Hoarding stationery is the best kind of hoarding
Expand your bounty with this guide to (more) stationery shopping
The digital age was supposed to herald the end of paper, but let’s face it: the sweet vanilla notes of paper (thanks to the presence of a chemical compound called lignin) can act as a balm to anxious minds. Meditation requires you to sit still and stop mentally scrolling through Zomato, but gazing at the stash we’ve hoarded through shameless stationery shopping is a simpler way to spend time with ourselves.
The dictionary — and you can bet we have three of these — calls this papyrophilia, an obsession with stationery. Us afflicted souls insist on first test-scribbling a new pen on old paper, before soiling a precious hand-bound diary, as 83% of respondents to a recent Instagram poll admitted to.
Our drawers groan with the weight of empty notebooks lugged back from travels. And no matter how many times minimalism is declared a trend, the ten-year-old in us gets excited to bring home just one more fancy highlighter when stationery shopping. Like Tweak readers Niri Jasuja and Priyali Gadia, whose collections date back a few decades.
The health benefits of retail therapy have been documented by science, so we consider this stationery shopping guide to gorgeous stationery just what the doctor ordered.
Welcome to stationery shopping with Tweak
Investing in a motivational planner in January is papyrophilia law, whether or not your best laid plans come undone by February.
Book lovers have developed a reputation for getting lost in their own worlds, and while the calendar app on your phone is more functional, this desk calendar from The Ink Calendar is for the soul.
For your inner perfectionist, these organisers are the cutest way to keep the clutter off your workspace.
If you’re looking for ways to overcome procrastination, consider creating a vision board. Really settle into it and just see what comes up, a collaboration between the present you and future you.
To keep your giant stack of notebooks from toppling over, we suggest adding this set of bookends to your stationery shopping list. They also make excellent gifts for bookworm friends.
Stickers are no longer the preserve of toddlers, especially if you’ve recently begun journaling.
Are you gripped by an insatiable need to personalise all the items you scored on your latest stationery shopping binge? We’ve got you covered.
Not sure what this says about us (OK, we’re stationery hoarders) but the Tweak team was very excited about these glue pens.
We leave you with a final note: Engaging in just 20 minutes of writing could help aid physical healing, according to one New Zealand study. That’s as good a reason as any to stop waiting for some shubh mahurat to crack open the collection you’ve built over years of stationery shopping and let those creative juices flow.
With inputs from Ayushi Saraf