Stationery in the Digital Age

Lyon was one of the first cities in Europe to witness the growth of printers and publishers. The first printing workshop was set up there in the 15th century on the banks of the Saône. This was the beginning of the great period of publishing in Lyon: in one century, the city produced more than a third of French editions. 

Since 1963, there’s even has a museum retracing the history of graphic techniques. The Maison Perreyon 1884 acquired a chic reputation that still lives on a century later.

Perreyon was founded in 1884 - also the year when Waterman invented the fountain pen. Although Kelly Ingargiola is not part of the family, she knows its history inside out.

Over the years, the brand gradually developed the stationery and writing offer. The family kept the store until 2001 before selling to a successor who kept the name, which had acquired a well-respected reputation around Lyon. Kelly took it over in 2016. She knows the family well, who come to the store regularly. 

As an entrepreneur, she loves the historical aspect of her business: "when people ask me if the brand has been around for a long time, I say it’s a 136-year-old start-up!” 

Kelly decided to take over the store after some professional disappointments and a few sales experiences in Paris: "I absolutely wanted to do something artistic, creative, and stimulating”. 

At the time, the Perreyons had their own printing services. Later on, they worked with several outlets that have since closed. Today, the company is mostly known for luxury pens and fine stationery. 

In store, you can find well-known brands that have been around for a long time, leather stationery, but also unique items from Japan, Turkey and Canada. 

For Kelly, it's more of a fetish than a passion: "I have a lot of notebooks at home that I write stories in. Writing has a strength, a power that has been somewhat forgotten and that is coming back into fashion a lot. I've always loved writing, inventing, scribbling and drawing.” 

Other loyal customers live in the Ardèche region: they come to shop for gifts, or stop by during their weekend errands "I know that in their shopping circuit in Lyon they will inevitably pass by my shop", says Kelly. But Perreyon is also reaching a new connected clientele.

If Instagram brings her new clients, Perreyon 1884 does not yet have a site. It's a conscious decision, because the atmosphere of the store is what makes all the difference. "I will eventually launch one because it's 2020, but all of the offer won’t be online, I want people to visit the store » says Kelly.

Being niche is the strength of the brand – so the store even has an ink bar, which has a practical as well as an aesthetic side: it can be seen from the outside, and always brings curious people. 

Kelly wants to put in people's hands the tools to create on a daily basis. She organizes writing workshops and calligraphy courses to share techniques and hands-on experiences. 

In her daily life, she sometimes randomly comes across pens that she has had engraved. That's the Perreyon touch: being part of customers' lives in the long term, in a poetic way.