Back to school and organizing with MUJI! – 175+ Post Ideas for Beauty

Posted on June 16, 2022 by ftzys

Yes, it’s a little sad to think, isn’t it… but Back to school is just around the corner! Even though I’m no longer in school (some days I think about how great it would be to be back in school, and then I remember the assignments and exams! ), I’m still a stationery fiend. I am that person at the office who will not lend out my pen because I know you will either 1) chew on it 2) not return it, or 3) lose it! So it was with excitement that I checked out the MUJI Canada HQ once again, this time, to learn about their stationery and organizational products!

Those are the comfy bean bag chairs that I sat on last time I was there!
The open house started with an introduction of MUJI’s technique on product development – there are 4 crucial considerations:
1) world of MUJI: redesigning common, everyday items, often partnering up with well-known designers
2) found MUJI: discovering local items and recreating them for a global market
3) Quest for best materials: attention to sourcing the most natural material as possible
4) Observation: look at how people live at home, and how they work at their workplace to create products to fit their lives

The presentation was given by MUJI Canada’s President, Toru Akita, whose passion for all things MUJI is obvious by how he speaks about the product development process. I just love getting another peek behind the scenes at MUJI HQ!

The concept behind MUJI is no secret, the principles are clearly displayed at their stores.
Then we were shown their product set-up showcasing the most popular stationery and storage items:

The best part was the stamping area they set up in their office, just for us:

Here’s something you don’t know about me – I loved stamps when I was younger. I used to spend hours making cards and my own individualized stationery using a large collection of stamps.

We were each given a selection of MUJI stationery and organization products to try for ourselves! I just had to stamp my notebook with some Japanese inspired symbols:

I was trying for an alternating red / black colour scheme but kind of messed up that last one on the lower ideal hand corner. Also, I was over zealous with my stamping and the designs kind of bled together… those stamps were really fresh and “juicy”.

Here are the rest of the items we received in a lot more detail:

Cat-shaped sticky notes! Pocket-sized stapler! modification tape in a sleek casing! Pen holder clip (attach to any notebook – what a dazzling concept)!

I’m slightly obsessed with the manual hand-crank desk size shredder – I was surprised at how well it works. I own a full size electronic shredder at home and I hardly ever use it due to the hassle and the NOISE; instead, I tossed all the papers I need to shred in a bin (it’s been at least 6 months considering that I’ve run that thing). now I can shred in SILENCE and even get some wrist exercise!

The PP double Pen case we received was packed to the brim with writing instruments – my weakness!

Yup, I put the tiny stapler inside that smaller compartment – that’s how tiny that thing is.
The new writing instruments will be a great addition to my desk at work:

Here are all the items from the case laid out – on the far ideal side are 3 of my own pens that I’ve purchased from MUJI (I have a thing for clicky style pens). Of the ones I already own, my absolute much-loved is the Resin Body Ballpoint Pen 0.7mm (in the smokey black casing). It’s really smooth and supplies a thicker line so it’s like I’m always writing in bold. I learned at the open house that the ink in that pen is oil based so it will not smear even if your page gets wet!

Fun fact: in Canada, MUJI’s #1 item is their Gel Pen. They sell 80,000 units of just the black colour every year! (really excellent considering there are only 2 stores in Canada so far) MUJI’s pens are high quality – they’re created so that you get every drop of ink from the cartridge. and they’re so affordable – now you don’t have to borrow my pen, you can get your own!

Notebooks are always useful – we even received a student planner, which has a calendar that starts in August and consists of full views of each month, and then plain ruled pages at the back.

I also love the little spiral notebook, which I immediately decorated with those makeup stickers I got last month:

And yesss, a clicky multi-coloured pen! This is such a throwback to middle school.
And we even got a set of 24 markers! I need to get one of those adult colouring books, pronto!

Of course, the first thing I drew is a rainbow. need to test out all the colours, am I right?

Does any individual do this, set up colouring pencils / crayons, markers in rainbow order? I do this whenever I get a set of them. Old routines die hard.

The pièce de résistance, we received 2 acrylic storage cases

I already own a few of the drawers, so this is a welcome addition. and the pen holder is a similar concept to the one I picked up from Daiso in Japan. I may try to put brushes in this one considering that it’s deeper.

Again, like the last open house, I met up with some fantastic local bloggers and YouTubers! Please go check them out:
• fun size Beauty
• Life is My Movie
• maximizing Minimalism
• Diary of a Toronto Girl
• A certain Romance
• petite Pear Style
• Alisha’s Guide
We were chitchatting so much that the folks at MUJI finally told us that they had to close the office! thank you again, MUJI, for having me!

MUJI Canada is currently having a 15% off sale for Back to school promotion including stationery and storage items – time to stock up!

Here’s the stamping station at the MUJI Atrium location – it was a complete madhouse around there!

In Canada, MUJI is available online and at the following store locations:
• Toronto: MUJI Atrium, across from the Eaton Centre
• Mississauga: MUJI Square One
And, there are whisperings that a new location in the GTA is opening soon – stay tuned!

This post consists of products which were supplied to me by MUJI Canada complimentary of charge. I wrote about them to share my love of all things nerdy stationery, organization, and MUJI!

I’ll be doing a reorganization of my makeup storage coming up. I know lots of of you have expressed interest in seeing my set up – it’s currently a mishmash of containers and my goal is to switch to a single system by the end of the year! Guess where I’ll be going to stock up on acrylic cases!

So tell me, are you a stationery fiend too? Fess up!

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