There’s something about starting a new venture that makes me want to go out and buy new stationery. I don’t know if it’s the memories of the new school year with a bag full of blank notebooks and that lovely clean paper smell together with the sense of possibilities ahead, or perhaps it’s the more prosaic reason that I am a disorganised worker and I am always on the hunt for that magic notebook/filing system/online solution that will suddenly make the disorder around me fall into place.

The problem with starting an online venture is that there’s no real reason to buy (invest in) traditional paper based solutions. But that doesn’t stop me from coveting things I find on the internet. Perhaps the answer is to make a virtual collection of business items to go with my virtual office!

These items would definately make it onto my wish list:

A vintage (80s) Russian desk tidy, from Cherryshop on Etsy. I love the Deco style eagle on the side holder.

This desk is being advertised in a magazine from the 1960s. I’d love to see it for real.

Or finally, for working on the move, how about this fantastic student’s portable desk. Designed to fold out on top of a table, it’s been set out as a bar in this photo, but has compartments for stationery, a blackboard for making notes and a scrolling roll showing maps, flags, birds and other essentials. I’d say this is the closest thing to a laptop and Wikipedia that they had in 1903.

I found this great item being sold by TheDirtyLoft on Etsy