AUTUMN//WINTER 2018 11 Dominic Irons Dominic Irons is director of Bureau Direct,an award-winning online stationery retailer.With a background in both art and IT,he brings an unusual mix of creativity and data to the table.Dominic’s main focus is to manage the strategy and marketing of Bureau Direct. Originally set up in 1995,Bureau Direct has been online since 2003 and has established a name for sourcing unusual and exciting new stationery trends whilst offering unusually personal customer service. Simon Stone Simon Stone is managing director of Stone Marketing Ltd,the largest distributor in the UK for luxury writing instruments,stationery and design-led gifts.He has worked in the stationery and luxury goods industry for over 37 years and was responsible for setting up Montblanc in the UK in the 80s.Stone Marketing, a family business which Simon founded in 1989,has worked with Japanese stationery brandTOMBOW for almost 30 years and Faber-Castell,Pelikan and Caran d’Ache for 20 years. Julia Faiers Julia Faiers is the editor of Stationery Matters and has worked in the stationery industry since 2011,first as social media marketing manager for the London Stationery Show and National StationeryWeek and then as editor of Stationery Matters magazine.She writes the biweekly Stationery Matters newsletter,which she helped to set up last year.Julia was a judge for the inauguralThirty Under 30 competition in 2017. OUR FIRSTThirty Under 30 competition in 2017 demonstrated there is no shortage of young people with the motivation and talent to drive our industry forwards.The industry’s future lies in their hands. The secondThirty Under 30, the Class of 2018, builds on this, proving stationery’s future is bright. Entries could nominate themselves or be nominated by a colleague, and were asked to demonstrate their passion for their business and products, as well as show creativity, innovation and commitment to their role. Our judges chose the 30 young people across the breadth of the industry who they felt encapsulated the spirit of the awards, from entrepreneurs with a ground-breaking new product, to dedicated team workers and bloggers promoting stationery to an ever-expanding tribe of consumer stationery addicts. The judges were also asked to select their stand- out candidates, stars of stationery they felt shone especially bright.We’ve highlighted these six stand- out stars to recognise their admirable achievement. It’s time to meet theThirty Under 30 Class of 2018! MEET THE JUDGES THIRTY UNDER 30 AWARDS SPECIAL FOCUS