Behind the Stationery: Hammerpress

It’s a true honor to feature printmaker, designer, entrepreneur, business owner, and true craftsman Brady Vest of Hammerpress in our latest installment of Behind the Stationery. Today Brady takes us behind the scenes, talking about his staff, daily business, and how he started the company before the internet took over. –Megan

Behind the Stationery: Hammerpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper

I started Hammerpress in 1994 while studying printmaking at the Kansas City Art Institute. The school had two letterpresses and some type that no one really used. I started working with friends on collaborative projects – mostly posters for local bands, record covers, etc. Once I graduated, I had no letterpress equipment to continue the work, so I began looking for presses and type. This was pre-internet and sources like Briar Press were non-existent. You would basically just walk into print shops and ask if they had any old equipment to sell. I lucked out when I was visiting my hometown of Oklahoma City and wound up scoring a bunch of type and other equipment. Then I got a studio space, and it was basically a word of mouth business. Again, pre-internet and pre-website for your business.

Behind the Stationery: Hammerpress / Oh So Beautiful PaperBehind the Stationery: Hammerpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper

In those first years we printed job work for designers around town, making custom wedding invitations & business cards. From there it just kind of slowly grew and morphed into what it is today. The big jump happened in about 2004 or so, with the help of a couple of good people, we decided to go to the National Stationery Show in New York. I think once we entered that world, Hammerpress really started to develop into more of a business. We now have over 300 products in our wholesale line, mostly greeting cards, but also prints, notebooks, postcards, gift tags & calendars. We have an amazing network of reps selling our product on the road, in their showrooms, and at trade shows, and we couldn’t do it without them.

Behind the Stationery: Hammerpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper

We still continue to design and print work aside from the stationery line. Our custom work includes wedding invitations, business cards, restaurant menus, coasters, posters, and logo design. And we have our storefront, which is an important part of our local identity in Kansas City.

Behind the Stationery: Hammerpress / Oh So Beautiful PaperBehind the Stationery: Hammerpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper

The Hammerpress print shop, design studio & retail space exists in a 1950s building in the Crossroads Arts District in Kansas City, Missouri. We moved to this space in January 2015 after 7 years in our previous location. But Hammerpress has operated out of the Crossroads district since ’95 when it wasn’t more than auto shops and a few art galleries. The Crossroads now hosts a great mix of restaurants, lofts, galleries, bars, retail shops, alongside the glorious Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

Behind the Stationery: Hammerpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper / PHOTO BY LANCE FLORES

Photo by Lance FloresBehind the Stationery: Hammerpress / Oh So Beautiful PaperOur work - postcards in the shop

Our new building was vacant before – basically a giant open space with no walls and in need of a lot of attention when we moved in. With the help of some very talented friends and a lot of staring into space in an empty building, we turned it into a really wonderful studio space. The building’s architecture is characterized by a mix of mid-century modern and industrial manufacturing.

Behind the Stationery: Hammerpress / Oh So Beautiful PaperPressroom - preparing photo polymer plate for You Are My Sunshine card

On a typical day, a few people start work at 9 am, and few at 10 am. We like to keep a flexible schedule that accommodates different people’s needs. The press room is usually buzzing by time our storefront opens. You can see through to the shop from the storefront and get a glimpse behind the scenes. Our inventory and fulfillment department is located just behind the front counter. And the office is just beyond that. Currently the designers here at the shop are myself and Jenn Rogers. Britta Rice handles all of our wholesale business, working directly with our retailers, reps, and distributors. Ben Jones and Kate Morgan make up our production team. Debbie Swan and Olivia Tedford take care of order fulfillment and donation requests, and Elise Sanders manages our storefront.

Behind the Stationery: Hammerpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Everything we make here is letterpress printed on recycled-content paper. The majority of our projects are printed on our three Heidelberg windmills. For more particular jobs, we utilize the automated Kluge press, or the two hand-fed Chandler & Price platen presses. And all art prints and posters are produced on our two Vandercook Universal I cylinder presses.

Behind the Stationery: Hammerpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper / PHOTO BY LANCE FLORESPhoto by Lance Flores

With letterpress printing, you’re making a connection with all of the people who designed those machines, all of the people who built them, and all the people who made their living printing on them. And it’s a lovely reminder that there will always be a need for tangible things made by people.

Behind the Stationery: Hammerpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper / PHOTO BY LANCE FLORESPhoto by Lance Flores

Our goal is to continue to make quality letterpress work that has a connection to the roots of letterpress printing, as well as the roots of Hammerpress. I began the company on my own and, whether by accident or by design, established a look and feel that is recognized as Hammerpress work. We strive to keep that connection to both histories while continuing to change and develop fresh ideas and new directions offered by others within the Hammerpress team.

Behind the Stationery: Hammerpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper

We draw inspiration from so many sources that it’s hard to be specific. Each of us look at many different things – old sign painting, postage stamps, matchbooks, textiles, Russian posters, Cuban posters, Vaughn Oliver, Peter Seville, Bruce Licher, folk art, old science books, record covers, fashion, ceramics, etc.

Behind the Stationery: Hammerpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Each product usually starts out as sketches or doodles with some loose ideas regarding color, etc. The design process can really vary depending on the type of project. There are some projects that I work on completely solo, without a lot of interaction or involvement from others. But for our stationery products, it’s a few of us collaborating throughout the design process. When we’re developing product for a new release, we meet twice a week for product planning and group critique.

Behind the Stationery: Hammerpress / Oh So Beautiful Paper

After all of these years, I think the most important thing about letterpress printing is the connection to the machine and your hands. As the business has changed over the past 20 years, the connection to the machine always seems to stay the same. We are choosing to take an old and obsolete form of printing and strive to make a living doing it. By this, we are paying an homage to an era of the past.

All photos courtesy of Hammerpress, except where noted.

If you’re interested in participating in the Behind the Stationery column, contact Megan at megan[at]ohsobeautifulpaper.com!

Behind the Stationery: Our Heiday

This installment of Behind the Stationery features a stationer who creates some of the most beautiful acrylic and gouache work I’ve seen. Patricia at Our Heiday is a talented artist who left the world of law to grow a stationery company in LA. This sister act has found great ways to break out responsibilities and grow the team. I’m so excited to have them here! Take it away, Patricia. –Megan

Behind the Stationery: Our Heiday / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Hello, friends! Patricia here, founder and creative director at Our Heiday. We’re so excited to give you a little peek into what goes on behind the scenes at our studio in downtown Los Angeles. I started this company in June 2014 after leaving two years of law school at UCLA. A lifetime of reading contracts or writing legal briefs was not a commitment I was willing to make and so pivot I did! Our Heiday is named after my mom and her four sisters who fostered so much of my creativity growing up. I’m a self-taught artist who draws so much inspiration for my family’s endless repertoire of painting, graphic design, dance, and film. My sister and I were given drawing pads before we could even write properly and working with our hands was part of the daily.

Behind the Stationery: Our Heiday / Photo Credit: Lily Glass Photography / Oh So Beautiful Paper

I spent about 9 months prior to starting Our Heiday refining the first release and because my mom had run a robust wholesale business my entire life, I knew that was the direction I wanted to take the company. When the website launched, I expected nothing more than to grow organically, one shop at a time, one order at a time. After months of running solo (read: living room was a warehouse, dining table a worktable, floors a packaging station), our “Ooh Those Baby Toes” card was picked up by Anthropologie in March 2015 and this gave me so much momentum heading into the National Stationery Show that year.

So much changed after May 2015 – we had an incredible experience debuting at NSS and after running the booth with me, my sister, Donna, also left her career in teaching to join Our Heiday full time. Working with family, let alone your best friend, has been the most amazing shift!

Behind the Stationery: Our Heiday / Photo Credit: Lily Glass Photography / Oh So Beautiful Paper

We moved into a separate studio space (my husband is still singing praises) immediately after we returned from New York and hired two more employees so that I could focus solely on the creative side. These big moments have shaped so much of how efficient and effective we’re able to be day-to-day. Prior to having a team, I was shouldering all of the daily responsibilities of running a creative business and being able to delegate was one of the best things that happened after the show. Amber and Megan head up packaging and production, making sure that all of our orders are fulfilled quickly and carefully. Donna handles all of our operations, accounts, customer service, and communications so that no one slips through the cracks. We wouldn’t be here without our customers and it’s so important to us that every one of them feels invested in Our Heiday.

Behind the Stationery: Our Heiday / Photo Credit: Lily Glass Photography / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Behind the Stationery: Our Heiday / Photo Credit: Lily Glass Photography / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Behind the Stationery: Our Heiday / Photo Credit: Lily Glass Photography / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Details, details, we love them. From the branding stamps on our shipping boxes to the labels on our wrapping paper, each element is meticulously thought through before we send our products.

Behind the Stationery: Our Heiday / Photo Credit: Lily Glass Photography / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Behind the Stationery: Our Heiday / Photo Credit: Lily Glass Photography / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Every week, we have a team meeting so that everyone is contributing to the conversations about new product releases, systems that need improving, projects with upcoming deadlines. Donna lives in New York currently and joins us remotely unless she’s in town visiting. This will change when she’s back in LA this August!

Behind the Stationery: Our Heiday / Photo Credit: Lily Glass Photography / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Behind the Stationery: Our Heiday / Photo Credit: Lily Glass Photography / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Behind the Stationery: Our Heiday / Photo Credit: Lily Glass Photography / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Having a team means I can focus most of my time on creative and high level growth. I spend my days painting and lettering new work and making sure that we’re always coming back to the core vision of the company. I’m so grateful that my hands have been freed to do what they’re best at; it’s been the ultimate blessing. We currently offer cards, art prints, gift wrap, phone cases and table decor items, but my goal has always been to become a lifestyle brand, offering a wide-spanning range of products that elevate the everyday. We’ll be showcasing a new line of desk products full of fresh patterns and a calendar for 2017, which was so fun to put together. Sneak peek below!

Behind the Stationery: Our Heiday / Photo Credit: Lily Glass Photography / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Thanks so much for joining along today! You can shop all of our products including the newest release on our website at ourheiday.com and follow along with us on instagram, facebook, and twitter at @ourheiday.

Photos by Lily Glass.

If you’re interested in participating in the Behind the Stationery column, contact Megan at megan[at]ohsobeautifulpaper.com!

Happy Weekend!

Happy Friday everyone! And welcome to my first Friday round up of the New Year! It feels nice to be back in a regular schedule and sharing some favorite links of the week with all of you. In fact, the last time I did one of these posts we had just embarked on the renovation of our home’s only full bathroom. And I’m happy to report that, a month later, our bathroom is finally done! It took sooooo much longer than I had originally anticipated and we still have a few finishing touches to take care of, but I can’t wait to share it with you! It’s seriously the most amazing transformation. But in the meantime…

Send More Love / In The Daylight via Oh So Beautiful Paper

Image via In The Daylight

…a few links for your weekend!

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

That’s it for me this week! Stay tuned for another mocktail recipe this afternoon – we’ll be doing one each week for the rest of the month! If you missed it, last week’s Mock Mai Tai recipe was SO good! I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Monday! xoxo

Finding The Paper: Boboli

During a busy season filled with packing, wrapping and shipping (not to mention parties) I welcome the brief lull of holiday festivities within the sample studio. I need those moments to recalibrate and get back into my favorite routines. It was during one of those reprieves that I came upon the brand refresh of Vancouver’s luxury boutique, Boboli. In this installment of Finding the Paper, we’ll see how Glasfurd & Walker updated and unified a brand through the use of its paper and print techniques. – Jill of Parse & Parcel

Finding the Paper: Boboli / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Established in 1985 and situated in Vancouver’s South Granville Shopping District, Boboli is a luxury boutique known for its exquisite collection of clothing and accessories for women and men. The team at Glasfurd & Walker were tasked with updating the existing brand across an extensive number of touch points including packaging, stationery and signage as well as some bespoke interior elements.

Glasfurd & Walker drew inspiration for the design from the original logo (which had the building in it and had been in existence since their launch in 1985), with an updated more modern typographic system featuring a classic, minimalist sensibility to compliment the many brands that Boboli showcases.

All of the print elements are unified in look and feel, with the logo and crest featuring a stunning a gold foil stamp. The letterhead, business cards, thank you notes and envelopes are all printed offset on Classic Linen Recycled 100 Bright White stock with Pantone 405 as the flood of gray or type.

Finding the Paper: Boboli / Oh So Beautiful Paper

The business cards are actually two 80# Cover sheets laminated together to create a custom duplex sheet, lending some nice heft and stature to reinforce the brand’s classic style. The letterhead follows suit, using 100# Text as the paper stock, imparting a feel of importance coupled with the tactile hand of the linen finish.

The minimalist design lends itself beautifully to the print techniques and papers selected, the gold foil of the crest on the envelope makes one do double take, closely resembling engraving. The stationery suite is a great example of how minimal paper specifications paired with the right print production techniques can have maximum impact on a project.

Finding the Paper: Boboli / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Finding the Paper: Boboli / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Finding the Paper: Boboli / Oh So Beautiful Paper

finding-the-paper-boboli_06

Classic Gray Birth Announcements

These classic gray birth announcements from Lauren Chism Fine Papers are so refreshing! Not a speck of pink or blue in sight! I love how the neutral tones and clean, classic design allow the sweet baby photo to shine – and of course I’m partial to the name Alice. Such a wonderful keepsake for a beautiful new baby!

Classic Gray Birth Announcements by Lauren Chism Fine Papers / Oh So Beautiful Paper

From Lauren: Now that my husband and I are expecting, designing anything baby related just makes my heart skip a beat. I can’t get enough! I have been wanting to expand my letterpress birth announcement collection, so this is all working out very well 😉

Classic Gray Birth Announcements by Lauren Chism Fine Papers / Oh So Beautiful Paper

These announcements are extra special to me because Laura was my very first wedding client when I launched my business full time. Over the years, I have gotten to design some holiday cards and baby shower invitations for her… and then, this beautiful sweet girl arrived and I had the honor of designing her birth announcements. Birth announcements, much like wedding invitations, are such a special keepsake and something special for the family to look back on for a long time. I love how certain pieces of stationery, to those who love it, are so much more than just pieces of paper.

Classic Gray Birth Announcements by Lauren Chism Fine Papers / Oh So Beautiful Paper 

Back to the design! Once Laura chose the photo, the neutral tones of the image really leant themselves to a more muted ink color. She wasn’t into pink, so we tried out some shades of grays, tans and blues and landed on this pale gray. We paired it with gray envelopes in a lighter shade. This neutral color lover thought they were perfect. They are just so classic and chic, which really is fits Laura’s style.

Classic Gray Birth Announcements by Lauren Chism Fine Papers / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Thanks Lauren!

Design: Lauren Chism Fine Papers

Letterpress Printing: Elefant Press

Lauren Chism Fine Papers is a member of the Designer Rolodex – you can check out more of Lauren’s beautiful work right here!

Photo Credits: Lauren Chism Fine Papers