My school years may already be behind me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get excited about back to school season.
There’s something so inspiring about this time of the year. The good memories of that blissful summer still linger on, but the new season brings about a new burst of energy and the promise of a new beginning. There’s still so much time to crush all your goals and resolutions.
September is basically the new January.
And what better way to signal this new beginning than with some beautiful, crisp, minimal stationery?
If you share my (admittedly, often unhealthy) obsession with the relationship between new beginnings and new stationery, hope you’ll like this list. It features unique, niche brands that put a great emphasis on minimal design, quality materials, and functionality.
And, if you have way more willpower than me and are able to resist the back to school temptations, just bookmark this until the end of December for some arguably more justifiable New Year stationery shopping.
7 stylish minimal stationery brands
Appointed
Appointed is an American-made brand of beautifully designed stationery and desktop products. They proudly follow the design ethos of crafting stylish, luxurious, but at the same time practical and sustainable goods. Their slogan is “Beautiful tools to foster organization, productivity, and creativity“. The products can also be customized by a logo or monogram – it’s just the kind of customer experience I can appreciate so much.
La Petite Papeterie Française
This beautiful French brand joins the Slow Movement with their Slow Office manifesto – creating an office environment that celebrates slowing down and wellbeing. According to their ethos, creativity and productivity cannot be rushed – they should be nurtured by given the time they deserve. And a calm, stylish work environment with beautiful, functional products, soft colors, and inspiring items do exactly that. Quality, design, functionality, but also environment-friendly production and transparency stand at the center of their brand message and they are apparent in their product portfolio as well.
Cloth & Paper
Cloth & Paper is a US-based brand offering luxurious minimal design stationery and various organizational tools from leather planners to unique dividers, sticky notes, and inserts. Their beautifully styled accessories are perfect to customize a planner. They also have a monthly subscription service with a stationery box and a writing tool box for anyone who’d like to have new stationery inspiration every month.
Mark + Fold
It’s so easy to fall in love with Mark + Fold’s design as well as their business ethos. Their products are handmade, minimal, modern, elegant, and use the highest-quality materials available (also, they only use responsibly sourced paper either from recycled pulp or renewable forests). They create unique, limited edition designs on a small scale with special techniques. As they state: “We feel that a notebook belongs to its user, so as designers we exercise restraint and leave things as ‘blank’ as possible, letting the materials speak for themselves.” Stunning designs, beautifully executed.
In Haus Press
In Haus Press is a boutique design studio in San Francisco that creates unique, stylish minimal greeting cards and social stationery. Every single one of their creation has the perfect clean, minimal aesthetic. They also feature beautiful, original typography, and are printed on an antique printing press celebrating the hundreds of years old tradition of letterpress printing. It’s the perfect mixture of old craftsmanship and modern design.
ITO Bindery
Another stunningly minimal Japanese stationery brand, this one specializes in drawing pads and memo blocks. (Who knew memo blocks could be so stylish?) I especially love the all black versions (surprise), but you cannot go wrong with the white or kraft versions either. The base is made of recycled cardboard, another bonus point.
Quill London
Quill London is both an online shop stacking the most beautiful minimal stationery and a standalone brand and calligraphy studio. Their stationery line has a clean, minimal aesthetic and features stunning calligraphy (the items can also be personalized). Besides the office products, wedding or other special event stationery is also available. And if you’re interested in learning calligraphy yourself (and if you’re based in London), check out their special workshops.
If this list wasn’t enough or you’d like to find additional brands, check out these online stationery shops – they stock almost all the above brands, and then some more:
Do you have any favorite brands to add to this list?
