Nestled into a bay window overlooking a medieval citadel sits a small and visibly loved table – the current iteration of Martina Calvi’s desk. After a wedding at Lake Como and a summer spent honeymooning across Europe, the Australian mixed media creative and her new husband have settled into a charmingly miniscule cottage in the village of Rye. There she’s set up what she calls her travel desk, an assortment of stationery essentials for untethered journaling and crafting.
Though this is not Calvi’s permanent desk, it is very much hers. A cluster of hydrangeas wistfully presides over a scene of analogue correspondence, splashed through with the creative’s signature pink and red: a journal, outside pocket stuffed with writing instruments and collected treasures, pages threatening to break the elastic closure adorned with a playful apple keyring; a card freshly signed off (in curly letters ‘with love’) and ready to post; a pot of glue awaiting its next use; a pink plaid box for keeping everything contained while travelling to the next place where inspiration will strike.
Since 2015, Calvi has scrapbooked her way across the internet and the globe, sharing the delights of uninhibited, sentimental creativity with her many followers and cultivating a community of fellow crafters dedicated to the nostalgia of stickers, journaling, letters and all things handwritten – somehow managing to marry a digital life with an analogue one in a way that draws out the full potential of each. After starting out as a freelance photographer and graphic designer, Calvi realised she could instead be using her creativity for projects that were entirely hers. She started making and selling her own stickers, scrapbook paper and more, something facilitated by her online life. Whether at home or abroad on her many travels, she organises community events through her social media accounts for fellow crafters to get together in real life and work on whimsical projects – recently focused on letter writing and exchanging.
This autumn, Quadrille publishes her third book, ‘The Art of Snail Mail’, a guide to crafting adorable letters to send the old fashioned way. In advance of the launch and a book signing and pop-up event at the shop, Choosing Keeping spoke with Calvi about her travel desk, the draw of writing by windows and her extensive mug collection.
Choosing Keeping: Travel desks used to be more common than ones that stayed put – they were like the laptops of the Georgian era. Jane Austen had a portable desk for writing that also held her correspondence, ink pot, penknife, manuscripts, and three pairs of glasses. You probably don’t have ink pots and penknives – what do you have in your travel desk? How do you use it?
Martina Calvi: My travel desk consists of my travel journal, tea bags, a candle, my Kaweco fountain pens, pencils, postcards to send home and thank you cards for whoever has kindly hosted me.
CK: What settings or environments do you look for when you’re finding somewhere to set up your desk?
MC: I need sunlight or a view, so I’m almost always setting up by a window at my accommodation or in a cafe.
CK: What’s the most beautiful or unexpected place you’ve used your travel desk?
MC: That would have to be at the foot of a mountain in Kanderstag, in the Swiss Alps. My window opened out onto a rooftop, where I would sit with a pillow and watch the sun set over the mountains.
CK: What’s one of your favourite places to travel to?
MC: My family’s village in Calabria. It has a population of under 500 and is the one place I feel true calm and peace.
CK: And somewhere you didn’t like travelling to?
MC: I don’t drive, so LA was a bit of a pain.
CK: Do you have any rituals around letter writing – music, candles, clothing, specific tools? What’s your process?
MC: I like to take myself to a cafe or sit by a window to write a letter. It helps to have something to describe in your letter besides your bedroom. I am always accompanied by a cup of tea. At the moment I’m loving Fortnum & Mason Breakfast Blend. If I’m at home I’ll light a candle (anything rose scented – lately I love Diptyque Roses) and use a pretty mug. I have all kinds of strangely shaped mugs and cups I’ve collected from around the world. It’s a nightmare to store!
CK: Have you always been a letter writer? What drew you to start writing letters?
MC: I started writing letters as a child, like most people, though I probably had more pen pals than most. I loved anything to do with pen and paper and took any excuse to draw and create. I would write letters to my best friend Annabel, who moved away to Cairns as well as to a girl I met at Disneyland California, a family friend in Dubbo, and even my friend who lived a street away. I think even as a child, I knew there was something magical and special about writing something by hand. Annabel still has the letters I wrote to her when I was eight.
CK: What makes a good pen pal? And a good letter for a pen pal?
MC: A good letter follows basic manners: greet them, thank them for their letter, ask them questions about themselves, share something interesting or helpful, and send your best wishes. If you write it by hand or add some crafty, creative touches, all the better. To be quite honest though, I’ve never been disappointed by a letter from a pen pal – it’s always such a delight to receive a letter at all. Maybe a good pen pal is simply one that replies!
CK: Scrapbooking was incredibly popular in the Victorian era, and obviously letter writing was a staple of everyday life for centuries. You have harnessed a modern, digital way of communicating to promote this old, analogue way of communicating and recording a life. Do you feel pulled between the two modes? How do you balance the two? In your personal life, when do you prefer to use analogue versus digital communication methods?
MC: I find digital communication is an inevitable, unavoidable part of modern life. I don’t have many feelings about it – it’s like brushing my teeth. Analogue communication, on the other hand, feels entirely optional and novel. I choose analogue whenever I can, simply because it excites me much more to use a pretty book and pen to write in curly letters. Sending an email does not excite me, but it has to be done. Snail mail, scrapbooking and crafts feel like the antidote to our increasingly digital lives. They offer an opportunity to slow down, make something with our hands, and connect with others in a more thoughtful, lasting way.
CK: Do you ever feel like you were born in the wrong century? What period would you thrive in?
MC: My dad says I should have lived in the 60s since I love the music and the fashion of that era. I think I was born in exactly the right century though.
CK: What makes a good journal?
MC: Bear with me because I am picky, but: A5, 90–110 gsm paper (no lighter nor heavier). A back pocket. A ribbon or elastic closure. Blank pages. Lately I am partial to a soft cover, preferably fabric or leather.
CK: What’s your relationship to your journals, old and current?
MC: Whenever I read my old journals I feel such a conflicting mix of emotions. It’s quite healing to meet your younger self on the page and see how much you’ve grown and changed. The things that bothered me then don’t bother me now. There’s also some comfort in discovering the things that have remained the same – my love of a certain colour, a style of drawing, a thought pattern, a belief. Looking through my old journals both reaffirms my identity and shows me just how quickly and easily you can change.
CK: Do you keep all your journals? How do you store them? Do you often refer to them or use them for inspiration?
MC: I do! The only journals I have lost were from ages 15 to 17 (the angsty teenage years). I store them all on a shelf, like any other book. Occasionally I flip through old journals to find where a particular idea may have started, but it’s a little bit overwhelming. I am never, ever short on ideas, and my journals are full of unused gems. I wish I could create everything I’ve ever dreamt up in my journals and turn every idea into a reality. Some ideas are meant to stay on the page, though.
CK: And a fun question: what’s your desert island stationery pick? What’s essential?
MC: A journal, a Kaweco fountain pen, a Blackwing pencil, a Koh-i-noor eraser.
CK: Lastly, how did you first encounter Choosing Keeping? What drew you to the shop?
MC: I first visited Choosing Keeping while on tour for my second book, ‘A Year of Junk Journaling’. No exaggeration, 50 people messaged me prior to the tour to tell me I would love this lovely stationery in London – and they were right! I think people knew we’d share an appreciation for tiny details, a little sense of magic and, of course, beautiful stationery. It is my favourite stationery store in London, without a doubt.
