Papergang – September 2018

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 box comes with a brightly illustrated sleeve, which gives you an idea of the theme. I love all the positive and supportive self-care sentiments and decorations!

Everything is wrapped up in tissue paper, rather like a present. It makes it even more fun to open!

Here’s the menu booklet.

You’ve got a list of the contents, with RRPs.

There’s also an interview with this month’s designer, Gemma Correll. If you google her name you’ll find tons of fantastic illustrations and designs.

Here is the A4ish notebook. It’s got a soft cover, and is the same picture as the menu booklet, along with a cheerful little sentence.

The inside pages are faintly lined, with a little space in the top right corner for the date.

This is the A5 notepad of tear-off To Do list sheets.

A4 Riso Print.

At first I thought this was a poster, but it’s actually the Academic Wall Planner.

On the other side the months from September to August are printed. It’s very big, almost A1 size, and the lines are quite lightly printed, rather like the notebook.

This is the Sticker Pack, four little sheets of illustrated stickers. They are called Self Care Reward Stickers, with little pictures and prizes.

This month’s calendar page is much nicer than usual, the print quality is good and I love the space to add ‘good things coming up’!

Finally, a little extra bonus, a teapig teabag!

The To Do notepad is really nice. I make lists all the time, and the colourful rainbow gives it a really cheery look.

I’m not so keen on an academic planner. It seems a little niche, it’s very big, and because it’s been folded it looks messy with all the creases. The calendar itself is printed so faintly that it’s virtually impossible to see from any distance. The picture on the back (the same as the notebook) just isn’t interesting enough to work for such a large size if you wanted to use it as a poster, and again, the creases spoil it.

It’s nice the print is flat, but again the design is overly simple. The sentiment is great, and it would look quite cute on a badge or sticky notes or something, but again, I don’t find it interesting or detailed enough for the size. I also think that it’s not necessary to include two items that take up space on the wall.

The notebook is nice. It would lovely to use as a positive thoughts journal!

I really like the artist, Gemma Correll, and I’ve seen her designs before. The doodles on the box sleeve are actually from another set of stickers you can buy elsewhere. The colours and details are fantastic, and I love the idea of being positive about small accomplishments. So I’m rather disappointed that none of the designs, or even any similar ones, are on the stationery in the box. Even the stickers are not as fun as I was hoping. There’s a difference between a sticker that says ‘did my best’ with a rainbow star,  and one of a shield that says ‘decent’. Looking at her other work, it’s all much more detailed and thoughtful than anything here. I really don’t think this shows what she can produce at all.

I feel quite sad about it, because there are certainly nice items, and the quality of the notebooks is good. I think the box sleeve is simply wonderful, and I was really looking forward to some fabulously uplifting and colourful things inside. But seeing the same big yellow smiling blob on no fewer than three things, including the menu booklet, made it all feel rather lazy. It seems that when Papergang works with established artists (like in the May box) the designs are pretty basic compared to their usual work, even though the sleeves aren’t.