Papergang – January 2019

New stationary is always a lovely treat, and Papergang is a great way to increase your stash of lovely paper and stationery items! Papergang works with a different artist each month to produce a range of items featuring their work. A monthly subscription costs £10.95 + 2.95 p+p.

The sleeve of the flat box reflects the design of the month, and it covers the box itself. This looks like some beautiful hand-drawn nature illustrations!

The stationery inside is wrapped in tissue, rather like a present.

There’s that pattern again!

On the left is their little booklet.

You’ve got a menu with the RRPs of each item.

The theme this month is Our Natural Earth. Everyone is aware of the importance of environments responsibility so this is a wonderful theme to focus on.

There are beautiful illustration details.

This is the Sustainable Living Chart on the back of the sleeve, perfect to cut out and put on the fridge.

You can put this Conscious Shopping List right next to it!

Here is the A4 Lined Notebook, again with the illustration on the cover. It’s got ‘Unearth Your Ideas’ on the cover which is a lovely image.

Inside is plain lined paper. The notebook itself has a soft cover and is quite slim, so would fit easily in a bag or briefcase.

A very handy A6 Notepad. Put it by the phone, kitchen counter, anywhere it might come in useful for jotting things down.

These are Two A4 Riso Art Prints.

There isn’t anything about the designers of this month’s box, so  I don’t know if they are new designs or if they use old nature illustrations. They’re printed on moderately thick paper, and would be suitable for framing.

Finally, these beautiful Brass Paper Scissors. They have lovely clean lines and are very sharp!

Now, for the most part I love this month’s box. The notebook and pad are useful and attractive, and I think the scissors are just gorgeous.

As for the prints, I adore the vintage/antique designs, but the one thing I really don’t like is the colours. I appreciate that the neon pink and turquoise fits in with the overall purply colour scheme of the box. But to be honest, they are not colours that would go anywhere in my home, or would I want to them there. They remind me more than anything of Lego Friends. If these had been in black and white or sepia, or even a vintage rose, I would have immediately rushed out to buy frames and put them on the wall, because I adore illustration, and these are beautiful. But I find the colours garish, and I think they don’t suit the illustrations at all.

Oddly enough, the beautiful brass scissors also don’t fit with the purpleish theme, so if they’d made the prints to match the scissors they would have been perfect!

But I love the rest of the items.

The standout is absolutely the scissors! The lines of the design are simple and very attractive, and the brass makes a wonderful change from boring stainless steel.

Despite the squared off edges of the scissors, the plastic lining of the finger and thumb holes make them comfortable to use, and they are properly sharp! Conveniently they can be used by both left and right hands.

I’m going to make sure these are only for me to use, as they’re far too nice to share with my family. It’s unusual to see something that is such a perfect mix of practicality and design aesthetic, and I think this is the nicest thing I’ve ever received from Papergang!