Trendspotting: Terrazzo

If you follow interior design trends, then you already know that terrazzo has been making a major comeback over the last couple of years. For those of you not familiar with this material, terrazzo is a composite material of stone fragments (usually marble, quartz, granite) set into cement and polished to give it a smooth surface. Terrazzo originated in 16th-century Italy as a way to reuse stone offcuts, became popular again during the midcentury design era, and is now enjoying another resurgence today! The pattern made from all the little stone fragments kind of looks like oversized abstract confetti – and I like it! It’s fun and whimsical, but also sophisticated and European all at the same time. I figured it was past time for a terrazzo-inspired stationery round up!

Trendspotting: Terrazzo

 

1. Terrazzo sample via Elle Décor UK

2. Rainbow paper party plate by Knot and Bow

3. Pink terrazzo notebook by Poketo

4. The Social Type uses terrazzo-inspired envelopes throughout their snarky new card line, Anti

5. Lots of cute terrazzo-inspired goodies in this collection from Talking Out Of Turn, including this key ring pouch, this tote bag, and these glassess (!!). 

6. Terrazzo-inspired tray by Micush

7. Boss Dotty uses several terrazzo-inspired background designs in her cards. This one is a favorite.

8. Terrazzo wrapping paper by Poketo

9. Lots of fun terrazzo-inspired patterns from And Here We Are, including this letterpress printed card and gift wrap!

Inspiring Calligraphers: Manayunk Calligraphy

Hey everyone! I’m honored to share the work here of a new favorite calligrapher, Kim Shrack of Manayunk Calligraphy. I love that Kim’s work has dabbled in using calligraphy for the everyday, calligraphy for special moments, calligraphy for super fun projects (hello, a Bachelorette nursery!), and calligraphy to give voice to a cause she feels passionate about. Let’s dive in! Jen

Inspiring Calligraphers: Manayunk Calligraphy

Inspiring Calligraphers: Manayunk Calligraphy

Inspiring Calligraphers: Manayunk Calligraphy

Inspiring Calligraphers: Manayunk Calligraphy

Photo Credit: Molly Carr Photography

Bachelorette fans, take note…

Inspiring Calligraphers: Manayunk Calligraphy

Here’s a peek at one of Kim’s favorite projects to work on! She created a calligraphy mural for none other than the former Bachelorette Desiree Siegfried (née Hartsock) and her husband Chris. Monica Mangin from The Weekender was tasked with designing a Pacific Northwest-style nursery for the couple, and Kim was pulled in to create an accent wall. Kim shares, “I pulled quotes from some of my favorite children’s books for the design. What I loved about this project is the idea that as their baby grows and learns to read, he’ll be surrounded by those words everyday – words that encourage him to be strong, kind and brave. It’s such a huge honor to be a small part of that.”

Inspiring Calligraphers: Manayunk Calligraphy

Photo Credits for nursery: Kyle Powers for Us Weekly Magazine.

“I absolutely love doing murals!” says Kim.

Inspiring Calligraphers: Manayunk Calligraphy

Inspiring Calligraphers: Manayunk Calligraphy

Inspiring Calligraphers: Manayunk Calligraphy

Photo Credits: Stacy Able

On creating lettering work beyond paper, Kim shares: I love working on non-paper surfaces. I’ve done lots of non-traditional place cards, so calligraphy on materials like marble, slate, etc. But by far my favorite non-paper place cards have also been the sweetest – macarons! It’s a very delicate process involving teeny tiny brushes, luster dust and a steady head – but the results are oh so lovely.

Inspiring Calligraphers: Manayunk Calligraphy

Inspiring Calligraphers: Manayunk Calligraphy

Photo Credits: Gabrielle Cheikh

Inspiring Calligraphers: Manayunk Calligraphy

In addition to all the lettering work Kim produces, she also teaches calligraphy courses on Skillshare. Her courses have been named Staff Picks (a designation for the top 1% of all classes) and she’s been named a Teacher to Watch (go Kim!). The two available classes are Modern Brush Calligraphy for Beginners and Develop Your Own Calligraphy Style.

Inspiring Calligraphers: Manayunk Calligraphy

Inspiring Calligraphers: Manayunk Calligraphy

Finally, Kim created this print (and there are tote bags) benefitting RAICES. Here’s what she had to say about this fundraising project and using her voice in this way as a creative artist who’s also a business owner.

Kim shares: Like an overwhelming number of people, I was very affected by the news that families who were entering the US seeking asylum were separated at the border. As an American, it disturbed me. As a new mother, it ripped out my heart. I researched organizations that were working to reunite families, and that’s how I found the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, or RAICES. I learned that those parents who were detained were unable to be reunited with their children until they could pay their full bond — which is a minimum of $1,500. So I created a special collection of designs to benefit RAICES. 100% of the profits from the sale of these items when to RAICES, and I am thrilled to say that through the sale of these items on my website and in-person fundraisers by the Glenside Women for Progress, and a direct fundraiser on Facebook, we were able to raise $1,537 — enough to bail one person from detention and reunite a family.

Common sense says that it’s not smart to mix business and politics. I get that. Posting on this issue led directly to a loss of followers and subscribers. But here’s the thing: human rights are not political. Period. As human beings, we have an obligation to one another. When you see something that isn’t right, you can’t just “stay out of it.” Speak up. Donate your time or your money or both. Someday, my daughter, who is 9 months old, will learn about this period of American history in school. When she comes home and asks my husband and I what we did, I’m not going to say that we stayed out of it. That is was impolite to talk about such things. That is was bad for business. Instead, I’m going to tell her that I used the skills I had to try and do something. And more than that, I’m going to tell her that thanks to a group of people whose only commonality is that they like calligraphy, we were able to reunite a family. That’s worth more than any follower.

A big thank you to Kim for sharing her work!

Photo Credits, except where noted: Manayunk Calligraphy

Want to be featured in our calligraphy column? Reach out to us at submissions [at] ohsobeautifulpaper [dot] com with the subject line “Calligraphy Feature” for more details!

Behind the Stationery: ilootpaperie

We’re bringing you a sister act on today’s installment of Behind the Stationery! Alice and Doris of ilootpaperie recently moved into a dedicated space this year in Pasadena, California (congrats!) and their greeting card and pin designs are full of vibrant colors and puns galore. They’re here to share their story—from their experience in finding a local printer to outsource their printing needs to the different methods they use to sketch and render designs—take it away, ladies! —Megan Soh

Behind the Stationery: ilootpaperie

From Alice: Our foray into the stationery world had its beginnings, funnily enough, in wedding invitations for some of our close friends. We found quickly that the part of the process that we were drawn to the most was designing the accompanying thank you cards we included with the invitations as part of our gift to the couple. This realization shaped the beginnings of Ilootpaperie when we launched in December of 2010 as a passion project with just six designs on Etsy. This all took place before the advent of the phenomenal of the side hustle, so we simply thought of it as taking steps to get an idea Doris and I had daydreamed about off the ground in case she moved to London for a position she had been applying for at her day job in the finance industry.

During this time, I was working in marketing and design for a shoe design company. After making it through several rounds of layoffs due to company restructures, at the end of August 2013, I was laid off and this set off an unexpected course of events in which we eventually decided I would apply my full effort to help grow the company.

With the advice of our fellow entrepreneurial creatives in mind — that few part-time projects can take off without full-time attention applied to it — we embarked on this ever-challenging but also ever-fulfilling endeavor. We have found ourselves to be a small part of a very special industry filled with fantastically talented kindred spirits that we have the honor of working amongst and calling our friends. Doris continues to work at her day job, so we often joke there is 1 and 1/4 of us getting things done!

Behind the Stationery: ilootpaperie

We are based out of Pasadena, California and just moved into a new place this past January. This move was a huge deal for us because for the first time since Ilootpaperie sprung into existence, our little endeavor finally has its own dedicated space. We converted the master bedroom into our working studio and there are two tall windows that let in a flood of beautiful natural light during the day—oh! and we installed an extensive shelving system along one of the walls to hold our inventory, something we’ve dreamt of for years.

Behind the Stationery: ilootpaperie

Our first real card shelves were handmade by Joel Kvernmo of the awesome Iron Curtain Press (it was their previous shelving) and it was a milestone we hold dear because those shelves made us feel like a legit card company. Rosanna’s encouraging words when we met her to pick up the shelves from their beautiful shop Shorthand stayed in our minds as we prepped for our first trade show. Those first shelves dominated the living room of Doris’ tiny studio apartment.

Behind the Stationery: ilootpaperie

So the idea of this converted studio space has been quite thrilling as we’ve always been about scrappily making it work (card inventory thoroughly infiltrated both our living rooms by time we had moved) and we can’t wait to unpack in the next couple months to create a more centralized studio area with the goal of finding more opportunities to streamline our day-to-day processes. We’ve had to put unpacking on hold to focus on prepping for the National Stationery Show (which took place at the end of May), fulfilling NSS orders, and then NSS show unpacking! As you can see, we’re in a bit of a transitional state. It can be challenging and frustrating at times, but we are learning to be patient with ourselves, to stay focused on current tasks and look to new possibilities just on the horizon to stay motivated as we settle into the new space.

Behind the Stationery: ilootpaperie

From Doris: In 2015, when we started to seriously consider attending the National Stationery Show in New York, we began researching to outsource the printing and production of our designs. We wanted to educate ourselves on the how-to’s of scaling up should the need arise following the trade show — it was a process of reaching out and learning about the various printing capabilities of printing companies near and far from us, and this definitely took some persistence. We’ve always had a subtle linen texture in the paper stock we used for the line even when we were printing in-house so we wanted to be able to carry that textural brand element forward. In the end, one of the local Pasadena printers (top notch!) with diligent effort was finally able to source a premium linen paper stock that we loved, and the pop of the colors they were able to achieve for the samples we printed for NSS sealed the deal, so voilà! Here we are.

Behind the Stationery: ilootpaperie

Due to the colorful nature of our designs, our collection is printed on an HP Indigo digital press on the beautiful premium linen stock in white or natural white depending on the design. Certain designs will then go to our second printer, who is also located in Pasadena and specializes in die cutting, foil printing, embossing and debossing. We love being able to build concepts around new design elements we are excited to incorporate be it a new foil color or a technique new to the line (i.e. embossing, debossing). From the printers, everything comes back full circle to us for packing, packaging, finishing and fulfillment.

Being able to work closely with our local printers in Pasadena has been integral to our growth and we feel these strong working relationships with our printing partners have helped us to be able to sustain the order volumes and levels that we had dreamed to achieve when we began attending the National Stationery Show.

Behind the Stationery: ilootpaperie

Doris: We believe what really shines through in our cards and sets us apart is how much fun we have when we are coming up with our card designs. There are lots of laughs involved behind the concepts that are full of humor and heart. Even the vetoed concepts tend to make at least one of us giggle while we try to sell it to the other person. We aim to have a good time with it and believe that that’s what makes our products memorable; and that this shared laughter and connection extends beyond just the two of us is a gift.

Behind the Stationery: ilootpaperie

Doris: Each day is different depending on the deadlines that we’re working on so there isn’t really a typical work day—our days are generally filled with pulling items and packing them up for retail and wholesale orders, working with our various printers/vendors to submit new orders for new designs and restocking orders to keep our inventory stocked! Concepts for new cards, pins, and products is an ongoing conversation that happens throughout all of this.

Like many other small business owners, we struggle to find enough time in the day to get everything that we would like to get done completed as there’s an ever-growing list of to-dos that need to be balanced with the fun we’d like to have, the art we’d like to create, and other life obligations that can’t be ignored for long. Moving into the new space has definitely helped us move toward achieving efficiencies in our processes to move quicker and be able to do more. In talking with other creatives in the industry, there are definitely more opportunities and workflow tools that we can continue to explore when we have a little more time on our hands (the irony!). It’s definitely a work in progress.

Behind the Stationery: ilootpaperie

Alice: Our concepts are the sparks that set off our design process. We aren’t always able to set aside a specific time aside to concept so that has always been a constant on-the-flow process for us, even from the beginning. Ideas come about through every day conversations and text conversations back and forth when we aren’t together (inspiration really is everywhere!) and often times in the car on the way to drop off post or while running errands. Things that we feel deeply about also contribute to this flow of inspiration.

Behind the Stationery: ilootpaperie

We keep a running list via email / phone notes /sketchbook list of our half-baked concepts and taglines, and we review the list prior to a print job or placing a pin/ notebook / button order to see which ones we should fully explore and execute. Admittedly there are times when I will take a 4am detour in the midst of designing at night and there will be a surprise concept when Doris wakes up in the morning (I tend to be a night owl when it comes to the creative side of things). We like to keep the design and brainstorming loose and open to playful impulses to keep things lively!

Once a concept has been moved into the “Let’s Execute” list, I often find myself researching lots of images of animals doing funny things (usually for the concept, but sometimes to procrastinate because it is always a little nerve-wrecking to begin a design). When we first started, Doris and I had throughly discussed and agreed we wanted to allow the brand’s visual voice to come into its own. So, especially in the beginning, I incorporated different mediums like watercolor, pencil sketches mixed with vector and text elements, and even thumbprint art when executing the designs.

Behind the Stationery: ilootpaperie

As of late, all designs have begun with a hand sketch but then fall into two main methods of execution. Our enamel pins now all tend to be vectored in detail (meaning point by point by mouse) to give me more control over the small details. For certain card concepts we like the flat clean graphic quality of vectored lines as well, so they are also rendered point by point after the initial sketch like our enamel pins. My second method of execution starts with an ink pen sketch usually on tracing paper or in my sketch book, which I snap a photo of with my phone to take into Photoshop where I then composite my favorite parts of the sketches and clean up the lines. I like the hand-drawn feel that is preserved in these designs. From there these sketches get taken into Illustrator to be vectored using the software’s tools and then I start put together the colors and the composition with the text.
Sometimes your initial instinct is spot on, other days there’s a lot of nudging, and tweaking and pushing to get to the final design. The first test print is always very exciting—we get an idea of where the colors/ tones fall and check the spacing and composition as it lives on the physical space of the card. Then comes more tweaking. When the designs are finalized, they go to our printer and next comes the proofs! At this crucial point, I check to see if we need to make any corrections / notes for printing. Ideally we don’t, and it moves into production.

Behind the Stationery: ilootpaperie

Our overall design process is very much about shaping the physical lines I’m able to achieve toward the idea I have in my head. I never went to proper art school, so what I do is a mishmash of techniques and tricks I learned on the job and in classes I took after work while I was still in marketing.

Behind the Stationery: ilootpaperie

With everything we do for Ilootpaperie, from our product and packaging design to shop window and craft show display designs (and even painting our first mural at our first NSS booths), there is a strong element of improvisation and constant problem solving. We take what we know and mix in a whole lot of research, trial and error, terror and gumption to keep going—it is often terrifying and exciting all at the same time.

Thanks so much for allowing us to share our little piece of our cheeky universe with everyone, Nole and Megan. We cannot fully express what a thrill it is, to be a small part of OSBP as it has inspired us so much always. We pinch ourselves every time!

You can shop all of our cheeky paper, pins and more at ilootpaperie.com and follow along in our day to day shenanigans on IG @ilootpaperie.

Behind the Stationery: ilootpaperie

Photos by Michelle Nicole Photography.

Want to be featured in the Behind the Stationery column? Reach out to Megan at megan [at] ohsobeautifulpaper [dot] com for more details.

How to Help Families Separated at the Border

I spent most of last week and this past weekend feeling physically ill over the news coming out of the U.S.-Mexico border. Nearly 2,000 children separated from their families in April and May 2018. Many of these families are seeking asylum in the United States – which is 100% a legal form of immigration codified in international treaty obligations – but are now being prosecuted for the misdemeanor of entering the country illegally. At the same time, officials are refusing to allow families to cross through valid ports of entry to claim asylum, a violation of international law. There are also reports that the government is separating asylum-seeking families that ARE allowed to present themselves at legal ports of entry so the government can keep the parents in jail-like immigration detention while their asylum cases are adjudicated. Babies. Toddlers in diapers. Hysterical children with no one to comfort them. This is happening to children and families just like mine. To parents just like me. Families seeking asylum, just like my Jewish great grandmother who came to the United States after fleeing war and persecution in Eastern Europe. This goes beyond politics. I cannot sit silently while this is going on, and I hope you will also help in any way that you can – whether that means donating to some of the organizations below, joining a protest in your area, or calling, texting, and writing to your Congressional representatives.

Mr. Rogers

CONTACT YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVE

One of the most important things you can do right now is contact your Congressional representatives to express your views. There are three important pieces of Congressional legislation that would prevent family separations at the border and provide assistance to unaccompanied or separated minor children in the United States:

  • S. 3036 – Keep Families Together Act would prevent the Department of Homeland Security from taking children from their parents at the border and require the Department of Homeland Security to provide parents with information on how to locate a child if separated. Check here to see if your Senators support this bill (under the cosponsors section). 
  • R. 5950/S.2937 – the HELP Separated Children Act would protect the safety and well-being of minor children who have been left alone and vulnerable after their parents have been arrested or detained by U.S. immigration authorities. Check here to see if your Senators support the Senate version of this bill (under the cosponsors section), and check here to see if your Representative supports the House version.
  • R. 2043/S. 2468 – the Fair Day in Court for Kids Act of 2018 would provide unaccompanied minor children with access to legal representation when they appear in removal proceedings before an immigration judge. Because three year olds should not have to represent themselves in court. Check here to see if your Senators support the Senate version of this bill (under the cosponsors section), and check here to see if your Representative supports the House version.

Printable Dear Senator / Dear Representative Postcards by Allie Hasson

Download these printable postcards by Allie Hasson here

You can look up the address and phone number for your two senators here. You can look up your house representative using your zip code here. When you click on their name, scroll down and you’ll see an address and a phone number for their Washington, DC office. Contacting their DC staff is totally okay, or you can click through to their individual website to find local contact info. You can download these printable Dear Representative/Dear Senator postcards by Allie Hasson right here.

Fun Fact: residents of the District of Columbia, where I live, have no voting representation in Congress! We have no Senators, and only one non-voting House representative, which means DC residents don’t get to have our views represented on any of these important policy issues. So please, if you live in one of the 50 states, contact your Senators and Representative and make your voice heard – because I can’t!

When contacting your senator or representative, it’s best to keep things short and sweet. Make sure to include the name of the city or town where you live so the staff will know you’re actually a constituent – otherwise they may disregard your call or letter completely! – and a brief statement outlining your concerns and what you want them to do.

If your Congressional representatives do not currently support the legislation above, urge them to co-sponsor each bill by name and number (this helps their staff track constituent support for specific legislation). For example: I’m a constituent of [Town/State] and I’m calling/writing to ask that [Sen Name] support S. 3036, the Keep Families Together Act, to stop the separation of immigrant families at the U.S. border. This practice is immoral and unnecessarily harms innocent children. It must be stopped by Congress immediately. I’d also like you to support S. 2937, the HELP Separated Children Act, and S. 2468, the Fair Day in Court for Kids Act of 2018, to provide assistance for unaccompanied minor children in the United States.

If your Congressional representatives do support the legislation, contact them anyway to say thank you! It’s important that Senators and House representatives hear from their constituents on important policy issues so they know they’re heading in the right direction.

BTW – whether you’re writing a letter or making a phone call, there’s an amazing resource called 5Calls.org that determines your representatives based on your zip code, allows you to select your priority issues or bills, and gives you a specific script for that issue. You can definitely add your own text and opinions, but it’s a great starting point!

And if you get phone anxiety and want to get a message to your representatives out quickly, Resistbot is a texting service that will deliver your message for you. Text the word RESIST to 50409 to get started.

DONATE

There are lots of ways to support the organizations working on these important issues, from donations to volunteering your time in your area. There are a bunch of great organizations listed in this Slate article, but I tried to round up a few that I heard about from multiple sources below, starting with the organizations in Texas:

The Texas Civil Rights Project represents families and their young children separated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the border. They are seeking volunteers who speak Spanish, Mam, Q’eqchi’ or K’iche’ and have paralegal or legal assistant experience to help with intake efforts in McAllen, Brownsville, Laredo, El Paso, and Alpine, Texas. You can also donate to support their efforts here.

RAICES (Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services) works with parents in detention centers in Texas. They have a bond fund to help reunited families and fight their cases from the outside. You can support that bond fund here.

Neta RGV is providing supplies for families waiting to request asylum at legal ports of entry along the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. CBP is claiming they are at capacity and unable to process them, forcing families to stay outside in the South Texas heat for days and weeks. They are seeking donations of supplies such as diapers, wipes, water, and non-perishable food items. Donate and volunteer here.

LUPE (La Union del Pueblo Entero) is a non-profit organization providing pro bono immigration legal services in McAllen, Texas and the Rio Grande Valley area. Consider donating here

Human Rights First provides pro bono legal services for asylum seekers around the United States, including in the Houston, Texas area. They’re looking for volunteer lawyers who can represent asylum seekers, and you can consider donating here

Here is an Amazon wish list for the Sacred Heart Church in McAllen, Texas. These items go directly to the Sacred Heart Respite Center working with families seeking asylum, including parents seeking to be reunited with their children. You can also send gently used items, including shoes, pants, and shirts to 1721 Beaumont Ave, McAllen, TX 78501 

Arizona: The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project is a nonprofit organization providing free legal and social services to women, men, and unaccompanied children in immigration custody in Arizona. The Florence Project seeks volunteers including pro bono lawyers, interpreters, researchers, medical professionals, and administrative assistants. You can e-mail [email protected] for volunteer opportunities and donate here.

New Mexico: The Santa Fe Dreamer’s Project provides pro bono legal services for New Mexico’s immigrant community, including assistance for unaccompanied minors. They currently represent several fathers detained at the border and transferred to a federal criminal prison in New Mexico. They are seeking volunteer lawyers and volunteers with language skills. You can also donate here

Illinois and Wisconsin: The Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants (ICDI Chicago) seeks volunteers for a variety of activities, from observing the proceedings at immigration court to visiting immigrant detention centers in the area, and helping mentor newly arrived immigrants.

Pennsylvania: Aldea – The People’s Justice Center in Reading, Pennsylvania needs volunteer interpreters (especially Spanish and indigenous language speakers), attorneys, and legal assistants for help at the Berks Family Detention center, which currently houses unaccompanied minors and children separated from their families. Sign up to volunteer here.

Washington State: The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project needs volunteer Spanish, Mam, Q’eqchi’ or K’iche’ translators and interpreters for detained immigrant families, including more than 200 parents separated from their children at the border who have been transferred to this area. NWIRP has offices in Granger, Seattle, Tacoma or Wenatchee. If you speak any of these languages and live in the area, you can volunteer here

Keep Families Together / Ladyfingers Letterpress

Keep Families Together Printable Poster by Ladyfingers Letterpress

JOIN A PROTEST

A National Day of Action with marches and rallies across the country will take place on June 30 – join us in DC or find a march in your area right here. The awesome ladies of Ladyfingers Letterpress have kindly offered a free printable poster that you can download right here for all your protesting needs. Thank you ladies!

Behind the Stationery: Darling + Pearl

Our next guest on Behind the Stationery is bartender-turned-stationer, Lauren Reed from Darling + Pearl Lettepress. Her stationery business focuses primarily on custom wedding invitation suites and Lauren’s here to share about how she works with her clients in innovative ways, encouraging couples to share non-designer work as inspiration. Welcome, Lauren! —Megan Soh

Behind the Stationery: Darling & Pearl

From Lauren: Hi! My name is Lauren Reed: bartender, turned designer + letterpress printer and the founder of Darling + Pearl Letterpress. I started designing stationery in 2009 during my engagement to now-hubby, Greg. Terribly cliché story, I know. After bartending throughout (and after) college, I was itching to find something to be wildly passionate about, so I put together a small collection of invitation designs to jump into the industry.

Behind the Stationery: Darling & Pearl

Photo by Quarter Moon Co.

I knew I had a ton to learn, and a niche to find so as I settled in and started to get comfortable, I decided I wanted to understand the process and equipment involved in everything, but specifically letterpress printing. In 2010, I bought my first small press, followed by my 1905 Golding Pearl (part of my namesake). And in 2014 I bought my workhorse 10×15 C&P, along with some other additions to my cast iron “family”. I’m a natural born problem solver — dead on ISTP (if you’re familiar with Myers–Briggs Personality Types) — so really this entire learning, printing, business-owning process has brought me a greater understanding of myself and some of my greatest strengths (and weaknesses, naturally).

Behind the Stationery: Darling & Pearl

I currently work out of 2 different studio spaces (one for press and one for design and finishing) in the Central New Jersey area. At this point in my life, with two small kids (Declan 6, and Finna 3), a “typical” workday for me doesn’t really exist. It’s more like a typical week with flexible details.

Behind the Stationery: Darling & Pearl

Mondays and Tuesdays are generally spent in my home studio designing, sketching, communicating, emailing, and ordering supplies to prepare for the following week’s presswork. Wednesdays and Thursdays are usually dedicated to the print studio. And Friday is flexible, even to the point of sometimes being able to keep my daughter Finna at home to hang (and help me style some stationery to photograph!). Since my work is all varying levels of custom, my work schedule is more of an ebb and flow and very much dependent on the communication of my clients at any given time. I find that it’s easier to batch projects so I’m moving them through the same part of the process at the same time.

Behind the Stationery: Darling & Pearl

At this point in my career, I’m focused on custom/semi-custom (mostly wedding) letterpress and mixed media stationery.

I absolutely adore the process of piecing together a custom invitation suite and the supporting stationery — save the dates all the way through event day items and signage. For me, it’s very similar to completing a puzzle, or even successfully loading the dishwasher (haha, seriously though!). The elements are: the couple, their history, their vision, their colors, the venue and the *feel* of the event, as well as *my* aesthetic and design sense, which is also really important for me to hold on to. I love the challenge of balancing all of these items and at the same time creating a final design that both my clients and myself are head over heels in love with. It’s so corny, but I tell my clients that working with me for custom stationery, they really get a piece of my heart in the process. And I think realizing that has made all the difference in understanding that this is where I need to be for now.

Behind the Stationery: Darling & Pearl

Since I handle the vast majority of production in house, it’s really a great opportunity for me to fulfill some different creative avenues without the typical risk (and the cost) of outsourcing to other production houses. It also enables me to stay creative with mixing and matching my processes in new and exciting ways.

Behind the Stationery: Darling & Pearl

To get started, my clients fill out a contact questionnaire so I can send over some pricing and package options. Once the invoicing details are in place, I’ll setup a communication board (through Trello) where they can upload inspiration images, view proofs, their timeline, and have access to wording questionnaires, address templates, and they can sign off for final approvals- etc. What’s really great about this setup is the lack of emails, and the detailed (and easy to find) record of communication. There’s no searching though inboxes or mis-filing a final approval.

Another important revelation of the past couple years is in regards to inspiration images.

Behind the Stationery: Darling & Pearl

I always felt a massive struggle to try to create something unique when my clients were putting other designer’s work in front of me. So at the end of 2015, I started asking for 4-5 non-stationery images (and I love floral inspiration!). I found that I had a great connection with their organic inspiration and it really helps me create something that fits them and their event. This is really where I started to develop my unique and recognizable “voice.” After I have their wording and inspiration, I put together the first proof. We then communicate any adjustments to work towards a final approval. Once everything is perfect, they sign off, settle the balance, and then I get to work (on the physical, churn-it-out side).

Behind the Stationery: Darling & Pearl

Assembly days are always my favorite. It’s the first time I get to see all the elements together in the same physical space and get to experience my entire vision really come to life. And most times it’s the culmination of weeks or months of work and collaboration.

Behind the Stationery: Darling & Pearl

My favorite add-on-details to include are venue sketches and curated vintage postage. There are so many different postage options out there and it really allows us to tell their guests about some of the details of their lives, or even just deepen or accent the color palette that we’re using for their stationery. Plus, it always makes for a beautiful envelope, full of character. Adding a sketch to the package also helps distinguish the event in a new an unexpected way from what people have grown accustomed to.

Behind the Stationery: Darling & Pearl

Photos courtesy of Darling + Pearl Letterpress except where noted.

Want to be featured in the Behind the Stationery column? Reach out to Megan at megan [at] ohsobeautifulpaper [dot] com for more details.