“That’s the nice thing about stationery. It’s about a feeling.”
Rounding the corner of Tower Street inLondon’stourist - frenzied Covent Garden , you ’ll derive across the peaceable haven ofChoosing Keeping , a red - brick storefront whose glass windows glisten as solar - powered light mill twirl . tone inside and you wo n’t be able to resist run your hands over roll of wrapping report resembling the finest brocade ; a vitrine occupy with every hue of watercolors and pastel ; and a collection of tailor-make - bound composition notebook that evoke cherished memory of back - to - school shopping .
While some visitor might catch sight of the workshop as they stumble down the road , tourists obsessed with all things well - made and utilitarian treat it as a name and address in its own right . After all , there ’s a certain thrill attached to obtaining a notebook computer or pen on one ’s travels .
“ People bribe letter paper thought they might use it during their holiday , when they ’ll at last have clip to sit down down and publish that letter , ” say Choosing keep owner Julia Jeuvell . “ We also have a mass of customers who will purchase a notebook and then — graphically or in Son — tell the account of their traveling . ”
Photo by Liz Seabrook, courtesy of Choosing Keeping
inspect a stationery workshop is an excellent way of life to get to live a city ’s local artisans , its ethnic mascots ( Hello Kitty inTokyo , Miffy inAmsterdam ) , its signature fabric ( leather pouches inFlorence ) , and its retail landscape . Plus , there ’s something to be suppose about owning a brand of pencil that you would n’t be able to find anywhere else — what Jeuvell calls “ the exotic nature of strange good that are otherwise available to you domestically . ”
If you chance yourself visiting one stationery store after the next during your traveling , you ’ll start to notice the same brand of pencil sharpener or mechanical pencil , even if it ’s a so - called “ specialty ” store . But not at Choosing Keeping , where each product is so distinct , you ’ll likely never have seen it before . That ’s because products undergo a tight choice process favor small , mostly family - possess businesses . Thus , item fastidiously source from all over the earth remain in their aboriginal packaging — i.e. lilliputian boxes of Kaweco ink cartridges that say “ Since 1883 Germany , ” or gummy eraser case in Japanese labels .
Originally opened in 2012 , the shop had tiny beginnings on Columbia Road , the East London street famous for its flush marketplace . It was a time when the sure-enough - fashioned was making a comeback , àla vinyl record . tight forrad to 2018 , when a new Choosing Keeping truly took up some space on Tower Street . The location is just the correct amount of talkative , allowing you to spend hours mull over that new notebook computer purchase without feeling like you ’re being watch .
Photo by Liz Seabrook, courtesy of Choosing Keeping
While the shop is an item to cross off the London to - do list , the store is a journey in itself . As a child , the French - born Jeuvell spent much of her life traveling . As a market keeper , she spend time visiting factories and family - owned commercial enterprise across the world : Germanyfor hokey Christmas paraphernalia;Osakafor nearly - out celluloid natural spring pens;Parisfor Antoinette Poisson dominoté ornamental papers .
For Jeuvell , letter paper is a lot like wine , with its own common sense of terroir . “ I care to retrieve the product is really a flavor of the hoi polloi , ” she says .
Take , for example , the shop’scollection of scissors grip , whose flat hold convey the same archival design as vintage eyewear . The gold and silver sweetheart come from the northerly Italian town of Premana , nearLake Como , and are one of Jeuvell ’s favorite examples of how environment inform manufacture .
Photo by Liz Seabrook, courtesy of Choosing Keeping
“ We went to see where [ they ] are made in Italy — this very modest hamlet that ’s kind of hooked to the mountains . It takes a great flock of time to get there , ” she explains . “ We were think , ‘ Why do they have this quite heavy diligence in this very firmly - to - get - to village?’Then they explained to us that , historically , there ’s been iron ore in this pot for M of year . ”
The spiffy shears , which today are made from sword , are just one of the products that express a trenchant locality . Customers are also bewitch with the shop ’s aluminium tins of gum , which have been produced in Genoa since the 1930s . It also help that it smell of almonds .
“ I just think , ‘ Ooh , the Italians , they had to make thing delicious , ’ ” Jeuvell says . “ [ The proprietor ] Mr. Balma , he ’s really the most socially responsible proprietor of a company that I ’ve touch in my 10 years of letter paper . He will give a prize every year to employees who have been there for 20 and 40 years . I ’m always shove off aside . How many company have employees that they can say have been there for that long ? ”
Photo by Liz Seabrook, courtesy of Choosing Keeping
The client base of Choosing Keeping is as eclectic as the wares on display . Prop styler and place clothes designer research the treasure treasure trove for unique objects to make flick magic . Jeuvell is always delighted when Nipponese customer enter the store and are surprised to find the corner , old - fashioned blade that have fallen out of favor in their own country . “ I had a Japanese client who said , ‘ It ’s Japan , but better than Japan , ’ " she says .
Then there ’s the class of customers that Jeuvell like to call the “ stationery swot . ” She explains , “ They ’re not flaneurs . They ’re really sniffing out technological products , commonly full of interrogative sentence , and just generally very enthusiastic . ”
The appeal applies to those who are on a pursual for perfectionism , people who like thingsjust so — how the penitentiary feel on the page , how one notebook computer will palpate fine , but the other wo n’t . “ It ’s sensual as well . That ’s the nice affair about letter paper , ” she say . “ It ’s about a feeling . ”
Stationery provides an chance to disconnect , and goes hand - in - hand with the resurgence of sake in journaling as a means to prioritise genial health . “ Stationery is now linked to ‘ First State - digitalising , or ‘ going analogue’—to get off screens and give precedence to one ’s internal feelings and meanderings , ” Jeuvell says . And when we ’re on vacation , ready to unwind , journals and sketchbooks help in that relaxation . “ It ’s no longer really a work tool , but in fact a tool of loafing and purposelessness — in a nice romantic and metic way . ”
When it derive to finding the best stationery abroad , Jeuvell indicate pinning neighborhoods that offer self-governing retail and , once there , seeking out domestic brands . “ I ’d always rather show a lowly notebook you might obtain in a peat bog - standard mom and pop shop in a diminished village in Italy , ” she read . “ When you ’re there , sometimes it ’s surd to see that it ’s particular . It takes taking it out of context to say , ‘ front at this — beautiful , simple , well - made . ’ ”
