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That's how we believe you should feel about the things you buy.
We're intentional about the products we bring to our store, and we keep you in mind. We know a planner is your space of calm, a pen is part of a collection and sometimes, we just have to have those brush pens. Choosing and owning stationery is a joy and we know you're taking the time to make those decisions. We're here for it.
We're here for good things, good buying and cherishing what you own.
Magazine
Handwritten letters from famous artists
Letter writing is said to be a dying art, but in our age of emails and texts more people are going back to paper and develop a real love for handwritten correspondence. We listen for you some exciting and beautiful letters from artists and writers who inspired us.
- Love letters between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West
Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, both writers, met at a dinner party in 1922. For more than 18 years, they wrote about their lives, travels, worldly opportunities and love affairs.
“I am reduced to a thing that wants Virginia. I composed a beautiful letter to you in the sleepless nightmare hours of the night, and it has all gone: I just miss you, in a quite simple desperate human way. You, with all your un-dumb letters, would never write so elementary a phrase as that; perhaps you wouldn’t even feel it. And yet I believe you’ll be sensible of a little gap. But you’d clothe it in so exquisite a phrase that it would lose a little of its reality.” – Vita Sackville-West
“Look here Vita — throw over your man, and we’ll go to Hampton Court and dine on the river together and walk in the garden in the moonlight and come home late and have a bottle of wine and get tipsy, and I’ll tell you all the things I have in my head, millions, myriads — They won’t stir by day, only by dark on the river. Think of that. Throw over your man, I say, and come.” Virginia Woolf
2. Alexander Calder and Ellsworth Kelly
Alexander Calder and Ellsworth Kelly maintained their friendship with frequent correspondences. The two artists would send letters , illustrated notes, postcards about their personal lives, mutual admiration and work.
3. Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau
Picasso wrote this colourful illustrated letter to Cocteau upon hearing that he was ill.
4. Frida Khalo and Diego Rivera
Across their 27 years of relationship, Frida Khalo and Diego Rivera exchanged passionate and poetic letters. She wrote about her emotions first in an illustrated diary and then by letters.
“Diego.
Truth is, so great, that I wouldn’t like to speak, or sleep, or listen, or love. To feel myself trapped, with no fear of blood, outside time and magic, within your own fear, and your great anguish, and within the very beating of your heart. All this madness, if I asked it of you, I know, in your silence, there would be only confusion. I ask you for violence, in the nonsense, and you, you give me grace, your light and your warmth. I’d like to paint you, but there are no colors, because there are so many, in my confusion, the tangible form of my great love.” Frida Khalo
How to choose the perfect notebook?
At the Journal Shop, we want to make it easier for you to choose a notebook that is adapted to your needs. A notebook is a perfect instrument to record your thoughts, generate new ideas and be more organised. When picking a notebook, a lot of criteria has to be taken into consideration: size, material, cover, binding…
We hope you will find this guide helpful in choosing a notebook that you will enjoy using.
FOR SCHOOL
Taking notes at school or universities by hand can help you memorise and assimilate more quickly. By taking notes by hand, students get a deeper understanding of the class.
These beautiful Rhodiarama notebooks feature a velvet-smooth cover, authentic hand-stitched spine, and, of course, fantastic fountain pen friendly Rhodia paper. The slim size is perfect to carry in a backpack.
Why we love it …
The variety of colours allows you to assign a colour by subject ( Example: Biology= Green; Chemistry = Red; History= Blue …).
Colour-coding your notebooks can make it easier to organise your notes.
A great simple notebook from Stalogy with a “Gokanshi” cover, a type of paper with a unique texture and a distinct feel.
Why we love it …
The Stalogy notebook comes with a handy label that will help you with keeping track of your work.
FOR WORK
At the office, we are all using MD Paper notebooks because of the high-quality paper and the minimalistic cover.
MD Paper Notebooks open flat thanks to their thread-stitch binding and feature fountain pen ink friendly paper throughout the range. Recognising the importance of the quality of the paper used to record memories, thoughts, and ideas by notebook users, Midori spent years honing its paper in pursuit of comfortable writing, ink resistance and anti-transparency.
Why we love it …
The MD Notebook is our office favourite. High-quality paper with beautiful minimal design, what more can you ask for?
FOR THE ARTIST
To keep track of your creative process, a notebook is a useful companion.
If you are constantly doodling in your notebook or writing down your creative ideas, a notebook
Croquis sketchbook from Maruman Japan is ideal for sketching and drawing. The thick craft overprotects your pages inside.
FOR THE TRAVELER
While traveling, keeping a journal is a great way to write about your adventures, memories, expectations … You can also your travel journal as a scrapbook to illustrate your journey with museum tickets, postcards or polaroids.
Why we love it …
Traveler’s Notebook has redefined the way people journal and take notes, whether for travel or otherwise! You can mix and match inserts so your notebook is tailored to your journey! Whether you take it out on an adventure or write in your backyard, the Traveler’s Notebook ages with you.
Top Five Travel Quotes
'FOR ALL THE TRAVELERS WHO HAVE A FREE SPIRIT.'
TRAVELER'S Passport Notebook - Camel
Travel is a great thing. It's a great, big exciting world out there. When you travel you leave the familiar world you know and go on an adventure. You might have a good time, you might have a bad time but you'll definitely have a different time than you would have had if you stayed at home.
Whether it's the most exciting trip ever or the worst thing to happen to you since 'One Direction' broke up, some things are constant. It will feel strange waking up in a new room, the same food will taste different somehow, and you'll want to tell someone about something that happened.
If only there was a way to record your feelings and thoughts as you experience them...
TRAVELER'S Notebook // Brown
The Traveler's Journal is a great thing. Take it with you on your adventure and you have the perfect way to write about your trip. You get to capture your first vivid impression of people, places, and things, with the sand still in your hair or the ice still on your eyelashes.
TRAVELER'S Notebook // Refill 016: Pen Holder (M) Black
Here are 5 of our favourite travel quotes to inspire wanderlust and a need to see what's on the other side of the horizon. See you there!
‘The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page’ St. Augustine
‘Wherever you go, go with all your heart.’ Confucius.
‘To travel is to take a journey into yourself.’ Danny Kaye
‘One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.’ Henry Miller.
‘Not all those who wander are lost’ J.R.R Tolkien.
TRAVELER'S Notebook - Blue
(Bonus quote: It's about travel and a diary and it's very funny so we had to include it!)
‘I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.’ Oscar Wilde
Our store
The Journal Shop,
Boxpark, Unit 6,
Bethnal Green Road,
London, E1 6GY
Mon / Fri 11:00am - 7:00pm
Sat 10:00am - 7:00pm
Sun 12:00pm - 6:00pm
Chat with us:
020 8109 0918
