Each Saturday we feature a fun web shop. This week: Likestationery

Ohhh, even more wonderful stuff for those of us who simply adore paper.

It takes one to know one, and owner Sanne Dirkzwager knows how to appreciate a pretty notepad or two.

How and why did you get started?

“In april of 2011 I came up with the idea to start a web shop. I have so many ideas in my job as a graphic designer, conceptual thinker, art director and stylist. The web shop felt like a great new path to take, it’s a bit of an extension of the entire scope of the ideas I have.”

What else do you get up to in daily life?

“I enjoy tackling different things, that feed into each other. Just as long as I can think up and make stuff. I am a freelance graphic designer with a wide variety of different assignments. Food packaging, websites, embroidery designs, cookbooks, magazines, the television leader of Boer zoekt Vrouw (an immensely popular Dutch dating show for farmers), I design and/or develop it all. Aside from that I assist Margriet Nannings with fashion buying for her stores and I manage all PR and social media activity. And I am the mother of two boys.”

What creative ‘rules’ matter to you?

“It has to have a pretty color, I don’t really like primary colors, so you won’t find many of those in my house or my work. But you will find ‘dusty’ colors, combined with fresh or fluorescent shades.”

What is it that draws you to stationery?

“I just love having pretty things around me, including the stuff on my desk. A pretty notepad, or a beautiful pen. I never actually use the prettiest notepads, because I feel that’d be a waste. I am more of a collector, so I’m thrilled that I can do that for my shop now.”

www.likestationery.com

Oooh, this seems like such a wonderful job to me: being hired to make beautiful blackboard drawings, just like our teacher in school (we are talking about the pre-IWD-age). Dana manages to earn a pretty good living doing just that in New York. Big brands, chain stores and even Oprah have asked her for her beautiful chalk texts. How clever when you can think of something – rather simple – and invent a brand new job, and that everyone is queuing up to hire you.

www.danatanamachi.com

 Posted by: Astrid

The past year we’ve worked really hard putting together the first Flow card collection. And oh miracle of miracles, now we have a whole display filled with Flow cards. We’ve called them Flow Favourites and that’s exactly what they are: favourite designs by our favourite designers worldwide. There are cards by Elisandra, who also made our December stamps (www.elisandraillustrations.wordpress.com), by Natascha Boel who made our wonderful Flow Christmas stationery (www.nataschaboel.nl), by Marenthe (www.popje.com), our very own favourite cutting-artist Geertje Aalders (www.kameelvooralveel.nl) and much more.

We have provided special treatment with each card, like a card with stickers you can take out, others including glitter, glass film, a punch or rounded corners. At the bottom of the display are the special cards: a coloring plate card, a pop-up card and even a complete garland you can send. This weekend the cards will be introduced at an important fair for shops: the paperandconvenience show in Den Bosch. We are very excited to find out how people will respond, we hope the Flow Favourites will be readily available starting April! We’ll keep you posted! Posted by: Irene

In the current Flow we feature the last in our series of collection boxes. This time around illustrator Caroline Ellerbeck filled it with figures from her coloring fairytales. What’s great is she’s bringing the box to life even further on her blog www.carolineellerbeck.nl (see pic). Next issue we are starting another nice new section on the final page: the 365-day-project of… (we know, there are 366 days in this year, but hey, that’s what they’re called.) Posted by: Jocelyn

No need for a plug, nor a helpdesk, and beautiful, slightly wonky letters, that aren’t all equally defined: the typewriter. A beautiful piece of mechanic engineering and still easy to come by at a reasonable price on Marktplaats. That’s why in the next Flow we’ll feature an ode to the typewriter.

While I was clearing out my inbox I came across this video that features Flow. Fun! Posted by: Irene

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Late last year (aka last week) I received THE tip from Martha at www.etsy.nl. She tweeted that there really are typewriters you can use to tweet. At first I thought it was a joke, but now I am convinced, they really do exist! Typewriters you can hook up to your computer or your iPad! Here’s a video on how that works:

http://www.usbtypewriter.com/.

And of course I have a new wish list now. While the holidays are just behind us and my birthday isn’t until June…. Oh, I want it, I want it, I want it! Posted by: Irene

On a day like today there really is only one thing you can do: batten down the hatches, cuddle up with a good book, poke up the fire and play this song on your record player. Posted by: Astrid