Papier: Uncovering the possibility of a blank page

Papier is that paradoxical entity, a tech business selling analogue products, and their success has been driven by young people. Heather Martin speaks to founder and CEO Taymoor Atighetchi

Papier’s biggest sellers are notebooks and journals (Papier)

Thirty-two-year-old Taymoor Atighetchi is the founder and CEO of category-defining stationery brand Papier. His surname means “antiques dealer” in Farsi, and he is the son and grandson of art dealers. His parents emigrated to England in the 1970s and Taymoor was born in west London, not far from Notting Hill. He grew up surrounded by “works on paper”, miniatures and manuscripts, framed and on the wall. “My love of the physicality and tactility of paper stems from art,” he says.

His love of selling comes from the Portobello Road. His dad was the first to take him there: “He’s been going every Saturday for 50 years. When I was 17 I set up my own stall, and for a while I was the youngest antiques dealer on the market.” At first he borrowed pieces from his father, careful to ask how much he wanted for them, but eventually he began buying his own, both from the market itself and from auctions: “That was all inherited knowledge. I still watch Antiques Roadshow every week and have a go at the value of things before they say it.”

According to the Papier website, “Stationery is a space to become”. For Taymoor, this is more than a mere slogan; it goes to the heart of the business. He wants everyone “to uncover the possibility of a blank page”, which means something different to each one of us: for the author, an unwritten book; for someone about to go on their travels, “that whole adventure awaiting them”. He’s not worried about mistakes. “Crossings-out are like a map of where your mind’s been taking you,” he says. “It’s like modelling with clay – you can see the different adjustments as you go.” Papier wants people who buy into the brand to buy into its core beliefs as well.