THE COMPANY
The Papery is owned by Howard and Alison Deary, a brother and sister team, who together had a vision of an online stationery store, where customers could come and choose from a variety of beautifully designed, quality products.
A locally based business where innovative, quality, premium stationery is conceived and created. We proudly develop and manufacture our own 100% South African products. Local manufacture means we are supporting other small businesses and helping with job creation. This makes us incredibly proud.
Our brands include Scribblz notebooks, notepads and journals, MOM Diary, WOW Diary, the MultiPlanners, Mauriati Executive Planner, and our Papery & Paperjam full range of Classic hardcover, Flexi softcover and Designer cover journals. In 2021 we added the very popular Jam Packed Subscription Boxes as well as the Cotton Candi Brand.
Our newest addition to our "brand family" is our upmarket Rustik range, which consists of Genuine Leather products . These include a Leather version of the MultiPlanner, Mauriati and the Premium Flexi Journal. We have added a Leather Slip-on Cover and a beautiful Leather Pencil Case to this range.
With years of experience in design, marketing and online sales in the diary, notebook and journal industry, we are confident that we can answer your paper product needs. We take pride in producing top quality products while ensuring that our papers meet the world ISO standards in terms of environmental requirements.
We research world trends and our products are often local industry leaders in terms of materials, style and colour.
Howard is the face behind most of the beautiful diary and journal designs. The MultiPlanner and Mauriati Executive Planners are both his brainchild.
His main role in the business is product development as well as heading up design and production.
Howard is a very accomplished designer, with more than 40 years of experience.
Alison is the creator of the MOM and WOW Diaries as well as some of the other content driven products.
She is very involved in the curation of the Jam Packed boxes, developement of new products as well as overseeing sales, customer service, admin & the website.
Alison has run and owned many businesses over a period of the last 40 years.
Ruth did an internship with The Papery in 2018 and has been here ever since.
She is the amazing person behind sales and customer service, and is responsible for making sure that everyone's orders get sent out to the right place and on time.
Ruth did Business Management at CPUT, and has grown and learnt so much during the time she has been with The Papery.
Vimbae, affectionately known as Vimmy was taken on part time near the end of 2021. Her part time lasted about a week as we realised that we could not do without her any day of the week!
Vimmy does the packing & wrapping of the Jam Packed boxes, counts & packs journals into bags, and packs the online orders.
With her beautiful smile and calm presence, she has become an absolute asset to The Papery.
Moleen, known as Molly in the office, was brought in to help pack a big corporate job. About a month or two later, with Jam Packed boxes growing in demand, we decided to invite her back on a permanent basis.
Molly works alongside Vimmy packing Jam Packed boxes, journals and also assists with the packing of orders.
She is a strong, friendly and dependable member of The Papery team.
Zelda joined The Papery after first falling in love with our brand as a customer. With a background in sales and marketing—especially in the book world—she knows how to bring stories to life and connect with people.
For Zelda, working with journals and notebooks feels like a dream come true. And whenever she’s at her desk, she’s joined by her loyal German Shepherd, who keeps her company as she works away on her next project.
Jodi started with us in January 2023, after a very busy season we felt we needed an extra set of hands to join our team.
Jodi has an interesting background, starting off as a ballet teacher & then working in a variety of different roles in businesses, ranging from admin, website maintenance, finance, secretarial and many other things that were just the perfect mix of what was needed to be a support to Alison & Ruth.
She is the lovely friendly voice you will hear behind most of the customer queries nowadays. She has brought a sense of calm to The Papery Team.
Casey was interviewed at the same time as Jodi, and was "that special" that we decided we needed to create another job especially for her!
Her role entails anything to do with stock management. She keeps a close eye on the ever growing range of products, making sure things get reordered before they run out. She is also learning the production ropes, which involves a lot of different aspects.
Casey's work experience is in sales and administration. She is well organised and efficient, and always brings a warm and confident smile to the office!
Stacey was brought onboard at the beginning of March 2024 to manage the more technical aspects of production, alongside Howard!
She spends a lot of her time on the road between our warehouse and the various factories that manufacture our products, making sure that production runs smoothly and the best quality is upheld at all times.
Stacey has more of a finance background, but is fast learning the production ropes and also helping out in the office wherever she can.
We are thrilled to have her join the growing Papery team.