The Honest Story
About the founders
Hey there, I'm Bella, and I'm one half of the duo behind Honest Paper and Daymaker Stationery. My business partner is Gabi, and together we're on a mission to create the ultimate stationery heaven for fellow stationery enthusiasts.
Gabi and I both hail from the graphic design world and share a deep love for all things stationery - pens, notebooks, stickers, you name it! Gabi is also a certified chocoholic (shh, don't tell anyone!), and she and her husband Ben have a whole cabinet dedicated to their beloved pen collection. Their cat Roger has a preference for crinkled paper over notebooks.. he's a bit of a rebel like that.
I'm a wife and busy working Mum to three amazing kids and I'm pleased to say my kids seem to have a soft spot for good stationery too (phew!).
Our in-house design brand Daymaker Stationery is our latest project as we navigate manufacturing and wholesale too.
We absolutely LOVE what we do and we truly believe that stationery can bring joy and inspiration to people's lives.
If you're curious to know more, drop us an email or a DM on Instagram
Happy shopping,
B, G and the HP team
x
The Honest Paper Story
It all began when Gabi had a dream (an actual sleeping dream) of owning her own stationery brand, which she named 'Blessing & Honour'. I was feeling unfulfilled in my day job and when Gabi shared her dream with me, I was immediately intrigued. I said "let's do it!" and together, we started designing cards and wrapping paper to sell on ETSY.
As we grew, we ventured into doing local markets and one day, I saw a small empty shop space in 'The Junction, NSW' and suggested that we put a stationery shop there. Although we negotiated our first lease very badly and had very few products and zero idea what we were doing we opened the doors to Honest Paper.
Despite people telling us that we were nuts for trying to do retail, we persevered, innovating and adapting to our ever changing needs. It wasn't always easy, but we remained dedicated to our vision and worked hard to make it a success. We had SO much fun along the way and when you're having fun, doing the work isn't hard at all!
In 2020, we faced our biggest challenge yet: the COVID-19 pandemic. We had to close our physical shop and pivot to online sales. We had also decided to move our shop to a space three times the size in Newcastle! After we figured out the details of that, we took another big leap and negotiated a better lease alongside our favourite coffee shop, Mr Sister. With the help of or interior architect Kaitlin Gordon and builder Adrian DeBoucherville, we created our stationery dream space and opened our doors in 2021. It was AMAZING, we were sooo proud of ourselves and it was (and is) honestly a dream come true. We filled the space with our favourite brands and products and enjoyed our new space immensely.
In 2022, we launched Daymaker Stationery, our in-house stationery brand that focuses on beautiful, functional, and affordable stationery. Gabi is our expert designer and I'm a bit of a dreamer who gives her opinion haha (I also do the marketing and business portion of the brand), we have since expanded into wholesale and even have our very own warehouse!
As our business grew and evolved, so did our personal lives. Over the years, I've grown my family and am now the working mum of three beautiful children who constantly inspire me to keep creating and innovating in our business. Gabi and Benny added a furry member to their family, a tail-less cat named Roger who has become a beloved fixture at our shop. It's amazing to see how much our lives and our business have changed since those early days on Etsy, but through it all, Gabi and I have remained great friends and business partners who are still as passionate as ever about Honest Paper and all the exciting things we have planned for the future.
We believe in the power of stationery to bring joy to people's lives, and we're committed to providing the best products and service possible. Thank you for being a part of our journey!
