Next week is a big one in the stationery world with Stationery Week celebrations kicking off on Monday 23 April until Sunday 29 April, and of course London Stationery Show on 24-25 April.
This is the seventh year of Stationery Week and the format is a little different than previous years with each day having been allocated a fun paper or writing product-led theme and managed by a leading stationery brand. The brands are: Nuco, Staedtler, Mustard, Santoro, Crafter’s Companion and A T Cross.
Each company will set challenges and competitions for stationery fans to join in with – they will be encouraged to share their own stationery projects and ideas, and to take part in competitions throughout the week to win lots of stationery goodies.
Mustard, a fashion-led stationery and desktop manufacturer is sponsoring next Thursday with the theme #workhappy. Ella Jinadu, digital content writer/manager says: “Colourful and quirky, our products are fashion-focused and wellbeing driven, specially designed to help inspire, motivate and add positivity to all aspects of your day. With National Stationery Week also supporting stationery as a positive power, it seemed like a match made in stationery heaven for Mustard to become involved. Mustard will be promoting #workhappyclub in full force, encouraging people to upload pictures onto Instagram demonstrating one thing they’ve done to improve their working day. Whether that’s spring-cleaning their desk or throwing away all those dried up pens, we want to know about it.”
Retail support for the week has already been pledged by Ryman, kikki-K, Monsoon, Fedrigoni, The Pen Company, Paper Tiger, Got2Jot, Noted in Style, Office Outlet, Martha Brook, Chroma Stationery, Herts FullStop, Ampersans, Mulberry Bush and Early Years Resources. Interested retailers should visit www.nationalstationeryweek.com and complete the Retailer Sign Up form on the ‘Get Involved’ page.
Off to London Stationery Show
Now in its eighth year, the London Stationery Show (24-25 April at London’s Business Design Centre) is a two-day stationery extravaganza featuring the UK’s largest selection of paper and writing products from around the world. This year’s event sees the biggest line-up of show features to date, including retailer workshops, live talks, creative stationery workshops and trends tours.
“This year marks the biggest show yet for the London Stationery Show, and our 7th consecutive year of growth – which says a lot about this dynamic industry,” says Vanessa Fortnam, marketing director of the show. “The show’s new programme of retailer workshops and trend tours have been very well received, with most places already pre-booked. Our live talks programme promises to be equally as busy, and with Reeves sponsoring our creative stationery workshops there’s a great excuse for retailers to splash some colour around and try out something new for their own stores!”
This year also sees the launch of a new Student Stationery Competition. Backed by three of the stationery industry’s most well-known brands; Paperchase, Caroline Gardner and Portico Design, each company has set a design brief and is offering a work placement prize for a lucky design student this summer. The Paper Library is also involved in spearheading the initiative. Design students across the UK will be asked to respond to the briefs and produce various products suitable for each brand. They will need to include details such as recommended paper use, provide any artwork required and suggest an RRP value.
