2024, where do we even begin?! This last year has flown by us in a flash and is a year we will certainly never forget. As we bid goodbye to 2024 and welcome in 2025, we like to practise our annual tradition of taking a moment to collect our thoughts and pick out some of the best bits from the last 12 months. From a charity campaign close to our hearts to realising the power of our brilliant community, this year has been filled with lots of lovely moments we’ll treasure for a lifetime. So, read on for our 9 highlights from the year that was 2024…

9 highlights from the year that was 2024

1. We teamed up with a very special charity

First up on our list of 9 highlights from the year that was 2024 is of course our wonderful Glimmers campaign with the perinatal mental health charity, PANDAS Foundation. A cause close to not only our hearts, but particularly to our Founder and CEO, Martha, this campaign is something we’re still so proud of. Working closely with PANDAS Foundation, we created the limited edition Glimmers Journal to raise money for those struggling with pre or postpartum depression and to spread awareness on what glimmers are.

If you want to know more about what glimmers are and how to find them, you can head over to our blog here. 

2. We collaborated with some brilliant brands

We love finding ways to thank you for being a part of our community and working with other brilliant brands is a great way to do just that! This year we’ve had the pleasure of partnering up with Soap & Glory, Bonnier Books, Floral Street, Harper Collins, Spa Breaks and Fable England, to giveaway some wonderful prizes and treat you lovely lot. We can’t reveal much yet but we’ve already got a few exciting things coming in 2025 which we know you will love, so make sure you stay tuned! 

3. We realised the power of our incredible community

Whether you’ve been with us since before the start of the year or you’re relatively new here, you wouldn’t have been able to miss the unfortunate events surrounding our beautiful 24 days of stationery advent calendar. After selling out in record time, we soon came to realise this product was at the heart of a major online counterfeit scam. Things quickly snowballed and it was you, our incredible community, who came to our aid in a time of need and helped us identify as many websites, adverts and listings as possible for our case. For everyone who reported, commented, emailed, from the bottom of our hearts – thank you. We will never be able to express our gratitude enough!

4. The 7^th year of our stationery advent calendar

We like the find the joy in everything we do and although the stationery advent calendar this year was targeted by fraudsters, we can’t not celebrate its success. Back for its 7^th year running, this year’s design was inspired by the hidden secrets of enchanted forests and we were totally blown away by your response. You all loved it so much, our website broke as it was so overwhelmed and it sold out in record time. We’re not sure where we go from here in terms of what happened this year, but this year’s advent calendar is for sure a big highlight for us and this year’s design will be a tough one to beat! Challenge accepted? You’ll have to wait and see…

5. We launched some new products you’ve loved

Every year we work hard to bring you products you’ve wanted to see from us and this year is no different! In January we asked you, our lovely community, what you’d like to see from us this year and wow, there were some incredible suggestions! At the top of the list was a 5 year diary, an academic diary and more vegan leather products so your wish was our command. It’s been such a delight seeing how much you’ve loved using our new products for 2024 and we can’t wait to hear what you’d like from us in 2025 too.

6. We hit 100k followers on Instagram

Next up on our list of 9 highlights from the year that was 2024 is how much our community has grown over on Instagram. Starting the year on 89k followers, we wouldn’t have believed you if you said we’d be ending the year on over 144k followers – that’s an extra 55,000 of you! There isn’t a day that goes by where we don’t feel grateful to have each and every one of you here in our little stationery corner of the world. As a side note, how incredible is this cake by the talented Jasmine from Sugar and Stories?!

7. We created some beautiful bespoke stationery

We love working with other businesses to bring their branded stationery visions to life and this year we’ve had the pleasure of creating bespoke stationery for some incredible brands, like Aston Martin, Disney+, Estee Lauder and many more! One to highlight in particular is WaterAid who were looking for gifts for their annual charity ball and wanted something special to treat their guests to. Our largest ever corporate order, we produced these lovely bespoke vegan leather notebooks with their branding on and aren’t they lovely!

If you’re looking for bespoke or branded stationery, reach out to our team who’ll be more than happy to help!

8. Martha was announced as an Ambassador for the British Library Business & IP Centre

We are so unbelievably proud that our fantastic Founder and CEO, Martha, was announced as an Ambassador for the British Library and IP Centre back in March. It was feels even more fitting this was announced on International Women’s Day, celebrating women in business and female entrepreneurship and there’s no-one we can think of who is more deserving (or who’ll do a better job!) of the role. Proud team moment!

9. We’ve been continuing to wave the small business flag

And last but certainly not least on our list of 9 highlights from the year that was 2024 is how proud we are to be waving that small business flag, nice and high. You might have noticed Martha created a new community called Business Secrets Club where she gives tips and tricks, including on Instagram (@businesssecretsclub) so other entrepreneurs can start up their own small business and soak up her know-how on how to build an online business. Over at Martha Brook each December, we also love to shout about other small businesses for Small Business Saturday. With Martha being a Small Business Saturday Hero, we like to spread as much awareness around shopping small at Christmas and our Small Business Gift Guide for 2024 went down a total treat!

And that’s 2024 in a nutshell! We hope you’ve enjoyed reading through these 9 highlights from the year that was 2024 and we hope you have a truly wonderful new year. We can’t wait to come back in 2025 to see what another year has in store for us and to have you lovely lot along for the ride too.

P.S. Want to get organised for 2025? You can still shop here! We’ll be taking a break over Christmas and New Year but we’ll be back from 2nd January 2025 sending out your stationery orders.