HERSTORI
Take the journey through our epic, tall, short, and tiny stories.
Established in 2015
Just a girl from London, looking for a special journal and being inspired to make her own. Soon this grew into a family business where we’ve had the honour of serving journalers from around the world. This is the Stori of an adventure that started from daring to dream.
Welcome to HERSTORI
The First Stori Dori
This was meant to be mine. When I couldn’t contain my excitement to share the idea with a friend for creating a journal like this, she ended up placing an order! And so my first became her first. Years later she gifted it back to me. Cried tears of happiness for such kindness and understanding for how sentimental I am. Thank you, LaYinka Sanni!
Handmade inserts of the very first Stori Dori
I found these gorgeous wrapping paper designs that came in a book. The most gorgeous combos of geometric patterns!
I still have the very first one
Safely tucked away in my personal collection. Truth be told it wasn’t the best quality since I didn’t have the right tools that we eventually acquired. Nor did I have the patience to take my time and go slowly. A fond reminder of beautiful imperfections.
Journaling Pro!
Memori-es of our cafe visits with the darling LaYinka Sanni. Year one of SD was filled with many of these meetups.
MEMORI-ES
An ongoing project of curating our memories from the archives
Adventure collection leathers
Pre-dyed phase. Many steps went into creating a Stori Dori. Branding them like this could only be done by wetting the leather first. This way they took a good impression.
The inimitable LaYinka Sanni
My homegirl has been my biggest support since day one. We’d meet up regularly with our Stori Doris in tow.
Clearing the work space for a new shoot
Displayed here are the first ones of the Seeker collection. Working from home meant we had to improvise a workshop, office, and photography studio when needed.
Work In Progress
Mr Stori Dori and I would plan how many sizes we could get from every leather skin we’ve ever handled. This was the most complicated part of the process to ensure we used up every inch of leather with minimal waste. We’ve kept most of the offcuts for personal projects.
LaYinka’s Journals
She probably has the biggest collection among all the people we’ve served over the years. The early editions of her Stori Dori journal collection in Short and Tall.
Leathers Galore!
A feast for the eyes and heart when visiting our suppliers.
BTS of our Seeker Collection shoot
Using every available space for making and shooting our journals. A snapshot of the moment Mr Stori Dori and I were done.
Hand stitched pockets – Seeker Collection
The crowning jewel of this collection are, hands down, the pockets. Removable so you may customise the layout of your Stori Dori to your needs, and roomy enough to slot an insert or two.
Tall+ size Seeker – Stori Dori
This now retired collection came with a full range of Quarterly Perpetual Planners with each insert holding 3months worth of planning space.
Epic+ Seeker – Stori Dori
Each Seeker took approximately 96hrs to complete. We cut, stamped, dyed, handstitched, and made each insert ourselves.
Short+ Seeker – Stori Dori
Secretarial removable pockets and with plenty of room to bulk up these Stori Doris were all created with purpose and beautifulness in mind. This collection was as much about WOW as it was to be a useful companion for the journaler.
Stories from the Seeker Collection
Second collection release came in the form of the Seeker Collection. The inspiration behind this was creating a journal that included orignal designs for undated planners, at the time to suit my needs, that can be used any time of year and never become outdated.
Epic Adventure in Notte Ombra – Stori Dori
Night shadow… I mean, it has to be the best description of the colour black! Flatlayed with items for scale.
Big Adventure in Pekmez
Slimmer in width but same height at the Epic. Regular traveler notebook inserts fit by the half dozen in these. If you own a Stori Dori in this size and want refills for it, look for inserts that are 11cm x 21cm
Short Adventure
This collection really represented what it felt like to start something new. May were lovingly handmade and reached their owners around the world.
Tiny Adventure
The dinkiest size of the bunch. If you need refills for these look for inserts in 9cm x 12cm sizes. GO STATIONERY is a brand in the UK who supply notebooks of this size.
Hand dyed warm tones, an ode to classics
Our range from the Adventure collection came in the sizes Epic, Big, Tall, Short, and Tiny – a reflection of the stories we have within each and every one of us.
Handmade inserts
Not only did we handmake leather journals, we also made the inserts to go in them. This was so we could provide a variety of page layouts and different papers. The kraft cardstock covers were intentionally chosen to give the journaler a blank canvas to decorate the covers in any which way they wanted.
Very first Adventure Collection shoot
Flying by the seat of my pants as per usual! This shoot was happening on the go. Grabbing what I had to hand at home to create the scene of feels.
Short Stori Dori in Kia Ora
Naming our vibrant colours from the Adventure Collection was a no brainer. We were just starting out and I wanted to pay homage to greetings of ‘hello’ in various languages. Each colour representing the country that best suited the colour. ‘Kia Ora’ is the Maori greeting for ‘Hello’, by the beautiful Maori people of Aotearoa (New Zealand).
Short Stori Dori in Bonjour
Choosing the names of colours for our Adventure collection was so much fun. Paying homage to greetings in various languages, as we were just starting out with this collection, felt like such a good fit. And this red reminds me of the use of rouge in French culture so Bonjour is was!
Full grain veg tan Italian leather
We used to buy the leather and dye it ourselves so we could make batches in a range of different colours. Loved this so much but wasn’t feasible to keep up when working from home.
Leather sampling
Tony has always been generous with us on our visits. His knowledge and zeal for the quality and beauty of leathers astounded me and we never wanted to leave.
Our first visit to the leather supplier
Tony, the director of our leather supplier, showing us around the workshop.
First logo stamps
Made right here in the UK, these were the ones we used to brand each of our journals with our earlier collections
Journaling on the go
Take it anywhere and when inspired you’re ready to capture the moment. LaYinka and I would often meet up for these mini shoots and I love to watch her journal.
GIFTING DAY
Meeting up for lunch and hand delivering Stori Doris to friends
My first Tall Stori Dori in Pekmez
Stamped with BISMILLAH, a wonky first attempt! Back when we had to individually stamp each letter. Not a very good set of stamps but did the job. The grain of the leather is sublime and love how it’s aged, picking up scuffs and marks.
A scenes from the Traveller Collection shoot.
Mr Stori Dori was at the helm of creating this collection which included a Hajj journal at its launch. This particular spread has the last sermon of our Beloved Prophet (SAWS).
Oh, hello!
Mr Stori Dori and I on our first road trip to leather suppliers
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