Papergang is a monthly stationery subscription box brought to you by Ohh Deer, which sells lovely illustrated stationery supplies. Who doesn’t enjoy stationary? Everyone should have a stash of attractive notebooks, tape, stickers etc. and Papergang is a great way to expand your collection.
Each month features a different artist and theme, and this month’s designs are from Maddy Gale, a gardener and photographer. It’s not surprising to see her design features plants!
The design on the box sleeve is quite dark and dense, and features petals, leaves, and flowers. (Sorry, this picture is a bit overexposed! The background colour is actually black,) The box contents are wrapped in tissue paper, in this case a dark green. It was rather torn (you’ll see why soon!) but it was still lovely to unwrap.
A4ish notebook.
This is a softcover stapled book in the same design as the box sleeve. As you can see, it says ‘notes’ on the front.
The pages aren’t really notebook-like, instead they are arranged rather like a planner or diary. There’s space for the date, task list and appointments, a page of notes, plus even a doodle space.
A6 notepad.
This is a pad of tear-off pages, designed for making lists. Each line has a cute little daisy, the same daisy design as on the main box sleeve and notebook. It’s an attractive light blue colour, which is very useful for writing purposes, but somewhat incongruous given the overall dark theme of everything else.
Brass pen.
You may have noticed this in the picture above! This is a lovely pen, shaped like a bamboo stalk, and this shape is very pleasing to hold. It feels heavy and substantial. It’s also refillable with regular ballpoint refills, and the lid screws securely on to the body. The fabulous heaviness of this pen is the reason the inner tissue wrapping got torn up. Doesn’t matter, the pen is awesome.
Wooden ruler.
There’s no indication what type of wood this is, but it’s pretty lightweight and the dark colour is a stain. It looks pretty, though the 13cm measurement is rather unusual. Small rulers are usually 15cm/6”, so this is very compact indeed.
Giftwrap.
This is a sheet of wrapping paper, folded of course, to fit in the box. Again, it’s the same pattern is the notebook and box sleeve. The quality is good, and it’s made from pleasingly thick recycled paper. On the right is the calendar page that is always included with every Papergang box. You could put it on the fridge or in your planner, but it’s not good quality; the pattern is poorly reproduced, but as it doesn’t have any value assigned to it it doesn’t matter.
Price list and menu booklet.
As always, it contains an interview about the designer, though it’s more about gardening than photography.
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Well, in contrast to last month’s box, I like this one. There’s a good selection of items, the pen is gorgeous, and the quality is pleasing.
I do have some reservations, though it’s more about the design. I like the dark floral/leaf pattern, but I think it’s rather heavy to use over a large area. The interest is actually in the details of the little flowers and leaves. When there’s too much of it you miss how lovely they actually are. For a smaller space (it’s available as a phone wallpaper) it looks wonderful. Except for the notepad, which is great but doesn’t quite fit in visually, everything uses this identical pattern. Looking at previous boxes, there seems to be a little more variety with the use of the main theme. However this may because the designer only provided this single pattern. I think the creators of the actual stationery items could have been a little more original in how they used it.
There are some oddities, such as the strangely tiny ruler and the visually slightly jarring notepad. It would have been nice to include some ribbon or other embellishment to go with the gift wrap, because I think it would need something very light to complement the design.
I would also have liked the notebook to be an actual notebook, rather than a planner in disguise. The soft cover and staple binding give it the feeling of an exercise book. In the booklet interview, the designer says her favourite kind of notebook is one with blank on one side and lines on the other. As it happens, this is the kind of notebook design in the April box, and I agree that it’s incredibly useful and versatile. If this had been the page design for this notebook it would have tied in very cleverly and personally with the designer.
Nitpicking aside, this is still pretty great, and absolutely a vast improvement on last month! The pen is absolutely the standout item this month. Everything is usable and useful, the value is excellent, and even if visually it’s a bit one-note, I do love useful things! Papergang is definitely back on form this month.
(Did I mention how much I love the pen?)
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Quick blurb and pricing from the website:
A monthly subscription costs £10.95 plus £2.95 UK P+P
Papergang is Ohh Deer’s way of expressing a deep rooted obsession with papery goodness.
Each month you will receive a box filled with brilliant stationery. The product selection will vary but will include the likes of: greeting cards, notebooks, desk accessories and art prints.
You will never get a repeat box; each month will be designed with an artist and a theme so all of your new accessories make a lovely family.
Almost all products will be exclusive to Papergang for a period of time before it goes on sale in Ohh Deer’s shop.
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A different version of this review was first published on allsubscriptionboxes.co.uk.
