I’m a book girl, through and through.  From old ones where the pages are so thin and brittle that you have to turn them with slow and deliberate delicacy, right through to crisp new ones which smell of bleachy chemicals and freshly printed ink, their razor sharp newly sliced pages carrying the promise of a paper cut if you dare not treat them right. Reading books and being able to immerse yourself into someone else’s world and escape your own is a pleasure second only to one thing – creating your own. Whether you’re journaling the most private of thoughts, or jotting down your day-to-day, or even just doodling, that book needs to be something special, and beautiful. Life is too short for ugly books.

This gorgeous nude leather journal from Flourish ticks all my boxes. The entire book is handmade – the pages are stitched into sections, which in turn are stitched to the spine. A riempie ties your book closed, which mean you’re not getting bent pages or handbag shmutz all up in your notes.  Also, every time you open it it’s like unwrapping a gift. And you can even tie your fancy pen up in the bow. Dayum! They’re available in a range of sizes and colours, which means you can take accessorizing to the next level. Notebook matching your shoes, matching your bag? Totes. 

One of our longest standing, loyal and supportive sellers, Savior Brand Co, has been up to some pretty amazing things this year.

Not only have they continued to produce some seriously droolworthy leather goods, but they have also done Durban a solid by pumping out mean cappuccino's and killer cupcakes from their new coffee shop at 51 Station Drive.

And what's even better is that they're sharing the goodness with all SBC fans, worldwide! You can get hold of your very own Savior Brand Co coffee beans on Hello Pretty, right over here.

Be the king of the swingers with this amazing backpack from Five Past Five. It's hand crafted, hand stitched, and hands down the best looking backpack I've ever seen. Plus, its sturdy sides and geometric shape are perfect for your laptop. Get yours here.

We featured this item in our newsletter this week, along with a curated collection of our favourite bags, sleeves, and covers for those all-important pieces of tech in your lives. There's a new theme every week, so if you'd like to be kept in the loop, sign up below!

Mags do it, newspapers do it, fashionistas do it, so heck, we're doing it too.

We all know that there's a bunch of things that we should all have in our cupboards. "Go to" items in times of crisis, bad weather and fat days. However, whether or not we actually subscribe to all of the lists of things the glossies of the world are telling us are a sign of growing up is another thing entirely. *shoves Hello Kitty PJ's under pillow*

So, in the hopes of becoming the elegant, put together, groomed woman that I believe I should be, I have rustled up some of the goodies we apparently should all possess. And after this I'm going to track down my hair brush and attempt to learn some fancy stuff about wine and taxes. (Adulthood man. It's pretty tough.)

Savior Brand Co. was borne out of a desire to find an alternative to the mass-produced dime-a-dozen phone and laptop covers available commercially. SBC went one better and created beautiful, quality leather goods that not only smell awesome, but are designed and made by hand right here in Mzansi. Founder, inventor of the word “ZARians”, and cheesecake fanatic Max took some time to chat to us.