Siwa Series by ONAO Co. | Yamanashi (JAP)

Japanese paper (washi) manufacture ONAO Co. sits in the town of Ichikawamisato in Japan's Yamanashi prefecture, a place that boasts a century-old history of paper making. The Siwa Series (pictured) is the product of a collaboration between industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa and ONAO Co., born out of Fukasawa's admiration for Naoron, a strong and tear-resistant paper developed by the company.

The name SIWA is the reverse of characters in the word washi (wasi) as well as a word that means 'crinkle' in Japanese. The collection uses ONAO Co.'s sturdy Naoron as the primary material to create their well designed, everyday goods. Similarly to their leather goods, the washi products are individually crafted and above is a sample of our favourite everyday essentials including a money wallet, shopper bag, wine bag and string bound envelopes.

Available at ONAO Co.

Shinola x Public Supply Pencils | Detroit (USA)

Public Supply is a New York based store producing high quality writing, art and office essentials that provide public school teachers with resources to help support creative work in the classroom.

With a belief that every student has the right to an arts education, Public Supply have collaborated with Detroit watchmaker Shinola to create a limited run of 500 pencil sets in Shinola's signature orange colour. The set of 12 classic pencils includes a rubber eraser and standard No.2 graphite core; a percentage of all profits will support creative arts classrooms in Detroit Public Schools and each box has a hand-stamped tracking ID that allows its owner to locate the exact classroom they helped to fund.

Available from Shinola.

Black Utility Notebook by Doane Paper | Texas (USA)

In 2003, Chad Doane found himself in a group meeting and realised half the room were using a lined legal pads, while the other used a graph paper notebook. This observation led Chad to sit in-front of Adobe Illustrator and design an original grid and line pattern, now known as Doane Paper. Initially Chad trialled his custom made Doane Paper on a website that was free to download.

Naturally gathering momentum, Chad found visitors to doanepaper.com who had downloaded the free PDF sheet started to request the Grid + Lines pattern as a physical article. This lead Chad to create a writing pad with the help of a 50 year old Arkansas based school supply manufacturer.

2008 saw the Doane Paper go from a writing pad to a journal in the form of a utility notebook. The Doane Paper Grid + Lines pattern is now available in various forms but a favourite is the useful pocket sized Black Utility Notebook. Crafted in the USA, the 48 page notebook is made from recycleable paper, printed using soy-based inks and binded by a rugged 3 staple saddle stitch. (Notebook size: 3.5” x 5.5”, grid size: 125” x 125”, wide ruled line spacing).

Left – Doane Paper Black Utility Notebook, Grid + Line Pattern, Pack of 3