Thirty young people, all aged under 30, have been selected as the finalists in the Thirty Under 30 stationery competition – with Love Island winner Jack Fincham, previously the sales director of DMG Office Supplies made an honorary nominee!
The judges were also asked to select their stand-out candidates who were revealed as Cherelle Brown, founder of Kitsch Noir; Gemma Bassett, marketing manager of Sinclairs; Jamie Mitchell, co-founder of Ohh Deer; Julien Vaissieres, founder of BATCH.WORKS; Kaushal Shah, founder of Paper Plus Europe and Odin Adargh, designer and director at Brahman.
Thanks to Jack Fincham’s enthusiasm for stationery and pens his positive contribution to the industry has been recognised. Jack, who joins this years Thirty Under 30 line up, is credited with boosting exposure for the industry over the summer. He was spotted discussing the latest stationery trends on ITV’s This Morning as well as taking part in a stationery Q&A for Paperchase.
Commented Julia Faiers, editor of Stationery Matters, and one of this year’s judges: “Our first Thirty Under 30 competition last year demonstrated there is no shortage of young people with the motivation and talent to drive our industry forwards. The second Thirty Under 30 builds on this, proving stationery’s future is bright.”
The judges chose 30 young people from across the breadth of the industry who they felt encapsulated the spirit of the awards: from entrepreneurs with a ground-breaking new product, to dedicated team workers and bloggers promoting stationery to an ever-expanding tribe of consumer stationery addicts.
Entrants could nominate themselves or be nominated by a colleague. They were asked to demonstrate their passion for their business and products, as well as to show creativity, innovation and commitment to their role.
In addition to Julia Faiers, two other judges were on the panel: Dominic Irons, director of Bureau Direct, and award-winning online stationery retailer Simon Stone, managing director of Stone Marketing, the largest distributor in the UK for luxury writing instruments, stationery and design-led gifts.
Top: Love Island’s winner Jack Fincham recently fanfared his love of stationery on ITV’s This Morning.
