The Story Behind Ember Stationery
From the very beginning, we knew we wanted to create a stationery brand that felt like a little world of its own. Ember Stationery started with a simple idea: creating a place where we could put our creativity first, explore our own ideas and choose our own direction. We wanted to design stationery that we genuinely loved, while having the freedom to experiment with different styles, illustrations and ideas along the way.
One thing we both agreed on very quickly was that we didn’t want to be tied to one specific art style. We love discovering new styles, experimenting with different ideas and letting our creativity take us in unexpected directions. Whether we are designing journaling stickers, scrapbook paper or other creative stationery, we want each collection to have its own personality and feel right for the idea behind it.
But that also brought a little challenge: how do you create a stationery brand that feels consistent when the products themselves don’t necessarily look the same? We realised that our stickers and scrapbook papers didn’t have to share the exact same art style. Instead, the consistency could come from the Ember Stationery visual identity and branding itself. The individual designs could change, while the overall look and feel of the brand remained recognisable.
That’s where our stationery design came in. By having a recognisable and consistent design for our sticker sheets, packaging and scrapbook paper, we could keep the products playful and different while still giving you little reminders that they came from us.
We wanted the freedom to create in our own way, while still making it easy for you to look at something and think, “Oh, that’s Ember Stationery.” For us, that balance between creative freedom and recognisable branding is a really important part of what makes our stationery brand feel like ours.
How Ember Stationery Got Its Name
Of course, before we could figure out our visual identity, we needed a name. We spent quite some time brainstorming names that would fit our idea, our brand and the feeling we wanted to create. We wanted something that felt a little magical, but also something that felt personal and uniquely ours. A name that would work for a creative stationery brand, but still have a story behind it. We weren’t getting very far.
And then, in the most random moment possible, Emmelys sister came up with it. While she was unloading the dishwasher. That's right, the dishwasher.
Somehow, in the middle of doing something completely unrelated, she suddenly said Ember Stationery, and it just clicked. The name was a combination of both of our names, while Ember itself had that little spark of warmth and magic we were looking for. Together, Ember Stationery felt different, memorable and somehow just right.
And when we discovered that the name was still available, that pretty much confirmed it. It was meant to be.
So… What About the Logo?
Once we had our name, the next question was: What is Ember Stationery supposed to look like?
We knew pretty quickly that we wanted to include something connected to the night sky. The moon, stars and sun have always had a little bit of a special place in our hearts, so they felt like a natural starting point for our logo design and stationery branding.
We spent quite a while sketching different ideas on our iPads. Moon after moon, star after star… and while we liked some of them, none of them quite felt like Ember Stationery yet. They were pretty, but we were still missing that little something that made the design feel like it belonged to us.
Then we had another idea.
What if our logo looked like a postage stamp?
Suddenly, we had a new direction. It felt a little vintage, a little nostalgic and perfectly suited to a stationery brand. More importantly, it gave us a whole new source of inspiration to work with. The postage stamp idea also felt fitting for a brand centred around paper, creativity, journaling and all the little things we love about traditional stationery.
So, naturally, we went back to the drawing board.
After quite a few sketches, tweaks, versions we loved and versions we definitely did not love, we finally landed on our final logo. And honestly? We’re still so happy with it. It feels like the perfect starting point for the visual identity we wanted to build around Ember Stationery, and it has given us a recognisable foundation for everything we create.
Building the Ember Stationery Visual Identity
From there, the Ember Stationery visual identity started to grow around the logo. The moon in our logo became a small reflection of what our brand represents to us: curiosity, creativity and those quiet moments where new ideas begin.
We started building our branding around things we have always been drawn to: the night sky, old books, nature, storytelling, quiet moments and that feeling of getting completely lost in your own imagination. These influences naturally found their way into our colours, illustrations, packaging and overall stationery design.
You’ll find stars, moons, vintage-inspired details and rich, earthy tones throughout our branding. Not because every Ember Stationery product needs to look exactly the same, but because these little elements help create a world that feels familiar while still being a little unexpected.
And that’s exactly what we wanted.
Our brand identity doesn’t exist to put us in a box. Quite the opposite. It gives us the freedom to step outside of it. We can create a soft and whimsical collection one day, something dark and atmospheric the next, or completely change direction with our next idea, and it can still feel like Ember Stationery.
Because the style of the product can change, whether we are creating journaling stickers, scrapbook paper or something completely new.
The Ember Stationery feeling stays.
More than anything, our visual identity is an invitation into our little world. A place where we can experiment, create, tell stories and follow whatever idea happens to inspire us next. We want our stationery and journal supplies to feel like something you can discover, collect and make your own, while our branding quietly ties everything together.
And we hope that when you see the Ember Stationery logo, you know exactly where you are. Whether you’re browsing a new sticker collection, choosing scrapbook paper for your next journal spread or simply discovering our creative stationery for the first time, we hope you can recognise that little bit of magic that makes it ours.
