If you know us, you’re probably a paper person. So are we. And therefore we all love the Toronto Stationery Show!
But. BUT! There is a pandemic. And so the show must be virtual this time. VIRTUAL! Still good, and happy to have it, because otherwise there would be no stationery show (and what a travesty that would be), but zounds, it flies in the face of what paper people are all about, no? NO! So we’ve been having a think about how we can still achieve that ephemeral sense of real connection despite all of these virtual artifices.
But. BUT! There is a pandemic. And so the show must be virtual this time. VIRTUAL! Still good, and happy to have it, because otherwise there would be no stationery show (and what a travesty that would be), but zounds, it flies in the face of what paper people are all about, no? NO! So we’ve been having a think about how we can still achieve that ephemeral sense of real connection despite all of these virtual artifices.
When you displace your body and go to a physical place with other people, there is a certain sense of togetherness that happens. Even if you don’t speak to everyone, you were all there, in one space, together. This can’t happen virtually, but what we can do is share the moment even if we can’t share the space.
Here’s what we’re doing, and how you can join in:
Find a real piece of paper. It can be fancy stationery, an old scrap of graph paper, or even a paper towel. It just has to be real paper.
Write something on it that you appreciate about the pandemic. Promise us that whatever this thing is you’re writing about has actually caused legitimate warm feelings for you. Even if it’s hard to think of one. Even if it was just that one time you watched a falling leaf catch the afternoon sun, and that’s the only thing you can think of about 2020 that’s alright. It just has to be a legitimately good memory.
Now take a photo of your paper and send it to us at the link below. We’re going to match you with someone else visiting the show! And we’re going to send them the picture of your paper and you a picture of their paper and now you will both know a warm memory of one another’s, and in this way you will have shared a moment with a stranger as you might have, had we all been standing in the same space together. (Including your name or Instagram account for potential future pen-paling is optional!) (Also we may use some of these photos on our social media, just let us know if you’d rather we keep yours private!)
Wishing you love and togetherness and the real-ness that handwritten letters give us,
Storm and Shadow
Here’s what we’re doing, and how you can join in:
Find a real piece of paper. It can be fancy stationery, an old scrap of graph paper, or even a paper towel. It just has to be real paper.
Write something on it that you appreciate about the pandemic. Promise us that whatever this thing is you’re writing about has actually caused legitimate warm feelings for you. Even if it’s hard to think of one. Even if it was just that one time you watched a falling leaf catch the afternoon sun, and that’s the only thing you can think of about 2020 that’s alright. It just has to be a legitimately good memory.
Now take a photo of your paper and send it to us at the link below. We’re going to match you with someone else visiting the show! And we’re going to send them the picture of your paper and you a picture of their paper and now you will both know a warm memory of one another’s, and in this way you will have shared a moment with a stranger as you might have, had we all been standing in the same space together. (Including your name or Instagram account for potential future pen-paling is optional!) (Also we may use some of these photos on our social media, just let us know if you’d rather we keep yours private!)
Wishing you love and togetherness and the real-ness that handwritten letters give us,
Storm and Shadow