Stationery. It’s safe to say I’m obsessed. Growing up it was Lisa Frank’s trippy designs plastered over my school notebooks, and as I got older stores such as Paperchase and Kikki K became a place of wonderment for me, having to physically stop myself from buying out the shop! Looking back I slightly regret not studying Surface Design at Uni – as with my passion and background in illustration I feel that this could have been a window into the stationery design world. I would absolutely love to open my own homeware shop in the future, designing cards, prints and stationery to sell in store. 

I’ve been a fan of the online stationery store ‘Ohh Deer‘ for a while now. They have a really great collection of designs across cards, stationery and gift items such as mugs, pins, chocolate and even soap. Browsing their website earlier this month I came across ‘Papergang’ which is essentially Ohh Deer’s way of expressing a deep rooted obsession with papery goodness. As explained online, after you sign up you receive a monthly box filled with stationery and other paper products such as greeting cards, notebooks, desk accessories and art prints. I was sold. I signed up immediately, for £9.99 a month (which I really don’t think is too bad), and received my first Papergang package late last week!

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
To be honest I was blown away at the beautiful packaging of the subscription box. The illustrated sleeve with cut out word mark gave clues to what was inside, with this particular month’s box being designed by illustrator Nina Cosford. I was excited to open my package up and see what goodies lay inside.

INSIDE THE BOX:
On opening the box I was greeted by little ‘Drew’ (gettit?) – the Papergang mascot, who kindly introduced himself in the form of an adorable iron on patch. Content wise I was treated to a notebook, stickers, birthday card, and a to-do pad, all graced with Cosford’s beautiful designs. I was really happy with what was inside, and I definitely thought it was worth the money as if the items were going to be purchased individually they would have exceeding the cost of the box.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:
Initially I thought I’d order one box (as you can cancel any time) and see if I thought it was good value for the price I was paying. After receiving the box I am more than happy to pay £9.99 a month, and am rather excited to see what next month’s Papergang brings! I also popped over to the Ohh Deer website and went a bit card crazy, stocking up on cards galore.
A Papergang subscription would also make for a great gift, as there is an option to sign up for three, six or twelve months. Go check it out!