This is my personal essay written to make stationery fun again. I run a small stationery business and creative studio out of large living room.

I actually started selling journals, stickers, pens and cards in 2013. At the time, I enjoyed it. It was fun discovering new stationery shops, the niche products they sold and all. I was still in junior secondary school doing this and I was doing it as a hobby. A fun and creative way to make money.

Come 2025, I decided to go back to it. Doing something as a hobby and doing it for survival is so different. You can easily start to smell the desperation to sell from the latter and it’s no fun when you something you used to do for fun becomes something you do solely for survival.

Well, I decided to start designing my own notebooks. Fun right? Indeed. My notebook covers were boring plain ole black, brown or burgundy. It felt like I was allowing “minimalism” to put me in shackles.

For the new year, my goal is to make notebooks with more colors, illustrations and personality. You’re probably more likely to pickup a colorful notebook than a plain black one.