If there’s one thing in life I really enjoy, besides the visits my neighbour’s cats occasionally do, is the joy I have for stationery and art supplies. *Insert extremely loud dramatic sound effect* Yes, I know… who could’ve guessed that a proud digital illustrator and designer like myself would like stationery and art supplies this much, right? Well, let me tell you that you’d also be surprised by how much stuff I own and still manage to fit and organise in my minimal tiny office.
I’ve been a Londoner for nearly five years now and I can safely say I’m starting to feel like I know this city pretty well. One of my hobbies lately has been all about finding beautiful stationery and art supply shops in every city I travel and naturally, I’m starting with my beautiful London. So grab a cup of tea or coffee while I share the shops I have fallen in love. I mean… I can’t be the only one that feels ridiculously excited when I find a cute pack of washing tape, can I?
Present & Correct
Location: Islington | Website
Besides being a huge fan of the website for years, it was when I visited the shop that I truly saw Neal and Robert’s little world. It’s just one of those places that you wouldn’t expect to find in the middle of a random quiet road in Islington. The truth is that this little shop is full of stationery jams from all over the world, beautifully curated by the two graphic designer owners themselves. They use the back of the shop as their studio and if you visit it you would probably find some ‘behind the scenes’ of the pictures they take for their Instagram account, which by the way is pure bliss.
All goods in the shop complement each other, and for me they’re the perfect marriage between a vintage and a modern minimal look. The cherry on the cake was to find these beautiful Portuguese limited notebooks made by Serrote, they’re printed in letterpress and the designs look like they were inspired by classic notebooks from the fifties. Not completely sure about the year but I do remember my grandfather having a few with similar designs.
Quill London
Location: Angel | Website
If you love calligraphy this is your place. You’ll not only find stylish stationery and paper goods but also great workshops on modern calligraphy. They even sell their own ‘The Essentials’ Modern Calligraphy Kit, where you get a jar of black ink, a Nikko G nib, a pen holder, exercises to get you started and a practice book featuring plain pages combined with calligraphy line guides. What I also found very special was the book written by the owner of the shop herself, Lucy Edmonds. She designed this step-by-step guide for those wanting to learn this super trendy art form, which I mean… I couldn’t resist bringing one for myself. Their work has been featured in publications including Vogue, Stylist, Sunday Times Style, Elle Decoration, ES Magazine. I guarantee you’ll leave the shop very inspired to start writing your own calligraphic ‘Thank You’ notes.
Papersmiths
Location: Shoreditch | Website
In one word: PINK. From the floor to the ceiling the store is covered in pastel pink tiles. The entire shop is Instagram goals, you reeeeeeally need to take a peek for yourself! Lately, I’ve been working for a digital agency based very close to Shoreditch and I’m trying very hard not to spend all my lunch hours visiting this shop. I wouldn’t be surprised if the employees were already sick of seeing me there. Their choice of unique stationery and homeware pieces is to die for and my latest addition were these beautiful black paper scissors from HAY. This is just one of those places where I struggle to leave without a pen or two, or maybe one of the illustrated wrapping papers, I’m telling you… I have no self-control.
Kikki.K
Location: Covent Garden | Website
For me, this was love at first sight. For two simple reasons, first because is the world where all pastel colours live (this makes me have hearts in my eyes just thinking about it), secondly because this is not just another stationery store, Kikki.K is a beautiful Swedish design stationery boutique, and you know it’s going to be good when you find that any design has a Swedish touch, right? EVERYTHING in the store has both the elements of cuteness and functionality and I love that. They really live by this idea that we should have a place for everything and everything should have its place, but has to look beautiful too… I swear sometimes I think I might have been Swedish in another life because I also live by this rule.
London Graphic Centre
Location: Covent Garden | Website
Since 1973 that this is one of the capital’s major suppliers of art and graphics materials. This large corner building is full of fine art supplies, graphics materials, lightboxes, papers, portfolios, bags, books, magazines, Pantone colour guides, modeling clays and tools. Whether you’re a keen novice student or an established professional you can probably find anything you need in here. The store also houses sporadic exhibitions and it’s great for gift items for arty types, it’s just a lovely place to visit in the lovely area of Covent Garden.
Cass Art
Location: Islington | Website
‘Let’s Fill This Town With Artists’ is basically the store manifesto, they inverted the snobbish art manifesto and projected it to the people. A central pillar of Cass Art is that you can’t make good art with bad materials. They’ve only been hiring artists so they can provide expert advice to any person that comes in. This is the perfect place that sells everything from sketchbooks, Moleskine notebooks, sheet paper and brushes to easels.
One of the cool things I’ve learned was that Cass Art has a long-standing relationship with Pentagram, one of the world’s leading and award-winning design agencies. It seems that they have developed the graphic language of Cass Art, re-designed the store architecture to create light-filled, contemporary art spaces, and designed several of Cass Art’s own brand products.
