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About — Pouch Cafe |
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Welcome to Pouch Cafe!! It is the home of Pouch zine, which is also the namesake of the store. It is home to some other things too!
I love making zines and other paper things (and other non-paper things too). I occasionally daydream about opening a real (like brick & mortar) zine store slash stationery cafe... but that sounds like a lot of work 😆
So I decided to make a tiny online store instead!
I'm running this store for fun as a passion project. I hope you get as much joy out of it as I do 💖
Hello!! I'm Victoria, aka vrk, and I am a software engineer who loves beautiful paper products: stickers, stationery, journals, calendars, notebooks, and of course, zines!
I have a deep reverence for these analog tools, and I am constantly annoyed that my field (i.e. the tech field) largely dismisses paper as this obsolete thing that software has "replaced." 😑 Absolutely not!!
Of course, I love software and the great utility that digital mediums can provide: For instance, this website you're reading right now! 😆 But I reject the idea that the fate of paper is to be digitized.
As an engineer, I respect paper as a tool that can solve certain problems far better than software can. When I journal, by hand, in my notebook I reserve for my innermost thoughts, I am able to connect within myself far more deeply than when I type. When I look at my Google Calendar on a busy work week, I just want to close the tab again; but when I open my physical planner during a busy life week, I feel a sense of relief.
Even the "limitations" of paper can be strengths when viewed another way. There’s only so much I can write in my physical journal; my hand gets tired after a while. I am reminded to rest. Only so many to-dos can fit on a sticky note, or in the column of a planner. I feel a nudge, that’s enough for today. That cheap printed photo, that wobbly handwritten message — that you wrote for me — holds within it a startling amount of life.
Pouch and Pouch Cafe is my love letter to paper and to the community of people who love this medium as much as I do!