The best office stationery for working from home

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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 vital 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 your key items sorted, such as the best office chair and the best desks for your home office. 

Whether you’ve got a dedicated space or are looking to add a new function to your guest bedroom, we’ve rounded up all the best office stationery, from functional to funky, in one helpful article. Here you'll find essentials like the best pens and pencils, as well as items you might not have thought of, such as planners and calendars to help you stay organised. Read on for our pick of the best office stationery for creative professionals.

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. 

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. 

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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.  

Keep your pens and pencils tidy with these Geometric Wooden Pen Pots from Happy Little Folks. The eco-friendly pots are hand painted with a geometric design, and you can pick your colour combo to suit your decor. There are 16 colours available to choose from and you can mix them up any way you want, so chances are there'll be an option to suit you. This is a smart way to keep your stationery neat and ensure a pen will always be to hand when you need one.

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.

16-month calendars are handy for creative professionals who need to plan and book work in well in advance to avoid over- or under-booking through lack of visibility, and know they've got work lined up for the future. This Boxclever Press week-to-view calendar is the stationery-lover's dream, as it's filled with space for to-do lists, notes and appointments. 

For those with more stability in their diary, it comes with a handy plastic overlay that you can write recurring events on, and move them from week to week rather than having to rewrite them.  

We love the Boxclever Press 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.  

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