The Little Things We Keep Around

I have a slightly strange relationship with stationery.

I will happily spend twenty minutes choosing between two notebooks that are, objectively, almost identical.

I will buy a new pen even though I have six perfectly good ones sitting on my desk.

And I will absolutely keep a tiny piece of paper because someone wrote something nice on it.

I don't think I'm the only one.

There is something about little things that makes them surprisingly difficult to throw away.

A bookmark from a book you read years ago.
A shopping list with someone's handwriting on it.
A note stuck to your desk that says don't forget — although, at this point, you have no idea what you were supposed to remember.

Maybe it's because these things quietly become part of our lives.

That's probably what I like most about making stationery.

It isn't really about the notebook itself.

It's about what eventually ends up inside it.

Someone's plans for the next year.

A list of things they need to get done.

A terrible first attempt at drawing something.

A business idea they've been too scared to tell anyone about.

A page full of thoughts written at 2 a.m.

Or absolutely nothing important at all.

And honestly, I like that last one too.

Not everything has to be productive.

Sometimes you just want a nice notebook because you like how it looks on your desk.

Sometimes you want a bookmark because your current one is a random receipt you've been using for six months.

Sometimes you see something and think, this would make such a nice little gift for her.

That's where Amateur Pen comes in.

I don't want everything we make to feel overly precious or too perfect to use.

I want you to actually write in the notebook.

Fold the page.

Make a mistake.

Cross something out.

Use the last page for a completely ridiculous list.

Give it to someone.

Take it to work.

Leave it beside your bed.

Let it become yours.

Because, for me, that's when stationery becomes special — when it stops looking new.

There are already so many beautiful things in the world that we don't need to add more things that sit untouched on a shelf.

I'd much rather make something that gets a little messy.

Something that travels with you.

Something that ends up with coffee stains on it.

Something that, a few years from now, makes you think,

Oh. I remember this.

And maybe that's a slightly silly reason to make paper goods.

But it's a reason I really like.

So we're going to keep making them.

Some will be practical.
Some will be pretty.
Some will probably be a little unnecessary.

But hopefully, they'll all give you a small reason to put something on paper.

And if nothing else, they'll give you an excuse to buy another notebook.

I fully support that.

— Deepika
Amateur Pen ♡