Hailey Coelho lives in Porto, Portugal and is passioned about paper and vintage things. She tells about her work.
What are you up to?
I’m a professional daydreamer, hopelessly enamored with nostalgia and unabashedly addicted to paper. My daily activities consist of crafting, writing, reading, snapping and sharing photos of what inspires me or of things I’ve created, and treasure-hunting for vintage items and ephemera to add to my collection and with which to fill my Etsy shop.
What do you collect?
Anything related to vintage stationery; things that might be found in an office, on a desk, in a library or have been used for letter-writing many decades ago. If these items could talk they would have fascinating stories to tell. The items are mostly handmade, with intricate detail, and do not deserve to be deemed as trash in this fast-paced world. They remind me of simpler times and slower-paced lives.
How did paper become your passion?
I remember as a child being very particular about the texture and smell of the paper in the books I read and notebooks I used in school. The sheer number of creative possibilities that such a simple, blank, flat product provided me with greatly stimulated my artistic side. This fascination and passion was reignited a few years back when I discovered the paper-loving community on Instagram. I suddenly realized that I could combine both my love for paper and my love for vintage things and nostalgia.
Interview Jeannette Jonker Photography Hailey Coelho
