Office tour: inside Papier’s colourful and creative London work space
“We’ve been in our current office for just over a year,” Taymoor Atighetchi, CEO and founder of Papier tells Vogue of the luxury stationery brand’s colourful London offices in Soho. “Originally we started in a small office on the top floor of a wonky London townhouse off Carnaby Street but as the team grew, we needed more space. Finding a bigger space that suited our needs and was still central, took a little bit of time but eventually we found the office on Charlotte Street in Fitzrovia, which meant we could stay close to the buzz of Soho.”
Atighetchi, who founded the online-based stationery label in 2015, says the design of the office is geared towards facilitating the collaboration which is necessary in the business. “The office is open-plan and across one floor,” he says. “There’s rarely a moment of complete silence as conversations are constantly happening throughout the office so it always feels like a hive of activity. We’re also incredibly lucky to have large windows on nearly all sides of the office so we have amazing views of both The London Eye and BT Tower – two iconic London landmarks. It also means there’s loads of natural light streaming into the space which we felt was really important, not only for the team’s mood but also from a practical perspective; when inspecting product samples and designing new products, light is key!”
Papier is known for its ability to create personalised stationery on demand, for its customers to shop at the click of a mouse. “I set up Papier to offer consumers a better alternative to what was on offer online in terms of stationery and personalised products more broadly,” Atighetchi says. “I wanted to create something which was design led, offered great quality and was still affordable.” All of these factors contributed to the open-plan layout of the office, meaning staff can communicate efficiently and easily, in order to get customer orders out quickly.
Below, Atighetchi takes us through the space.
“We were helped with the interior and layout by my best friend and renowned interior designer Tobias Vernon who has an amazing aesthetic. Tobias and I shared a room at university (which he designed) and since then, I’ve always wanted to live and work in spaces he’s designed. He helped us source a lot of pieces, including the lights, and was very adamant about us not having “corporate” office floor tiles – so we had beautiful sisal flooring put in.”
“While the office is open-plan we do have dedicated rooms for two teams. One for our customer experience team – they can often be on the phone to customers so [it is] better for them to have a quiet environment. The other is for our tech team who prefer to work in quiet and so we built a space for them. Both rooms are designed with glass walls though, so neither team feels separated and light travels across the whole office. We also have a small studio room at the back of the office where some of the imagery you see on site is photographed. It’s full of samples and props.”
“We have a big kitchen space for all of us to sit together for catered Friday lunches – this is something we started when the team was just three people, but it was really important for me that we could continue to do it as the team grew. I find that eating and feasting together is an important part of building bonds between colleagues and friends. We also have a spacious seating area, with a homely feel, for us to host drinks each week and welcome visitors to.”
“The oversized paper flowers around the sofa area and in our meeting room were pieces we created for a pop-up we did at Anthropologie for the Chelsea Flower Show. If you look closely the flowers are actually created from paper featuring patterns from our collection.”
“We’re lucky to be in an incredible area of London in north Soho so we are spoilt with incredible restaurants, cafes and bars to go to. Every Friday, we order lunch for the team from a local restaurant – work stops and we all sit down together to eat. We’re having to get creative with seating options and folding tables as the team grows but it’s a Friday ritual for the company.”
“The biggest reward has been building an incredible team and culture for the brand. I set out to build a relaxed and friendly atmosphere in the office to support the community feel of Papier. Having the teams sit together in an open-plan, one floor office has been an important part of that; I want people to feel totally comfortable discussing their ideas and I want to continue nurturing a team of talented but independent people.”
“Other things such as the polaroid photo wall in the kitchen have just evolved – we try to record fun events, team members and the day to day.”
“We’ll be making more space for new team members in the coming months but we’ll be looking to move again next year as the business continues to grow. Then we can go through the process of creating another inspiring Papier environment for the team, I’m keen to involve the many design partners we work with to create another unique and beautiful space.”Click Here: highlanders rugby gear world