A Nostalgic Walk Down Memory Lane
My most precious possessions are stacks of letters I’ve saved before emails and instant messaging waltzed in and crumpled the fine art of letter writing. There are letters written by my grandfather from three decades ago, in his definitive blue ink scrawl, gently encouraging and sometimes admonishing. Then, there are those from my best friend, who moved to the west when we were in middle school, speaking of a wondrous life in her delicate, cursive lettering. And scores of my illegible scrawls on aerograms mailed to my mother when she was on a holiday during my sweltering summer holidays, whining about boredom and unfinished school projects.
The Shift to Sustainable Stationery
While I gave up writing long letters a while ago, my love for stationery prevails. A couple of moons ago, I designed India-inspired sustainable stationery, and my love for it continues long after the project got over. However, how sustainable is stationery? In 2018, a staggering 422 million metric tons of paper was consumed globally. The highest per capita consumption of paper globally is in North America, amounting to 215 kilograms (474 pounds) per person. While recycled fiber is being used in paper products, when it comes to printing and writing paper, the global average is minuscule with only 8% of recycled content being used.
Eco-Friendly Options to Consider
To keep your love for writing green, we’ve picked a bunch of stationery that lets you sign off with flair while being environmentally friendly. My proudest possession in school was a Sheaffer fountain pen that glided over my page beautifully and made my handwriting sparkle. The right eco-friendly pen should be a joy to write with, without post-use guilt. Some good options across price points include the vintage-styled Zenzoi bamboo fountain pen made from bamboo, with a German-made nib. For inks, consider French ink-making company J. Herbin’s water-based, non-toxic natural inks. Some of these inks have flecks of silver and gold, while others are scented with lavender and rose hydrosols sourced from Grasse, the perfume capital.
Pencils have also been a part of my annotating endeavors. I love plantable pencils such as Sprout, which when whittled down to tiny stubs can be sowed in soil. Sprouting fragrant herbs, pretty flowers, flavorsome vegetables, and even spruce trees, these pencils are made from sustainable wood. My personal collection is dominated by recycled newspaper pencils that are tree-free. For a unique scribbling companion, Fabula’s organic pencil is made from recycled tea, coffee, and flowers, with a seed-end that you can pop in a flower pot. Even the shavings are biodegradable.
Journals are perhaps my single-largest stationery expenditure. Paperage’s hardcover 160-page journals are made from 100% post-consumer waste. Canada-based Ecojot has lovely themed journals—think Frida and U.S. city journals—made entirely from old-waste paper and uses vegetable-based inks and glues. You can get lovely socially and environmentally conscious journals, notebooks, and more, from PooPooPaper made from recycled, pong-free cow, elephant, horse, and donkey feces.
When it comes to cards, mail, and wrapping paper, I usually wrap gifts in old newspapers and tie them with twine, or use recycled kraft paper bags which I decorate with block prints. Else, you can pick up lovely herb and plant seed paper made from completely recycled ingredients and speckled with non-invasive, non-GMO seeds. For writing paper, the legacy British brand Smythson’s textured bespoke letter-writing collection is made from FSC-certified paper, and 98% of the inks are water-soluble and solvent-free.
