Though my stationery buying has continued unabated, this week I am taking a break from showing you mine. Instead I want to show you the William Morris Collection of notebooks from Paperblanks, as a new exhibition of the work of William Morris opens soon in London.

 

On 28 October, Two Temple Place (London WCR 3BD) is opening as the first London venue to specifically showcase publicly-owned art from UK regional collections. For its inaugural show, it is working in partnership with the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow (currently closed for refurbishment) to present William Morris: Story, Memory, Myth (runs from 28 October 2011 to 29 January 2012). The exhibition focuses on how William Morris told stories through pattern and poetry, and on the tales that were important to him: Arthurian legend, tales from Chaucer, Greek Myth, and Norse Saga.

But this post is about stationery, and you all know how well designs by William Morris lend themselves to reproduction as notebook covers, writing paper, box files etc. Even though I love the designs (‘Anemone’ being my favourite), I am a bit tired of seeing them reproduced on cheap paperback notebooks in every museum shop in the country. Or I was, until I saw the Paperblanks range that is …

 

 

I love the quality of Paperblanks journals, and these notebooks are a fitting tribute to Morris’s passion for bookbinding and his famous dictum ‘have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ – these are both.

According to Paperblanks:

 

The William Morris Collection takes note from how Morris embraced the ideal of craftspeople taking pride in their personal handiwork, as opposed to the dehumanizing onslaught of the industrial revolution. Morris sought inspiration for his famous repeating patterns from the natural world around him, mille-fleurs tapestries and early prints of herbs as well as the crispness and abundance of exquisite detail in medieval art. His evocations of antique florals and plants have become design classics gracing the decorative arts, including these journal covers.

 

My favourite is the ‘Honeysuckle’ design, but they are all wonderful, and even the much-reproduced ‘Strawberry Thief’ (‘Birds’) looks fresh in this new range. Who would like to gift me one? Only 76 days to Christmas you know!

Morris Collection by Paperblanks: Iris available in Micro £5.99 and Midi £11.99, Honeysuckle available in Mini £9.99 and Midi £11.99, Birds available in Mini £9.99 and Midi £11.99, Windrush available in Micro £5.99 and Midi £11.99.

 

This is not a sponsored post – Paperblanks sent me their press release, that’s all!

No link up this week, but if you would like one next week so you can ‘show me your stationery’ please let me know in the comments below or by email.