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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
Stationery shops are my downfall! lol!
Cathy
You are in good company ☺️💛
A kindred spirit! 🖋️📜✉️
Great post. I am leaving on a trip next week and one of the big decisions is what journal(s) to take. 🙂
Jasmina, a must-pack item, non? ☺️ And having one that speaks to us makes the trip all the more special. Have a wonderful exploration wherever your travels take you!
What a joy for the eyes! I love journals in all sizes and shapes and reading this post has been such a pleasure! Thank you Shannon for your fantastic selection… the British Week is always full of daily delights🤩😍
It is my pleasure Laura! ☺️ Tickled this post captured your interest😌
Another one I adore in London is Present & Correct with a retro minimalistic look and feel. I could walk out with their entire inventory! https://www.presentandcorrect.com/
Oh, thank you for sharing Edel! I am taking notes and saving their website link. ☺️🇬🇧❤️
Oh my gosh what a lovely shop and the Air Mail Fold & Seals brought back some memories! My letters home from boarding school were generally written on onion skin and stuffed into the matching airmail envelopes, but I used Fold & Seals occasionally as well for quick notes. Bookmarking for a return peruse, thank you, Edel!
I could spend hours in a stationery store. Thank you for sharing these picks, Shannon!
So easy to do, right? Similar to a bookstore in so many ways! Thank you for sharing Sara ☺️
These are all beautiful and especially like the Smythson stationary. Thank you Shannon, we are off to a very lovely and fun week!
Isn’t their stationery such perfect in the amount of detail and the rest for sharing what we wish to share. Thank you Vickie for commenting on what caught your eye. 😌
Such gorgeous notebooks amd journals! Thank you for sharing
My pleasure! 🙂
Love this, thank you! So many beautiful papers. I still write letters on Smythson. There are so many to tempt! And lovely papers in Italy and France also. We’re lucky in Portland to have Oblation Papers…long may all of these wonderful companies thrive!
Liz, Thank you for the reminder of Oblation Papers. 🙂 Just walked by their shop recently – such a treat of a boutique! And as you shared, the options at these stationery shops – online and in person – provide so much to tempt and delight! 🙂 Much like being in a candy shop 🙂
I have been purchasing journals from Papier, another British brand, for several years and love their designs.
Did you happen to notice Choosing Keeping’s pressed flower paperweights? So lovely!
Have a wonderful Monday.
~Michelle
Thank you for sharing what you love Michelle! I adore Papier journals as well! Thank you for the reminder. 🙂
I remember creating my own ‘journals’ when I was just a wee thing. My mother taught all of her children to read and write by age three and I can remember carefully folding either lined or unlined, very special. ‘typing paper’–that was a treat!– together to make a little booklet that I would then fill with poems, drawings, flowers, just what-not that I fancied. My mother gave me bits of ribbon to glue on the edges so I could tie them shut. And oh my, I was ecstatic to find a REAL DIARY under the Christmas tree one year! And, like Cathy and everyone else here, I’m sure, stationery shops are better than candy stores! Shannon, this post is all too tempting!😂📜🪶
What a dear Mum to set you off right into the world, a world where organizing thoughts and putting them to paper is a lifelong habit I think we all need to cultivate. Did your Christmas diary have a key? I had a red one, age 9, all my friends had them, we thought we were so grown up!
What a beautiful memory! How fun that must have been! 🙂 And I too agree with you and Cathy – stationery stores feed the soul in so many ways. 🙂 Thank you for sharing Rona.
Such diary memories this subject has evoked! My very first “diary” was actually an autograph book. It was expected for us to collect notes and signatures from our teachers at the end of the school year, and any other celebrity we we might meet. Not many celebrities in our village except for my grandfather, so that was a given. I still have that little book. My second grade teach blessed me with a watercolor painting on her page as well as a thought. “What ever you do, do with all your might. Things done by halves are never done right!”
Lucy Augustine, how enchanting.
What a lovely memory Lucy and your teacher’s thoughtfulness (and talent!). Thank you for sharing. You brought a smile! 🙂
Yes, the key was closely guarded and mine was a deep red as well! We were so VERY grown-up.
When I was recently in London I ran across the Choosing Keeping store! What a fun place to explore!
It does look like quite a special boutique to visit. Tickled you had the opportunity. 🙂 Thank you for sharing your delight!
Mindy, isn’t it lovely! I visited this past January when I was in London with a dear friend of mine (we’ve been on many UK adventures together over the years). We had to wait in a queue for a few minutes to enter, but it was worth the wait. Such a feast for the eyes!
Dear Shannon,
What a fantastic collection of journals stationary! They are my soft spot as well. Have you considered doing a piece on pens and pencils? When I opened the Starsmead site, I was immediately drawn to their interesting pens. 🤔🧐
I’m sure you have your favorites.
That’s a great idea Jamie! Will definitely keep that in mind for a future post. Thank you for sharing what you would be interested in as I am always wanting to bring content together that readers will enjoy. 🙂
So many wonderful stationers – it does make a girl giddy. 🙂
🙂
Thank you for this wonderful list! I already had Choosing Keeping on my list of stores to visit when I travel to London in September, now I’ve add a few more! I started journaling when a friend of mine introduced me to it in college. I journaled on and off for years, until I got divorced. As I was rediscovering myself, I rediscovered journaling and have been consistent every since (20+ years!). This is my first British week and I’m loving all of it! Thank you Shannon!
Have a wonderful trip Courtney! It is an adorable shop and while I haven’t visited it personally, a few TSLL readers have and have raved about it. 🙂 Thank you for sharing how journaling has been a tool of healing and nourishment for you. In my own life journey, the journal is a constant companion, since I was a young girl and ever onward. May your journal writing provide the place to wonder, heal, question and dream as well as celebrate when the dreams come true. Tickled you are enjoying this week. Thank you for your comment. 🙂
This is certainly a post to savor! I have become an admirer of smooth paper to write on with my mechanical pencils and am eager to look more deeply at these different journals. 🙂
What a wonderful post! I collect journals even though I am not a committed journalist. I think I cannot resist the *potential* of them–if that makes sense. Thank you for this, Shannon; it introduced me to new stationers and reminded me of some familiar to me. I was especially delighted to meet Starsmead Bookbinding. On her site, I learned that she conducts workshops. I’m adding that to my UK list of possibilities.