There is something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery, said Charles Dickens. And it’s a sentiment we share. We don’t know what it is about stationery, but it’s an obsession we kind of enjoy. Every country we’ve travelled to and every flea market we’ve visited, we’ve always returned with bags full of stationery of every kind – books, pens, postcards, post-its, pencils, erasers, scissors, envelopes, bookmarks, stickers, stamps, you name it, we have it.

It’s hard to explain the thrill, but stationery shopping for us has always been a fulfilling experience.

For us, these are little pieces of happiness. We love the idea of handwritten letters, of how a blank, crisp sheet is ours to own, waiting to be filled with words, dreams and aspirations. It’s almost like adding our own story to paper, in our own handwriting, an organic experience of sorts. Tangible, even. And then there’s that guilty pleasure of sealing envelopes with wax-stamps or personalized stamps. Think about it. No text or email has beaten the heartfelt smile you’ve experienced finding an old, tattered handwritten letter. Or a greeting card with a note just for you.

And then there’s the joy of choosing from an array of stationery you own. But there’s also the dilemma of which one to use, because sometimes these pretties are insanely nice to be used. It’s as if you want to collect them all, hoard them in a safe place and look at them time and again and just feel happy.

In a hurried world, writing on paper is liberating. Because it lets you savour the moment, the words, the thoughts. You pour your heart out on that piece of paper and bundle it with emotions. And the most beautiful part is that it’s flawed, be it the curve of your alphabets or the way you dot your ‘i’, it’s these imperfections that make it even more real. It's all you. It’s something you can enjoy at your time, your pace and share it with the ones you love most. Because you’re giving them an irreplaceable part of your life – your time.