25 Oct 2013

on stationery


I have a stationery obsession, which is not surprising, as I am an editor; it's a recognised occupational hazard. I can't work with those standard pale yellow post-its; mine have to be vibrant colours, or sprigged with quirky prints or stamped with ironic sayings, or cut into impractical shapes.


Visiting M in Melbourne exposes me to many more retail opportunities to indulge my habit. I overdose at Kikki K, hyperventilate at the art gallery shop, and go into a blind haze of euphoria at those glorious independent stationery boutiques, especially the ones that evoke bygone European eras.  Beautifully designed notepads, cards, to do lists - I cannot and do not resist, and have the boxes and drawers full to prove it.

My latest tick is washi tape (as seen in the first photo). I don't do craft, which I believe is its primary purpose, but I do label bags of produce in the fridge:


Isn't that better? I have four rolls - now. I'm sure I'll acquire more.

Stationery fetishes can be adapted to the kitchen, as you can see. Another case in point: cupcake papers. A few years ago when cupcakes were at the height of their delirium, you needed cupcake papers, and not plain white ones, no! They need to be metallically elegant, beautifully baroque, retro-kitsch, or florally romantic. They need to be anything but plain.

One visit to M, I lost my head and came back with hundreds of the things - it was a bit of a joke by the end of my visit - but that quantity is not hard to achieve when they come in a pack of 50 (you do the maths). To ease any guilt, I split the packs with mum.


It's a shame sometimes to throw them away once you've eaten the cake, and I do get sad when a particularly lovely design is finished. But then, that's life for a cupcake paper. Use it once; that's it.

Writing lists - be it the weekend to do list or the grocery list - is never done on the back of a recycled envelope in my house. Not when there are specialist tools available!


Something like this makes walking around the grocery aisles and picking up toilet paper and rolled oats almost a joy. And what did William Morris say about making the beautiful practical, and the practical beautiful? There you go, his words of wisdom proven by a shopping list. Though I'm not sure that is what he had in mind.

Now, having moved on from the buzz of cupcakes papers and having enough post-its to last a very long time, I seem to have settled into paper napkins.


Yes, I'm aware some of these packets are still unopened... Pretty printed things; mostly, I noticed when taking this photo, I'm veering towards kitchenalia or colourful florals, some so delicately sweet they are almost perfumed. There's a design for every mood, meal and cup of tea. All to be used for wiping your hands and mouth, then crumpled up and thrown away. I'm sure they can't even be recycled once they have foodstuff on them.

And here is the quandary, the delicious little pickle that any fellow stationery obsessive will recognise: a beautiful shopping list, lovely napkin or just plain pretty stretch of tape is a thing of joy, but such a fleeting, impermanent one. To use it and bring colour and quirk to the most ordinary of daily tasks is such stationery's purpose in life. It is not meant to be forever. Use it up and you'll run out and never see it again. You could stockpile it and lock it away, but that negates the reason you got it; it's not the good crystal or heirloom silver, afterall. Or you could use cloth napkins, but you'd be using the same ones over and over, risking familiarity and boredom; plus you'd have to launder and iron them, and that's work. Or you could use an app on your smart-thingy, but would that elicit the same feeling as crossing off accomplishments from a colourful, well-designed piece of paper?

12 comments:

  1. You are a girl after my own heart... although I think I have less xo

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    1. lizzy, that's just incentive then to acquire some more!

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  2. I am a bit partial to lovely 'paper' things too e! I love your collection of paper napkins. I am sure you are familiar with Red Tractor Designs, I love their cards and uniquely Australian bits and pieces. Have a great week :)

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    1. yes, jane - i have a couple of the red tractor cards propped on my bookshelf, and i have a gorgeous teatowel with happy chooks hanging in my kitchen!

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  3. Oh what a good use for washi tape! I love your napkin collection and want to make a quilt out of them - is that wrong? Down with apps on smart thingys - we need to collect more things just because they are beautiful. xB

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    1. hey B - actually it does look like a patchwork quilt that pic, doesn't it?
      and i agree with you totally on surroundign ourselves with beautiful things - obviously!

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  4. You a label your celery? I love it! I now have a sudden urge to go to kikki.k at lunch and make cupcakes.

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    1. i label everything :-) well only because you can't see thru the stay-fresh produce bags. this way i can see at a glance (without opening the bags) what i have for dinner!
      and you know i will also encourage a kikki k trip...

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  5. Such a pretty collection E! I am also quite partial to pretty stationery.
    My favourite was a beautiful Italian embossed writing set given to me by a dear friend. It had a beautiful patterned gold and crimson edging. Which reminds me, I bought some fancy cup cake papers a while back, I must use them.

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    1. oooh, gold and crimson sounds so baroque, SB. a pleasure to use for the letter writer and receiver, i'm sure!
      yes, get those cupcake papers out. we have hundreds of the devils to get thru ;-)

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  6. What a fun post, introducing me to stationery items I wasn't familiar with - you make my obsession with post-it notes seem innocent ;-)

    The pretty paper napkins I think quite worthwhile, because they bring to mind my dear grandmother, who used to have little flowered paper hand towels for guests in her bathroom. And my mother-in-law, who had all sorts of patterns of paper napkins with various designs on them, adding fun to holiday or merely seasonal table settings. You are inspiring me to go out and spend some money on fleeting pleasures - but perhaps the memory of them will endure in my grandchildren's memories!

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    1. hello gretchenJ - what lovely memories about your grandmother (what a sweet touch!) and mother in law. my mum and i both do the fancy paper napkins at christmas time too.
      there's just too much lovely stuff out there to resist!

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