Customer Spotlight: Stay in Touch Raleigh
Stay in Touch Raleigh is a love letter to paper people. You know, the letter writers, journalers, planners, list-makers, sticker collectors, fountain pen dabblers, and anyone who has ever bought a notebook with wildly optimistic intentions. Built around the idea of slowing down and reconnecting through tactile, intentional rituals, Stay in Touch offers a warm and welcoming space for creativity, community, and analog delight. The shop is thoughtfully curated to make paper feel approachable, inspiring, and deeply human. We sat down with Catherine Iszard, shop owner, to talk about her love of everything analog in a digital world.
Stay in Touch is built around the idea of slowing down and reconnecting on paper. What made you feel like Raleigh needed a space like this right now?
We live in a world where so much of our attention is constantly pulled in different directions, and I think people are craving tactile, intentional experiences again. Writing something down, sending a letter, making a list, or decorating a journal page are small rituals, but they help us reconnect with ourselves and with the people around us in a very real way. As Raleigh has grown over the past few years, I kept hearing people online and throughout the community say things like, “I wish there was a place where I could sit down and work on my creative hobbies in person,” or “I want to start journaling, but I don’t know where to begin.” Even with so many exciting businesses and creative spaces opening in the city, we were still missing a dedicated stationery store — especially one where people could discover Japanese stationery brands alongside female-founded small businesses from across the US.
That gap felt really meaningful to me because I didn’t just want to create a store that sold notebooks and pens — I wanted to create a space that made creativity and connection feel approachable. I wanted Stay in Touch to feel just as welcoming for someone buying their very first notebook as it does for longtime stationery lovers. To me, stationery isn’t about perfection or having the “right” handwriting or journal system. It’s about slowing down, being curious, and finding small ways to stay in touch with yourself, your creativity, and your community through paper.
Your shop speaks to letter writers, journalers, planners, list-makers, and everyday creatives. Why is it important to you to create a space for “paper people”?
I think “paper people” often understand something really special: physical objects can hold emotion, memory, and presence in a way digital tools sometimes can’t. A grocery list scribbled on a sticky note, a postcard from a trip, a journal entry written during a hard season — those things become little archives of our lives.
I also think stationery can feel intimidating from the outside. Online, it’s easy to feel like you need perfect handwriting, artistic talent, or an elaborate system to participate. I really wanted Stay in Touch to push against that idea. You can be someone who keeps an organized planner, someone who writes letters every week, or someone who just wants a notebook to brain dump thoughts before bed — there’s room for all of it.
Creating a welcoming space for beginners has always been important to me. I want people to feel inspired, not overwhelmed. At the same time, I love being able to stock products that longtime stationery enthusiasts get excited about, too. The goal is to create a shop where curiosity and creativity feel accessible to everyone.
You carry everything from postcards and letter sets to fountain pens, washi tape, stickers, notebooks, and art supplies. Although we haven’t seen your shop in person, the items you’ve selected look perfectly curated for your cozy spot. How do you decide what belongs in the shop?
We believe the hardest part of journaling isn’t doing it—it’s starting. So, we curate with that in mind.
Every product is chosen to lower the barrier to entry in a very intentional way. That means tools that feel intuitive from the first use, materials that don’t require instructions, and objects that invite you in instead of making you hesitate. We try to avoid anything overly technical or intimidating—stationery should feel welcoming, not exclusive.
We also place a strong emphasis on supporting minority-owned brands and getting to know the artists and founders behind the products we carry. That relationship matters to us just as much as the items themselves.
Our aesthetic leans vintage and nostalgic, so there’s a natural pull toward designs that feel like they carry a sense of memory or history. Because of that, we also intentionally choose to say no to AI-generated art and instead focus on work that reflects a human hand, story, and perspective.
Your website hosts a section called “anything analog” that points people toward events in your area. Why is building community around stationery important to you?
There are so many people looking for ways to reconnect creatively and socially, whether that’s through journaling meetups, workshops, markets, art events, or simply spending an afternoon making something with your hands. Journaling can be a very solitary hobby, which I really appreciate—but there’s also something special about doing your “solo” hobbies alongside other people. It changes the energy in a really subtle but meaningful way.
“Anything Analog” came from that idea. At first, it was rooted in wanting to host more journaling-focused events myself, but I quickly realized there were already so many thoughtful, creative gatherings happening around Raleigh. Rather than trying to recreate that, it felt more meaningful to help connect people to what already exists.
It became less about building something new and more about pointing people toward spaces where analog, creative community is already happening—and encouraging more of those small moments where people can slow down and create together.
Found Image Press is all about the emotional pull of images, postcards, and printed things. What is it about a physical card or note that still feels different from texts and emails?
Physical notes feel intentional in a way digital communication often doesn’t. Someone chose the card, wrote the message by hand, addressed it, stamped it, and sent it, knowing it would physically arrive in another person’s hands. There’s care embedded into the entire process.
I also think printed things have permanence. A text gets buried, but people keep letters in drawers for years. They tape postcards to walls. They rediscover notes inside books long after they were written. Physical paper objects become part of our environments and our memories.
There’s something emotional about handwriting, too — seeing someone’s penmanship, crossed-out words, little imperfections. It feels human. In a time when so much communication is immediate and disposable, receiving a handwritten note still feels surprisingly personal and meaningful.
What’s one item in the shop that people pick up “just to look at” and then somehow can’t leave without? (This does not have to be a FIP item – we’d love to see what’s on your shop’s bestseller list!)
Our sticker books and washi tape are definitely dangerous in the best way. People almost always start by saying, “I don’t journal enough to use these,” and then twenty minutes later they’re holding a stack of stickers and imagining all the ways they could use them.
I think those products instantly make creativity feel approachable. You don’t need artistic skill or a perfect system — you can just start playing. They’re often the gateway into journaling or letter writing because they make the process feel fun instead of intimidating.
Fountain pens have a similar effect too. People are usually curious about them, test one out, and then realize writing by hand can actually feel enjoyable and intentional. Once someone experiences that, it’s hard to go back.
We love how Stay in Touch Raleigh celebrates the emotional power of paper. Their belief that stationery should invite people in, not intimidate them, aligns beautifully with what we care about at Found Image Press. We’re cheering on every small analog moment they help make possible. Next time you’re in Raleigh, we hope you’ll check out their pop-up locations in the area. And, lucky for all of us, their perfectly curated paper gifts are available to shop online.
