Sundays and stationery go together like eggs and avo, according to Molly Jeffery. For the co-founder of fun, luxurious pyjama brand Desmond & Dempsey, a morning of breakfast and notebooks in bed, perusing the Sunday paper and a spot of scrapbooking – all whilst tucked up in your favourite pyjamas – is what weekends should be made of. Boasting a bedroom brimming with unique prints on nightwear and notecards, not to mention her penchant for monogramming paper goodies just like she does pyjamas, we had to spotlight her in our stationery addict campaign.
Molly co-founded Desmond & Dempsey with her husband Joel in 2014, after he tired of her leaving coffee stains on his shirts she’d steal to lounge about the house. A shopping trip in search of her own PJs awakened the couple to the fact that beautifully designed, blissfully comfortable sleepwear wasn’t so easy to come by, so they set about making their own.
Much of the brand’s collections start life in Molly’s trusty scrapbooks and travel journals, which she’s forever filling with ideas and keepsakes from her adventures with Joel. Throughout a colourful trip to Morocco earlier this year, she explains: “I kept great, thick scrapbooks where I stuck everything from plane tickets to matchboxes and sugar wrappers. We then took all of our inspiration home and started painting, drawing, screen printing, etc.!” The result? Le Jardin – an exotic pyjama collection characterised by tranquil illustrations of palm trees, camels and the moonlit horizons of the Atlas Mountains painted by D&D's resident artist, Alice, which have since been translated into a Papier collection of personalised notebooks and notecards.
A love of paper has been part of the D&D story since chapter one. In addition to making sleepwear that doubles up as summer-perfect daywear, the brand also started The Sunday Paper – its own quarterly magazine inspired by Sundays. It’s a celebration of slowness, indulgence, adventures and freedom, featuring picks, interviews and a rather useful hangover column. “We urge readers to take advantage of the endless possibilities contained in this one brilliant day, and to use this time to do what they like best,” says Molly. “The freedom to sleep in, to spend the day eating breakfast and drinking wine, to get in your car and discover new places, the freedom to do anything your heart desires.” That (we think you’ll agree) is a mantra worth noting down.
What stationery do you own?
Lots. Pens, paper, notebooks, Washi tape, paints, diaries!
How does stationery have a positive impact on your day-to-day life?
I am too much of a fidgeter to mediate so I write in a journal every day, which is my version of mindfulness.
What item of stationery could you not live without?
Washi tape.
What’s your earliest stationery memory?
Decorating my books and laminating them at the beginning of the school year.
What’s your stationery vibe?
Lots of colour and lots of mess.
Complete this sentence: ‘New stationery makes me feel…’
Organised, creative, excited. Does that make me a total dork?
How do you feel when faced with the first blank page of a notebook?
Nervous...
Are you a doodler or a neat notetaker?
Doodler for sure.
What’s your go-to testing a pen sentence?
Hi, my name is Molly.
What’s that To Do list item that never gets ticked off?
Fixing my LinkedIn. Getting an English driving licence? I am no good at life admin!
Pen or pencil?
Both.
That piece of stationery that you absolutely adore but have never actually used?
I found all these old pen tins at my grandad's, which I love but now house my necklaces.
Most sentimental piece of stationery you own?
My journals.
How do you feel about sharing stationery?
Truthfully? No way.
Do you like to give new stationery the scent test?
Of course.
Discover all the Papier Stationery Addicts here.
