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Capturing our thoughts, organizing our days, sending a note to let someone know we are thinking about them. Stationery and journals provide a way to both be present while also fully engaged with our mind to focus on what matters without the distraction of a screen or technology that may include dings, pings and other ways to draw our attention where we don’t need it to go at the moment.
Having a journal has been part of my life since before I can recall. Much like having a book to read or time to take a walk, each day having a journal handy when I have time to write is non-negotiable. While also having stationery to say send something when the moment arises or plan my day, week, month or year, it just feels good to put it down on paper and forget about it so the day can unfold as it will.
With all of that said, making our journal and our stationery something that we find beautiful and special to us, perhaps it is better to say, signature to us, reminds us of the importance of engaging in this way regularly. Strengthening and maintaining the relationships we cherish while staying on top of our lives without obsessing. Putting it down on paper when it comes to a planner, a notepad, etc., let’s us forget about it and move forward while still knowing we are clear about where we are going.
So, now, let’s talk about where to find that signature journal and/or stationery in Britain. Below are seven, some well-known, some new to the game, but just as worth exploring, so that we can each find our signature style.
The Créme de la créme of luxury. If you are looking for a reusable luxurious journal, then invest once and then refill with their replacement lined paper journals. Explore all of the many options for their refillable luxury journal.
A well-known name in London for their journals, planners, and playfully so. Find oodles of uniquely titled journals to fit your tastes, your life chapter and focus.
3. Smythson
While quite well known for their leather products and planners, it is their stationery that always catches my eye (and also better fits in my budget). Simple, yet unique, makes a statement without saying too much. I have pulled a few examples below that caught my eye, but be sure to shop their entire collection.
4. Papersmiths
A new name to the game of stationery, Papersmiths was co-founded in Bristol by Sidonie Warren in 2013. “Since then, Sidonie has brought the Papersmiths offering to some of your favourite hang outs in Britain: Brighton’s North Laine, Soho and just around the corner from Sloane Square in Chelsea, on Pavilion Road. Sidonie sources the cult classics and harder-to-find gems of the stationery world from designers and makers across the globe.”
I thoroughly loved perusing through their site as there are unique journals and notebooks to suit your hobbies, passions and focus, while also sharing journals that align with our intentions or goals, giving us tools to find success in our own way. I have included a handful below, but be sure to peruse the entire site.
5. Mark + Fold
Another new journal company to the game, and offering unique designs to suit your passions. From their travel journal that even has a pocket for all of our tickets so that you can save them as memorabilia, they also offer box sets complete for a successful year of planning and staying organized.
Founded in 2014, Before Breakfast takes their cue from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, where the White Queen said to Alice: “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” Focused on sustainable stationery, their ethos is guided by the reality that the small things really can make a big difference: “Amidst the chaos of the everyday, stationery might be the smallest thing in it, but it holds the biggest potential. With the right tools, the possibilities are endless, and your next chapter begins.”
With notepads and journals, discover if their approach speaks your language for staying organized and keeping your ideas all in a easy-to-find place.
And I have to include this unique and very special shop that is located in the heart of London, but also online, shipping all around the world. Last year, you may remember, a giveaway from Choosing Keeping was included. It is a shop that offers a vast collection of unique finds for the creative in us all, but for today, I am sticking to the journals. From traditional size, to extra thick and even sketch pads, the covers are beautiful and the work that you will put upon the pages will be inspired each time you open it up to write, doodle, sketch or dream.
And I have concluded with this very special bookbinding company as they make the Commonplace Books that introduced me to the concept. And while they specialize in the Commonplace Book (lined or blank pages), they also sell sketchbooks of various sizes and much more.
If you haven’t already, and are a TOP Tier Member, make sure you have entered the 1st Giveaway of our British Week festivities as a lucky member will receive a Commonplace Book of their choice, as they ship around the globe.
Whether we are picking up a journal to collect our thoughts, a planner to bring clarity to our days and our dreams to fruition, choosing what is beautiful as well as functional elevates our everyday and really does contribute to a deeper peace and abiding calm. May you find the styles that speak to you and treat yourself.
Explore all of the Posts from this Year’s British Week
