Getting the best office stationery around you is super important, especially if you're working from home like so many of us are at the moment. Having a home office gives you the opportunity to get creative with your workspace, building somewhere that's not only a place to work, but a place to get inspired.
Getting the right office stationery is a key part of creating a setup that works for you, as well as a cool way to add some personality and colour to your creative space. While you're at it, you'll want to make sure you have key items sorted, such as getting the best office chair and one of the best desks you can afford.
Whether you’ve got a dedicated space or you're looking to add a new function to your guest bedroom, we’ve rounded up a great selection of the best office stationery, from functional to fun, in one helpful article. Read on for our pick of the best office stationery for creative professionals.
The best office stationery for working from home
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No home office is complete without a notebook for jotting down inspired ideas or scribbling notes as you speak to your team-mates, editor or client. For quality and versatility, try this set of three from Field Notes. Each Field Notes Memo Book notebook has a different type of paper: there's one plain book for doodles and sketches, one lined book for notes, and one book of graph paper for wireframes and user flows.
These notebooks are passport-sized, which is ideal for slotting in a bag or pocket to take out and about with you. Each has 48 pages, and a simple card cover. If you're after something larger or with a more robust cover, you can't really do better than a classic Moleskine notebook.
There’s no denying the Faber-Castell Ondoro Twist Ballpoint Pen is expensive, but in an age when most of our work is done on a desktop, laptop or tablet, occasional handwritten notes are more important than ever. The hexagonal barrel made from smoked oak certainly makes this pen stand out. It can take a bit of getting used to, but it also makes it comfortable to hold, and encourages you to grip the pen in a way that helps you write smoothly.
We recommend this pen for anyone who wants to add a little class and character to their office stationery collection. With reasonably priced refills available, it can last forever, too.
The perfect partner for your Faber-Castell Ondoro pen is this set of 12 Faber-Castell pencils. Renowned for their quality, these pencils are breakage-resistant despite being easy to sharpen to a really fine tip. Having a full set of pencils to hand means you can easily experiment with different degrees of sharpness and detail, versus softer, blendable lines. Ranging from 2H to 8B, this pencil set will cover you for almost any kind drawing, sketching or writing you might want to do.
For more options, see our best pencils roundup.
If you’re tight on space in your home office, why not utilise some of your office stationery to add some foliage to your room as well? A desk plant can help make a home office feel welcoming, which is important given how much time you spend there every day. This innovative Kikkerland Concrete Desktop Plant and Pen Pot is designed to hold your pens and pencils in one compartment and a small house plant in the other. The concrete material means it’ll work with any home office design scheme.
For when the best notebook isn’t enough, look to Leda for the best artist sketchbook. With high-quality, smooth 120 gram paper, this Leda Sketchbook will take ink, graphite, pastel and charcoal without bleeding or soaking through. It’s also water-resistant (but not waterproof) so will withstand a small amount of watercolour paint. The book itself is made from PU leather, making it suitable for vegetarians and vegans without compromising on a professional look and feel. Moreover, it bends and lies flat, so you’ll have both hands free for sketching or painting.
As a designer, you need to take extra care of your hands. Hours spent gripping a mouse aren't ideal, but it's often an unavoidable part of the job, so keep your hands healthy with a mouse mat that features built-in wrist support.
The Kensington Duo Gel mouse mat includes an ergonomic gel support to reduce the strain on your wrist that can lead to RSI and Carpal Tunnel syndrome. The gel prevents the blood vessels in your wrist from constricting, which can happen when your wrists are stretched and in a tense position, as they are when you spend a lot of time typing at a desk.
It's compatible with laser and optical mice, is wipe-clean, and features a ventilation channel to stop your wrist getting sweaty. It may not be the most exciting design, but your hands will thank you for it.
If you need a mouse to go with your mouse mat, then see our best mouse post.
This desk calendar from Peachly may be just the thing to get you organised. Each weekly view has six sections: there are blocks for each day of the week (including weekends), a weekly priorities list, notes for next week, a to-do list, a habit tracker and a 'dot grid' for taking quick notes or doodling.
This calendar is undated so you can start it at any point in the year, meaning if you suddenly get the urge to organise your life mid-March, you won't have to waste paper on the months you've missed.
For more calendar options, see our best calendars list.
We love the Peachly calendar, but sometimes you need a calendar and diary you can take on the go with you. For these occasions, we recommend this ultimate luxury organiser from Filofax.
It has everything you you might need access to while you're out and about, plus some extra we wouldn't have thought of. There's a calendar and undated diary pages, as well as address and to-do lists. The inside cover houses a zipped pocket, two slots for credit cards or business cards, and three multi-purpose compartments. It’s real leather, so looks beautiful, and is supple and flexible for writing on the move.
If minimalism isn't your style, you can add a splash of colour to your home office with a bright and colourful bin. These Karenza & Co fluro bins are environmentally friendly too: they're made from 100% recycled cotton and the designs are screen printed by hand. The bins arrive flat-packed, but pop up to full size (30cm x 21cm x 21cm) quickly and easily. Our favourite is the strawberry red, but orange, yellow and lime green options are available too.
If you’re going to be printing business documents, mockups, flyers or leaflets for your work, you don’t want to print onto just any old paper. While for leaflets or brochures we’d recommend coated paper, for most uses we recommend Xerox Colotech Plus premium quality uncoated paper. It’s rougher than coated paper, but high quality at 160 gsm GSM (80 gsm is standard quality), which is what you need for most home office uses.
Remember to keep your printer ink topped up too. What printer ink is best for you will of course depend on what printer you have, but a good approach is to buy two packs of whichever printer ink you need and then replace the spare each time you need to pop one into your machine. That way, you’ll never run out. If you need a printer, then see our best printers buying guide.
How to choose the best office stationery
The best and worst thing about buying office stationery is that there are so many different options to choose from. The most important thing is to think about functionality: what is it that you do in your home office? Are you a writer, an artist, a graphic designer? Your office stationery needs will obviously vary depending on the work that you do, but with this list we aim to cover all the basics of office stationery.
Next, think about how much space you have, and what your priorities are when it comes to filling that space. After that, it's all about choosing products that make your life easier and more fun. And if you want to make them all match, then there's also colour scheme to consider.
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