kikki K ~ Brand New Stationery Store Opens In London

In a world of e-everything, my love affair with paper is still going strong. It’s not often we get new stationery stores opening in London so when I spotted the ‘coming soon’ store front for kikki K in Covent Garden just before Christmas, I got a bit giddy. Yes I get high on paper supplies.

Though new to us in London, kikki K was founded in Australia in 2001 by Swedish expat Kristina ‘Kikki’ Karlsson. From a single boutique in Melbourne, there are now 80 stores in the Antipodes, Hong Kong and Singapore. Everything is designed in-house taking inspiration from Swedish design principles of form and function.

They’ve also partnered with authors of some of Kristina’s favourite books like Gretchen Reuben of The Happiness Project and Marie Kondon of The Life Changing Magic of Tidying acclaim, to create limited edition covers exclusive to kikki K.

There are not one but two stores in London a hop and a skip from each other. A pop-up near the Royal Opera House and the London flagship opposite Covent Garden tube station. I had a mooch around both stores/temples of paper worship.Light, airy, calm store atmosphere. The current collection is mostly a palette of mouthwatering Art Deco pastel shades or watercolour inspired.

There is a major focus on mindfulness and an array of lifestyle stationery to ensure everything is in its place and add a pretty touch to banal tasks as well as the ‘inspirational’.  There are more organisers, planners, vision boards, motivational messages, gratitude journals than you can shake a stick at. We’re talking serious Get Your Ish Together stationery.

Overall impressions? If Oprah did stationery this is what it would look like.

kikki k, 5-6 St James Street, London WC2E 8BH; kikki k pop-up, 8 Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8HD www.kikki-k.com