Designer Anya Hindmarch is one stationery devotee and she’s just launched her latest stationery store and collection in collaboration with the Peanuts comic strip but, with prices starting at £95 for bookmarks and £125 for a 6in ruler through to £465 for an A4 document case and a massive £750 for a tote bag, it’s all beyond the average student budget.
However, the launch has caught the eye of The Sunday Times, which declared on Sunday, August 25, that the pencil case has become autumn’s “hottest fashion accessory” – indeed, there’s a waiting list for all 24 items in Anya’s collection featuring classic characters Snoopy and Woodstock.
The designer said: “September will always feel like the start of a new year to me – the perfect time for new stationery. Our stationery stores are now a September Village Hall highlight, the perfect way to herald a new back-to-school year.”
Such is her love of stationery that there’s even a bestselling room diffuser which smells of pencil shavings, with Anya telling the newspaper: “It’s delicious. One sniff and I immediately think of a new term, a new start, a new school satchel.”
And the smell will be part of the brand’s pop-up outlet in London’s Pont Street this week, with others planned for Liberty and Moda Operandi, with the spaces transformed into an American-style classroom complete with yellow school bus outside, and the range including the £320 pencil case on sale within – the paper claimed there are items such as pencil sharpeners for a fiver too, but they don’t appear on the Anya Hindmarch website.
Sticking with the stationery theme, Anya also offers a Tipp-Ex charm at £195 and Pritt Stick pencil case at £295 plus a Stabilo Boss highlighter one along with coin purse charm at the same price, while the Uhu glue pencil case is a mere £320.
Despite the prices stationery spin-offs such as this one allow brands like Hindmarch’s to reach a broader range of customers, and Anya told the paper: “A bit like a lipstick in Chanel, it’s the entry level at which many customers will first access your brand.”
To back up its claim that “stationery has never been so chic” with everyone wanting to go back to school now, the paper said it began with British heritage stationery brand Smythson entering the luxury fashion sphere two decades ago, adding: “Stationery that serves as an extension of our wardrobes and, indeed, our personalities has become more commonplace, almost a must-have offering for luxury fashion brands. Accordingly, the online retailer Net-a-Porter now has a stationery category listed alongside accessories, while brands such as Celine, Dior and Aspinal offer notepads alongside their shoes and handbags.”
It also mentioned the collaborations between Smythson and swimwear label Hunza G, and Papier’s collections with the likes of House Of Hackney and designer Reijna Pyo.
Papier founder and CEO Taymoor Atighetchi says his brands success is down to millennials wanting a break from their online lives, with the academic planner a favourite for Gen Z customers.
He told the paper: “Stationery has evolved from a functional tool into a personal style statement. The notebook is now an accessory that lets you express your style and aesthetic just as you would through your jewellery.”
