Burberry
Burberry x Smythson: Leather Notebooks and Travel Games
Burberry and Smythson have united for the first time on a collection of handmade leather notebooks and travel games, launching in October for the festive season.
Two British houses, one shared instinct for craft
Burberry has joined forces with Smythson, another name steeped in British heritage, for the very first time. The result is a collection of leather notebooks and travel games that arrives in October, timed neatly for the festive gifting season.
The partnership brings together Burberry’s signature motifs and Smythson’s long-standing specialism in fine leatherwork and traditional bookbinding. Both houses describe the union as a natural fit, built on a mutual dedication to craftsmanship, innovation and enduring design.
A stationer with nearly 140 years of history
Smythson opened on London’s New Bond Street in 1887 and has spent almost a century and a half producing fine stationery and leather goods. Its record of firsts is considerable: in 1908 it created the world’s first portable diary, and during the 1890s it supplied stationery to every one of Queen Victoria’s residences.
A spirit of exploration runs through the house, much as it does through Burberry. In the 1970s, Smythson produced bespoke diaries and logbooks for the Transglobe Expedition led by Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Charles R. Burton and Oliver Shepard — the kind of commission that puts a stationer’s work directly in the path of adventure.
Notebooks with a playful British streak
The notebook covers are decorated with light-hearted illustrations and thoroughly British turns of phrase, drawing on Burberry themes of weather, exploration and the outdoors. Inside, each page is printed on Smythson’s signature blue Featherweight paper, a stock the house is known for.
The first and last pages carry extra detail: either a tonal London map print, inspired by Burberry’s winter 2026 runway collection, or the House Check, one of the brand’s most instantly recognisable patterns. Every notebook is bound by hand in Smythson’s bookbinding workshop in Hertfordshire.
What makes them worth a closer look
- Illustrations and phrases that nod to British weather and the great outdoors
- Blue Featherweight paper throughout
- Opening and closing pages in a tonal London map print or the House Check
- Handmade in Hertfordshire by Smythson’s bookbinders
Travel games in Panama crossgrain leather
The second half of the collection turns to play. Playing card sets sit alongside roll-up chess and backgammon boards, all designed to be used just as comfortably at home as on the move. Each piece is made from Smythson’s Panama crossgrain leather, with a smooth leather interior and zip-pocket compartments lined in House Check.
The playing cards are presented in leather travel cases and feature gilt-edged illustrated faces. A double-pack edition goes further, including Smythson’s Wafer pencil and a notepad in Featherweight paper so that scores can be kept in proper style.
Personalisation at no extra cost
Every item in the collection can be personalised free of charge, with up to three initials stamped in gold. It is a small detail that turns a considered gift into something distinctly one’s own — and a fitting note on which to close a meeting of two British houses whose names have long been associated with the well-made and the long-lasting.
