Listen carefully because I am going to say this only once; and if you tell anyone that I said this I will deny everything, particularly to my friends down the pub on a Friday night (when we are allowed back down the pub that is). Ok, here we go:

I LOVE STATIONERY

There, I said it. I know it is not the coolest thing to say, and I know everyone will suddenly start to think I am like Derek Wilton from Coronation Street driving around with a giant paperclip on my car, but it is not like that. There is so much more to stationery than that; yes, it is practical and serves a purpose, and when going to meetings or using in public it can also be deemed a fashion accessory, but the fact that EVERYONE uses stationery in their daily life, either at home or work, makes it all the more powerful.

Having spent a couple of months on furlough and now working from home I have had time to indulge in my passion and choose the stationery items that I want, rather than just those that are in the company stationery cupboard, ordered by the Office Manager who always seems to go for the cheapest of everything rather than looking at practicality, durability and environmental benefits.

The best example I have is copier paper. I have a printer at home that the company allowed me to buy. It is not top of the range, but it does the job as long as I use a good quality sheet of paper to run through it. When given permission to order a box of paper to be delivered direct to home I opted for a box of Our Earth paper that I had seen advertised in this very magazine.

As a child I used to love reading the Gerald Durrell books so when I discovered there was a ream of paper that is supporting the conservation work carried out by Durrells I just had to order it. Paper, that is contributing towards helping the survival of the Madagascar Side-Necked Turtle and the Black Lion Tamarin? How good is that?

The other difference I have noticed since working at home is how many products are actually available from my local “stationery & office products supplier”. When I was in the office every day we occasionally got asked if there was anything we needed. I would look around my desk to check I had enough post-it notes, see how much ink was left in my biro and sometimes if I was feeling brave I might ask if I could get a stapler upgrade, but I never got full view of everything that is available. Now I have catalogues, website logins and have literally thousands of items to choose from.

Now that I am combining working from home the company are constantly asking if I need anything for my workstation area at home, they realise the importance of a healthy workforce and realise their responsibility, so last week they asked me if I wanted a sit-stand desk. A sit-stand desk? I didn’t even know what one of them was, apparently you can raise your desk so that you can carry on working at your computer whilst standing up – Genius!

You see, stationery is not the stereotypical dull product that people tend to think it is, it is genuinely exciting with some great products and it is hugely rewarding when you find that ideal pen to write in that slick leather-covered notebook that sits by your laptop riser and snazzy electric stapler on your desk that can be raised to the right height for working when standing up -The sit-stand desk! I still can’t get over it, my mates would love it…but I’m just not ready to confess to my stationery addiction just yet.

2020 has brought many changes to our lives which take some adjusting to. One of those changes for a lot of us has been to move our work from the office into our homes. This can easily tip the scales of a healthy work/life balance. Working from home can have its perks – that hour commute can become an hour of yoga, walking your dog, doing the washing to free your weekend, less alarm-snoozing and more actual snoozing!

But it can also make it harder to switch off in the evenings/weekends if you don’t have a separate office. Here at Pukka we want to embrace the positive opportunities working from home brings. Below are some top tips to help you adjust and make the most of WFH.

Create a dedicated workspace

It can be tempting to sneak
your laptop and duvet onto your sofa but having a dedicated space to work will improve your productivity and help you switch off at the end of the day. Embrace the opportunity to have fun decorating your workspace to fit in seamlessly with your home décor, show your personality and brighten up your WFH area.

As we move into the winter months it’s especially important to brighten up the darker mornings. Invest in a desk plant and a fun, beautiful notepad to start your day off with a smile. The Pukka Pastels range is great for holding onto those summer vibes. The range includes matching notepads of various sizes, pencil cases and files so your space can be organised as well as aesthetically pleasing. Create an inspiring WFH set up with the Glee Range. The stylish geometric, iridescent designs will increase your motivation.

STAY FOCUSED

WFH can mean less opportunity to get up from your chair – meetings have become video calls and a long commute now equals walking downstairs. This can impact on your posture and productivity, so it’s good to get up every now and then to stretch, make a drink and even better to get out for a lunchtime walk. Clearing your head with some fresh air will also help you refocus when faced with those extra distractions at home. Without the buzz of the office and less social contact, you can find yourself drifting into a daydream and reaching for your phone.

Keep on track and stay focused with the Carpe Diem Daily Planner, Weekly Planner and Magnetic to Do List to priorities your tasks. Project books are a great way to keep your tasks separated and organised. Pukka Pad Project Books are the perfect notebook to stay focused, with repositioning dividers, you can tear out and move them if you have one project larger than others.

Stationery doesn’t have to be boring! Create a workspace that inspires you to work hard and express your thoughts on paper! Follow us on our Instagram and Facebook and let us show you our favourite desk essentials.

2020 is over, phew! But what is not likely to be over for some time is its long lasting impacts on us and the way we live.

Overnight, we were forced into a completely alien world where our home became our office, our local Tesco became a day out and finding a lost face mask in your pocket was the same as finding a fiver. I personally never thought I would see the day!

Something I have learned to accept is that Covid will be with us for a long time, whether directly or indirectly and we need to learn to live with it in order to move forward.

I know it may sound easier said than done, but there are little things you can do to get your mind focused on what matters, whether that be friends and family, work, school or that idea that got pushed to the back of your mind amidst the madness.

I personally have taken to note taking and planning. I have always kept planners throughout my life, but for one reason or another I have never fully committed to seeing them through.

The pandemic allowed me to focus my time and energy into creating a beautiful space to write down my key dates and thoughts while organising myself and my work.

There is something very therapeutic and uplifting about bringing your plans to life with stickers, stamps, pictures and drawings. I now get excited when I have a new event to note down, but also find it helps me recall dates and appointments better. I guess they do say that you are 40% more likely to remember something if it is written down!

During the pandemic, I struggled to control my stress levels. With so much more to think about and remember, I needed a place to store this information outside of constant email and iPhone reminders. Planning allowed me to visualise my entire week or month in front of me. Suddenly, a notification for an event became a piece of art and a to-do list scribbled on the back of a torn envelope became deeply thought out and delicate.

I now look forward to turning over the page to the next month of my planner, and not just because it means we may be one month closer to normality!

I always believed in the saying ‘a clear work space means a clear mind’, but I truly believe that expressing yourself through design while organising your life is the way to a clear efficient mind, and an opportunity to put down the phone or laptop for a while.

If I have brought anything away from 2020, it’s that writing and planning can be an exciting opportunity to document our lives and prepare for what lies ahead. Although let’s hope that’s not another global virus!

As Sir David Attenborough said on the occasion of Durrell’s 50th anniversary, 

“I do assure you, the world needs Durrell.”

Like all small kids I suppose I was fascinated with animals of every stripe but somewhere between ages five and ten, this morphed into a passionate commitment to protect the endangered wildlife of our planet, and Gerald Durrell and his funny, articulate and endlessly informative books became my window into that important world.
And like anything which truly captures my attention, I leapt in boots and all, reading every single one of his engaging books, marvelling at his witty turns of phrase, his brilliance for evoking a scene so vividly that you honestly felt like you were there.
He was a man who, through a childhood spent in places as diverse as London, England, and Corfu, Greece – it was the latter location that allowed him to indulge his nascent love of the natural world under the watchful eye and tutelage of his wonderful mentor of sorts Dr. Theodore Stephanides – grew to appreciate that there was more to nature than simply a place for zoos, circuses and museums to collect specimens, or for adventurous souls to go on holidays.
It was his passion for the natural world that instilled in me the critical need for ensuring that we do everything we can to protect this planet of ours, that reminded me at every turn that every animal, insect and plant was worthy of attention, and that we ignored the threats posed to them at our peril.
He worked hard through the ’50s and ’60s, after an apprenticeship at Whipsnade Zoo as the “Odd Beast Boy”, to advance the idea that all animals, not just the pandas and elephants and such that commanded the lion’s (also popular with the public) share of attention, were increasingly endangered in our rapidly industrialising and urbanising world and that we need to save them all, no matter how appealing they may or may not be.
That’s why, for instance, he lavished as much time and energy on critically-endangered animals like the “Volcano Rabbit” or Teporingo from the mountains of Mexico as he did on the undeniably cute animals of Madagascar such as the Aye Aye and the lemurs (a particular focus of his work in the 1990s) and birds like the Mauritian Kestrel which was saved from extinction in the ’70s through his efforts.

He kept working hard right up until his much-lamented death in 1995 to spread the word about conservation to every corner of the globe. And apart from the large numbers of visitors that thronged to Jersey Zoo and his many TV appearances including as host of How To Shoot an Amateur Naturalist, it was his books, his wonderfully passionate books, that did the most, I think, to spread the word about the mission that happily defined his entire life.

Be sure to check out some of Gerald Durrell’s books and bury yourself in his passion for nature: www.durrell.org/wildlife/product-category/books/

Excerpt kindly shared by Andrew Gillman of Aussiemoose, full article can be read online at www.sparklyprettybriiiight.com/ripd-from-the-pages-of-my-childhood-the-life-changing-books-of-conservationist-gerald-durrell/