SPRING//SUMMER 2018 21 20 SPRING//SUMMER 2018 ‘THE LITTLE RED BOOK’ means different things to different people. For the Chinese, it is the quotations of Chairman Mao Tse-tung. For millions in the UK, Europe and North America in particular, it means Silvine children’s exercise books, notebooks and memo books. Several generations grew up in the last century using the legendary red Silvine books with the laurel leaf and shield on the front and conversion table on the back. For those devotees, it’s no contest! It is hard to believe in this era of multi-coloured, design-led stationery that the original red Silvine books were introduced by Otley-based Sinclairs (then known as William Sinclair & Sons) back in the 1950s in order to bring brighter colour to some of the products in the range and, importantly, to stand out in a market dominated at the time by drab pale blue and buff colours. It was a good move. There aren’t many stationery suppliers and brands older than Sinclairs and Silvine. William Sinclair & Sons (Stationers) was established in 1837 and today is the UK’s biggest stationery manufacturer. It is still family owned (sixth generation) and produces enough books every day if stacked one on top of the other to reach higher than Ben Nevis. All its products CHRIS LEONARD-MORGAN, founder of the London Stationery Show, puts the spotlight on a great British icon use raw materials which come from sustainable and ethical sources. Silvine was registered in 1901, the year Queen Victoria died. More than 100 years later, the range comprises more than 600 products, and since 2008 has featured on the Everyday products a more modern logo than the original laurel leaf. Sinclairs has, however, cleverly introduced two new ranges with the laurel leaf to help perpetuate the original red icon by reinventing it with a modern twist. The first is the premium Silvine Originals Collection, launched in red in 2016, which was inspired by the products used and loved over many years by so many schoolchildren, artists, writers and craftspeople. It uses paper sourced from another equally long-established family-owned British company, James Cropper in Kendal, which is also run by the sixth generation of its family. The other is the just-launched limited-edition Indie Collection – Exercise, Memo and Pocket – in three inspiring colours, aimed at the hipster crowd: independent coffee-shop owners, florists, graphic designers, musicians, creatives and artists. Silvine and Sinclairs are well placed to continue to stimulate and benefit from consumers’ love affair with nostalgia. And stationery. Silvine’s ‘Little Red Books’ ICONS OF STATIONERY STAND M620