THE RACING POST: Smythson has partnered with the Aston Martin Aramco Formula 1 Team on a collection that launches this week that’s been designed with motor racing enthusiasts in mind.
The collection, developed by Smythson’s in-house design team together with Aston Martin Aramco, features stationery, travel and tech accessories in colors such as the F1 team’s signature “podium green” and “dark shadow.”
The hero piece in the collection is a bespoke “circuit journal” that includes exclusive, behind-the-scenes content from the team, including a foreword from managing technical partner and team principal Adrian Newey, as well as space to document every race throughout the season.
The stationery offering also includes Smythson’s Panama and Soho notebooks, presented in “podium green,” “dark shadow,” and “lime essence” shades, with special-edition illustrations of the cars lining the inside covers.
Travel and tech accessories include a multi zip case, passport sleeve, double zip wash bag, small laptop case, large flat card holder, key ring with leather strap, and sunglasses case.
The collaboration comes on the heels of Smythson’s new flagship opening at 575 Madison Avenue in New York, 25 years after the British stationer and leather accessories maker opened its first stand-alone store in the city.
Stationery from Smythson’s collaboration with the Aston Martin Aramco Formula 1 Team.
The U.S. is Smythson’s second-largest market outside the U.K. and Smythson took extra care with the new store. The company worked with architectural design studio Johnson Pinney Architects to develop the 1,400-square-foot space which is meant to showcase Smythson’s two worlds, leather and paper.
Smythson also collaborated with multidisciplinary studio Fung + Bedford, which created a large-scale installation suspended from the ceiling that’s based on origami designs. The artwork has been hand-folded to create two feather-like forms, inspired by the watermark found on Smythson’s featherweight paper.
The store houses Smythson’s full selection, and also features a dedicated bespoke stationery salon, the only one outside of London, where customers can book a one-on-one appointment with a stationery specialist.
They advise on commissions ranging from personal stationery and business cards to wedding invitations and holiday cards. The store is also offering personalization services, where their artisans gold-stamp diaries, notebooks and leather styles with initials and playful motifs.
