensers masquerading as cartoon cats and dogs are among this idiosyncratic range. Functional doesn’t have to be dull. Find the fun at justmustard.com.
Should you wish to operate at the sophisticated end of the spectrum, Quill London’s carefully crafted products are more appropriate for your wheelhouse. Personalised notecards, pink leather-bound folio books, brass clipboards and fountain pens plus self-inking copper stamps are among the classy curios from an outfit invested in bringing back the art of the handwritten letter. There’s no time like the present, Quilllondon.com.
Another stall set out solely for the purpose of providing you with the oft-touted stylish stationery aesthetic, Present & Correct is a more modernist option for the discerning shopper. The collection looks (in a good way) as if it might have been sprung from Kensington’s Design Museum: all brass scissors sets, tapioca glue bottles and geometric notepads. Hotfoot it to presentandcorrect.com.
Of course, you may dismiss the above out of hand. Hey guy, you’ll say, what about me, a prolific writer who can work only when my notebook reflects my passion for prints? Well, worry not. Papier’s stationery for the soul features distinctive (personalised) accoutrements from jaguar-print notebooks to floral-covered folios.
Help is at hand. Do try to avoid paper cuts.
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