Taymoor Atighetchi, founder of Papier, shares his stationery story and how he has married creativity with commerce.
Can you give us a little background to Papier? How did it all come about?
As a prolific ‘paper person’ I saw that there was no online business selling beautifully designed stationery in a way that told a story, with art at the centre of it. I saw an opportunity to create a brand that could really redefine the stationery category for the modern consumer and set up Papier in 2015.
What made you get into the stationery industry?
I was a frustrated management consultant. Having studied History of Art at university, I needed to find a way of marrying creativity with commerce. That search led to the $200B stationery market, which was just so ripe for disruption and ready for a brand that was relevant to modern consumers.
Our ambition is to redefine the stationery category by making stationery relevant to the modern consumer. For me, this means disrupting a traditional category, not only through innovative products but also through our use of technology across on-demand print production as well as personalisation.
What is the best part of being in the stationery industry?
The people. Getting to work with artists, poets, writers and designers day in and day out is a lot of fun.
What’s your favourite industry memory?
The biggest and most recent highlight has been our evolution from a D2C brand to offering our products through retail partners. Our first multi-store partner in the US was Anthropologie, and it was incredible to see our products on the shelves and offer customers the opportunity to buy in-store. The number of retail partners has grown in the last 12 months to include Barnes and Noble and Nordstrom, as well as over 2000 independents, and we’ve just launched a four-piece exclusive collection with beloved retailer Target, which is available in all of their stores.
Offering our products through retailers has unlocked further opportunities to grow our brand awareness and build our community through activations, in-store displays, and events that bring our values and products to life.
It’s also a great opportunity for us to get direct feedback from customers. There’s nothing more humbling and interesting than standing next to someone purchasing your product alongside you and hearing their feedback. It’s a different data set that you can’t capture online.
What does 2024 hold for Papier?
Scaling our retail presence through our partners continues to be one of our goals, and we’re looking beyond just the US and UK markets. We want to ensure that our products are where our customers want to find them.
We also continue to invest in our online D2C proposition with new products that push our ability to personalise even further and make that shopping experience one our customers want to keep coming back for.
Can you tell us three interesting facts about yourself?
- I’m passionate about cooking – in another life I would be a chef, for now I’ll just settle being a home cook.
- When I was 16, I was the youngest antique dealer on the Portobello Road. Probably the best MBA on the planet!
- I’m a keen tennis player, and my tennis idol is Andre Agassi (who’s half Iranian). I recommend his autobiography even you’re not into tennis.
What is your favourite stationery product of all time?
A notebook is classic. There are endless possibilities with a blank page.
