Our Next Chapter

In April 2023, we came across an incredible opportunity for our small business. As believers in the power of the physical, tangible magic of a hand-written note,  a ‘real life’ shop has always been one of our dreams since starting our online stationery business in 2015. 

When we came across ‘The Copy Shop’, we were so excited to have the chance to bring this vision to life, and to create an inspiring, creative place where nearby customers can visit, and far-away customers can dream of planning a trip to one day. In the shop, as well as our own range of stationery and greetings cards, we plan to stock a beautiful range of heavy-weight notebooks, hand-bound journals, premium pens and art materials. We will also host art workshops and dream of creating a thriving community hub of creativity and connection - something that is being lost in our increasingly digital world. 

We are moving from our current Cotswold studio to a larger premises in the heart of Cheltenham - a building that can house our studio & workspace, will allow us to hold workshops, and also open a dedicated retail space in the form of a shop front. We dream of a place where you will be able to come in, write a card or letter at a large writing desk with a cup of tea of coffee, try out our pens and art materials at your leisure, and leave feeling refreshed and inspired.

To help with the fit-out costs involved in transforming a rather tired shop into one that could be the face of our business, we launched a crowdfunder campaign. On 9th May we hit our crowdfunding target to allow us to open the shop. We are so so grateful to everyone who pledged!

With a crowdfunder, you are able to set a ‘stretch target’ to complete a final push and offer one last chance for anyone to pledge who might have missed. We are delighted to announce that we also met our stretch goal which will allow us to purchase a letterpress machine.

This is something that we have wanted to add to our printing processes for a long time, as it is a very special process that will allow us to create high quality, tactile prints that are both visually striking and long-lasting. Unlike modern digital printing techniques, letterpress printing involves pressing ink onto paper with a raised surface, such as a metal type or polymer plate, which creates a deep impression and a unique texture.

Please see the following images for some examples of the designs we are hoping to create.