Khata Khori: An online store for stationery

If you are reading this, it's safe to assume that you probably own tonnes of stationery, including notebooks, diaries, journals, spiral-bound notebooks, sets of coloured pens and propelling pencils.

To take a step further, you probably also showcase your Post-it Notes that are colour coordinated and fountain pens, markers and highlighters in different hues with unrelenting pride. Some of you are not even ashamed of never writing a letter in your life, but you still own envelopes of all shapes and sizes.

If the texts above resonated with you, then you know the struggle of finding and getting the "right" stationery that fit your personality. Khata Khori is one such platform that has satisfied many individuals with a bit more refined and artistic taste. Within just seven months of Khata Khori's engine running, the engineers received positive reviews from the consumers.

Photo: Khata Khori

Pronab Nath, the co-founder and the brand manager of Khata Khori, stated, "Our friends from Charukola were always on the lookout for a specific style of a notebook that gave us our initial inspiration. To our surprise, we were taken aback by the number of positive responses we received from people from all walks of life."

He also added, "We tried to incorporate the vintage and artistic vibe in our product all the while maintaining the quality of products." Starting their business from a single room, the founders of Khata Khori prepared their products themselves after receiving them from manufacturers. One of the partners of Khata Khori, Towhidul Alam, said, "Khata Khori is a medium to express the thoughts, ideas and most importantly a touch of our life engraved in black and white."

With time the team of Khata Khori grew along with their working space. From selling their notebooks and other stationeries on Facebook, the notebook brand made its way to Daraz and, in the process, gained exposure nationwide.

Photo: Khata Khori

Ritwik Sarker, another team member of Towhidul, said, "We want to take Khata Khori international with the help of online connectivity. That being said, our short-term goal is to serve varieties of paper-based items to our beloved clients with a touch of fusion between modernised production method with uncompromised design and pattern."

Creating its unique take and brand voice, Khata Khori always caters to the individual's prioritising their style statements through the accessories and stationeries they own. Khata Khori's CEO, Masud Habib, stated that generations Y and Z always remember their youth and related things. "Which is why we focus on giving them a touch of nostalgia through our products' vintage look," Masud orates.

Photo: Khata Khori

Adding a point to Masud's point, team member Dhruvajit Das said, "In the long term, we want to go global and be a name to be recalled whenever people want to create memory through writing or sketching or whatever they want on a paper. In other words, we want to be a synonymous name with paper-based material."

After two and a half years of Khata Khori, the brains behind it are planning to open a cafe where people can just take it slow with a cup of coffee and take a break from the fast-paced life Dhaka has to offer. "There is no place where you can just sit and do nothing. We plan to let our followers have that with a small library in our cafe. We want them to slow down and enjoy the little moments," Pronab concluded.