Show Notes
The Trouble With Making Everything Easier
Is analogue making a comeback? Maybe. But perhaps that isn't quite the right question. In this episode of Stationery Freaks, Helen and Rob wander and meander through notebooks, video games (yes, you read that right), typewriters, old cars, AI-generated music, writing retreats, Hobonichis, Moleskines and the pleasure of making things slightly harder than they need to be. Helen has become unexpectedly absorbed in an online game. Of course, this comes complete with colour-coded plans and strategies in her Hobonichi. Rob has repurposed the writing bureau specifically for finishing his squirrel book — and then written exactly zero words in it. There is a pattern somewhere in here. We've spent years removing friction from everything. Digital tools make things faster. AI makes things easier. Algorithms make decisions for us. We're told to optimise everything and digital is wonderfully good at doing that optimisation. And yet some of the things we value most seem to require the opposite. And maybe that's really what people are reclaiming. A notebook takes longer than a notes app. A typewriter is considerably slower than a laptop. An old car requires actual participation and focus. Sketching before opening a computer gives an idea time to breathe. Even spending an hour playing a game can feel more restorative than another hour scrolling. Maybe it's not a rise of just analogue. Maybe analogue is just one of the ways to regain some control over what we actually think. Well, that's where we ended up anyway - of course, it wasn't a straight line to get there. Along the way we discuss: Rob's Department of Interesting Things Helen's beloved Hobonichi A fascinating shop called Labour and Wait Moleskines and banning digital Apple Notes for voice memos and early drafts As well as writing rituals, the appeal of analogue travel kits, and the excellent YouTube channel of John Pattison. It's a slightly rambling conversation, as usual, about stationery that turns into something else entirely: what happens when we stop trying to make every minute productive?
And whether a little friction might actually be good for us. Grab the newsletter for more about this episode. https://stationeryfreaks.substack.com/
More from Stationery Freaks
After a few months away — and a very welcome "petition of one" from Stacy in Florida — Rob and Helen are back. Rob has been building a public commonplace: twenty-five years of learning, typed onto index cards (possibly breaking his typewriter in the process) and slowly taking over his studio wall. Helen has been redistributing her notebook collection to a room of grateful authors, which may or may not count as cheating in the great notebook challenge. See original hoarding cast here and a revisit to the challenge of using notebooks here. Along the way: why old publishing offices were built around attention rather than productivity, a typewritten daily planning ritual that's quietly replaced Todoist, the strange magnetism of Midori paper, a beautiful Japanese storage haul, giving away index cards to parents and why the whole world seems to be drifting back to analogue. It's like old times. Which is rather the point of the cast. It's good to be back. If you'd like to see images, and more about the show - check out the companion newsletter to this episode. https://stationeryfreaks.substack.com/
In this episode of Stationery Freaks, Rob and Helen dig into the messy, essential world of scrap notes: desk pads, Post-its, legal pads, envelopes, voice memos, and the “grab whatever’s nearby” capture habit. They explore the real question beneath the stationery: what’s the process for turning a quick note into something useful — and what happens when your capture system becomes a pile of open loops.
It’s our first Stationery Freaks episode of 2026, and we’re going deep on goal setting, as we usually do for the first cast of the year.
It’s the last Stationery Freaks episode before Christmas, and after a slightly chaotic month we’re back with a free-form catch-up full of notebook temptation, planning experiments, and advent calendar joy. Helen reviews two very premium stationery advent calendars — Martha Brook(s) and Tom’s Studio — including what you actually get, which one feels more “decorative vs functional,” and the one item she absolutely refuses to touch (again). Rob shares his new structured SmartPlanner time-blocking experiment (and why he’s moved from pen to pencil), an everyday-carry bag confession featuring nine notebooks, and an early idea he’s calling The Wallpaper Method: learning notes on a giant scroll. We also chat about “analog wellbeing,” why January is peak notebook season, end-of-year reflection (hello, Collins ledger), and what we’ll be tackling in the first episode of 2026.
In this special on-the-road episode, Rob and Helen meet in person for the first time in almost six years — to celebrate Mark+Fold’s 10-year anniversary at their Brick Lane pop-up. Recorded between a noisy East London bar and the beautifully minimalist Mark+Fold shop, this episode is a blend of celebration, nostalgia, and stationery-fueled creativity. Apologies for some of the audio quality - London doesn't have many quiet bars and restuarants! You’ll hear: The Stationery Freaks origin story — how a shared love of pens and notebooks sparked a 7-year podcast Why Mark+Fold’s aesthetic hits so deeply for creatives How notebooks help ideas become real — from novels to meetings to films What Helen did and didn’t buy (and what Rob tried to encourage…) Plus two brilliant spontaneous mini-interviews: Terri, a writer whose tiny handwriting and Bangkok-sourced micro-nib pens inspired us both Vicky, a second-generation bookbinder behind the stitching of Mark+Fold’s planners and notebooks It’s a celebration of longevity — Mark+Fold’s 10 years, Stationery Freaks’ 7 years — and the creative habits, tools, and people that keep us all moving from idea → creation. Links & Mentions Mark+Fold Pop-Up Shop – Open until 25th November 2025 - Find the store at 228 Brick Lane, London, E2 7EE Mark+Fold Monthly Planners & Notebooks Choosing Keeping (London stationery shop) Blackwing Pencils Hobonichi Techo & A6 notebooks Oxford Notebooks & Yellow Legal Pads Key Moments 00:00 — Meeting in person for the first time in years 03:10 — Why Mark+Fold’s design philosophy resonates 07:40 — How the Stationery Freaks podcast began 14:00 — Why we record even when the audio is imperfect 18:30 — What we learned from early listeners & global analytics 22:50 — Interview with Terry (writer + micro-nib pen enthusiast) 30:40 — Interview with Vicky (bookbinder who sews Mark+Fold’s planners) 38:00 — Live from the shop floor — Helen “lightly shopping” 46:00 — Reflections on creativity, tools, and 10 years of making things