Another one of our lockdown discoveries was Pigeon, a company started by John Morse-Brown when he fell out of love with social media and back in love with the joys of sending and receiving letters. Merging his engineering and graphic design background with a love of origami he came up with these clever and charming folded letters…. a mix of letter, card and aerogram beautified with illustrations, they remind me of letters from the 1800s and earlier in the way they are folded closed. They are A4 in size when open and fold down to a pocket sized 13 x 9cm, attach a stamp to keep them closed from prying eyes and pop them in the mail. And of course the cute name harking back to the pigeon post, missives sent via those clever homing pigeons.

We’ve updated with new designs and restocked some sold out favourites. Each pack contains 6 pigeons.

Wonderfully Wild Pigeons: Angela Harding

Seedlings Pigeons: Kiran Ravilious

Folklore Pigeons: Dinara Mirtalipova

Robin and Wren Pigeons: Chris Andrews

Summer Meadow Pigeons: Klara Hawkins

Hebridean Pigeons: Lisa Hooper

Dawn Chorus Pigeons: Chris Andrews

Fig and Feather Pigeons: Melissa Castrillon

Fiesta Pigeons: Louise Lockhart

Midnight Garden Pigeons:

Moonlight Pigeons: Marketa Stengl

Magical Menagerie Pigeons:

I thought you might like to read John’s musings on writing a Pigeon:

The envelope is integral to the letter, and the space to write in is not too daunting. I sometimes say it’s like Twitter, but with a pen. Once you get a correspondence going, you’ll always have your friend’s address to hand inside their latest letter. Pigeons are also the perfect size to hold a Polaroid photo, so you can slip in a selfie. And the design means each Pigeon is a small object of beauty.

If you don’t normally write letters, you’re in for an unexpected treat – the completely irrational joy of not receiving an instant reply to your message… It sounds perverse in our day and age, that having to wait can feel good. But it really does. Trust me. I’ve discovered first hand that there’s a real pleasure in knowing that, in the next day or two, a friend will receive a completely personal note from you - just from you, and that you might get a hand-written reply some time after that. Delayed gratification is good for the soul.

Sending one letter to one friend and waiting for one reply is entirely satisfying. It’s personal and unique; narrowcasting, not broadcasting. Added to which, I often read letters from friends two or three times over. I can’t say the same for social media. Romantic as it sounds, with a letter you end up with a little part of your friend, to keep for ever. To tuck into a book and stumble across at some later date. A letter holds its value, and that helps sustain true friendship. Nothing digital can compare.

John Morse-Brown.

Oh and by the way, Pigeon is a carbon neutral company.