STYLISH STATIONERYSEPTEMBER 2019 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK 771 ‘The Master Plan’ notebook by A lice Scott,
£14, John Lewis & Partners ( johnlewis.com)
2 ‘Rasoplast’ black erasers by Staedtler,
£0.52 each, Cult Pens (cultpens.com)
3 ‘Folding Ruler ’ by A r tek, £16, Tate Shop
(shop.tate.org.uk) 4 ‘Elastic Ball’ in black, £7,
Hay (hay.dk) 5 ‘Architecture’ pencil case by
Cinqpoints, £14, Barbican (barbican.org.uk)
6 Corner-bound notebook, £6.50, Present
& Correct (presentandcorrect.com)
7 Handmade corian and brass calligraphy
pen, £135, Tom’s Studio (tomsstudio.co.uk)
8 ‘Shorty’ pencil by Worther, £8.50,
Counter-Print (counter-print.co.uk)
9 ‘Blackwing’ pencil by Palomino, £36 for 12,
Twentytwentyone (twentytwentyone.com)Our name is a homage to Lewis Carroll’s quote in
Through the Looking-Glass: ‘Why, sometimes I’ve
believed as many as six impossible things before
breakfast.‘ It’s a loose interpretation, but these
words remind us to create stationery that makes
everyday tasks a little easier.
Sustainability means everything to us. We create
by hand using sustainable methods of printing
and traditional hot-foil blocking.
The most testing part of the business is creating our
largest orders by hand. But we do what we do out
of our passion for stationery, so no complaints!
We recently visited Japan in collaboration with
Tokyo lifestyle store Think of Things, recreating
the ’Sketch Book’ by Kokuyo 60 years after its
original release. We printed it with Risograph ink
and used traditional bookbinding techniques for
the hardcovers. We also created a limited edition
‘Think of Things To Do’ notepad to commemorate
the collaboration.
Our next plan is to open a shop – by appointment
only – in our Highbury studio this year, to give our
customers a more in-depth look into our making
process. We’d love to host regular workshops too
(beforebreakfast.london).I’ve been obsessed with stationery since I was a
child – my parents are architects so there was
always fun paper and pens in the house.
Having worked as a graphic designer for 10
years, I wanted to develop a notebook that was
beautifully made, which would lay flat (thanks to
proper binding) and use good-quality papers.
I knew the aesthetic had to be gender-neutral
and understated, but with a quality you can feel.
Our materials are sourced mostly in Britain and
occasionally from Japan and Germany. We pass
on the story of how each item is made, working
closely with and regularly visiting each factory.
We produce small batches and as each sells out,
create new products and expand the range. Our
aim is that nothing goes to waste and we price
products fairly, according to the cost price.
2020 is such a great number to play around with
from a typographic point of view, so it’s an
exciting year to be a graphic designer! We’ll be
working with an organisation called Provenance
to produce a special diary. They track every step,
from the tree in the FSC-certified forest to the end
product, using blockchain technology
(markandfold.com).The business was born from a personal quest for
letterpress stationery. I found an old printer online
and began designing stationery in my shed. The
demand increased month on month with requests
from friends, then friends of friends...
People love letterpress for its idiosyncratic
nature. The indentation of the type in the paper
and the one-off nature of each print make it so
markedly different from digital print.
Our while-you-wait service is very popular.
We developed the idea from a Liberty pop-up,
and it’s unique; we have an unusual letterpress
printer that offers us a faster type-setting
technique, which can be employed for a single
print, rather than a run of 100.
Sometimes clients are dumbfounded by choice.
We help them choose something personal that
will resonate with the card recipient – perhaps a
word or a catchphrase they say. Some are so
good they join our permanent collection.
We favour GF Smith and Fabriano papers for our
products. Both are sustainably sourced and soft
enough to take the impression. We also print on
vintage papers: maps, music sheets and old letters
(marbyandelm.com).MONO BLOCK
Clear and precise thinking starts
here – simple stationery in black
and white is the new order123457986WORDS: CAT OLLEY PHOTOGRAPHS: LUCKY IF SHARP
BEFORE BREAKFAST
Nicki Shen talks about her studio,
which specialises in eco-friendly
Japanese Riso soy inkMARBY & ELM
Founder Eleanor Tattersfield
discusses the art and joy of
working with letterpressMARK + FOLD
Designer Amy Cooper-Wright
describes how she creates products
with supply chain transparencyTHE STATIONERS TO KNOW