NYIGF January 2012, Part 6

For the final post from the January 2012 NYIGF, I’m focusing in on a few interior design exhibitors at the show.  I happily stumbled into the booth of Cose Nuove, which specializes in Scandinavian design – from eco-friendly dishtowels to textiles to mugs and votives.  So pretty!

 

 

Cose Nuove

I can never resist the bright colors and patterns at Jonathan Adler – and while it might see random, the two things that really caught my eye this year were some new fun bath towels and shower curtains!

 

 

Jonathan Adler

Designer Christen Maxwell isn’t exclusively about interior design – she creates some truly lovely tote bags and clutches – but I absolutely loved her new pillow patterns and designs.  I’m particularly smitten with the watercolor houndstooth pattern and the pillows with neon piping.

 

Christen Maxwell

Well, that’s it from the January 2012 NYIGF!  Do you have any particular favorites from the show?

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

NYIGF January 2012, Part 5

Today we’re wrapping up coverage from the January 2012 NYIGF with two final posts.  First up, a perennial favorite – Bailey Doesn’t Bark!  In addition to gorgeous ceramics (which you can see from the August show right here), I love RJ’s beautiful and minimal stationery, tea towels, and accessories.

 

Super cute tea towel packaging!

Bailey Doesn’t Bark

It was so nice to finally meet Rumi from the Japan-based Winged Wheel at this year’s NYIGF!  Rumi made her U.S. tradeshow debut with a stationery collection that mixed classic design with fun modern elements like pops of neon and die cut card shapes.

 

 

Love the pops of neon!

 

Winged Wheel

Finally on the stationery front, the bright and colorful booth of 9SpotMonk!  The ladies of 9SpotMonk had some seriously hilarious letterpress thank you cards printed on kraft paper, along with letterpress wine and gift tags.

 

 

9SpotMonk

I’ll be back with more from the January 2012 NYIGF soon!

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

NYIGF January 2012, Part 4

I’m back with more from the January 2012 New York International Gift Fair!  In case you missed them, you can find the first three recaps from NYIGF right here.  First up for today, the always fab Aesthetic Movement rep booth, where I caught up on the latest gorgeous letterpress stationery from Kim of Austin Press and swooned over the amazing ties from Forage.  I also totally fell for the barware and flasks from Izola – I can’t wait until the cocktail shakers become available for purchase next month!

 

Austin Press

Forage

 

Izola (they also had awesome soap packaging)

Next up, the fun textiles and stationery from Girls Can Tell out of Philadelphia.  From coasters to notebooks to onesies, this booth was full of awesome and quirky pieces.  I particularly loved the drinking glass and cookware tea towels!

 

 

 

Girls Can Tell

Next up, the lovely ladies of Albertine Press, May Day Studio, and Carta, Inc.  I always love the beautiful cotton ribbons and twine from Carta, Inc., and this year Angela is also introducing a beautiful collection of vintage international postage stamps (love!).  Kelly from May Day Studio had gorgeous journals in beautiful new patterns, while Shelley from Albertine Press just introduced a city-theme notebook collection.

 

Carta, Inc.

 

May Day Studio

 

Albertine Press

Last up for today, one of my favorite new finds from the Handmade section of NYIGF – a New York-based company called Ortolan.  I fell in love with the graphic black and white chevron blanket below, but the entire collection of napkins, pillow cases, and reclaimed wood mirrors is seriously gorgeous.

 

 

Ortolan

Check back tomorrow for the final posts from the January 2012 New York International Gift Fair!

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Kelly + John’s Modern Wedding Invitations + Save the Dates

Happy Monday everyone!  We’re starting the week off with a beautiful suite of wedding save the dates and invitations from Melissa and Amy at Atheneum Creative.  Melissa and Amy worked with bride and groom Kelly and John to develop a fresh approach to the idea of a magnet save the date.  The save the dates were later followed by beautiful wedding invitations with gorgeous hand lettered text in white ink on kraft paper for a modern and natural feel.

From Melissa + Amy: Kelly and John first came to us with the idea of a traditional magnet save the date.  We wanted to push this design to be more than the standard magnet that most people have seen.  We presented the idea of printing a separate magnet to hold up a digitally printed save the date card (creating a nice keepsake magnet).

 

The magnet was packaged in a custom printed muslin bag.  Kelly and John loved the idea of bringing in natural tones to offset the purple and green in the color palette, choosing to use a muslin bag to hold the magnet within the envelope.

When it came time for the invite, the couple really wanted to push the natural color palette with a touch of the green or purple – which lead us to introducing the kraft and a very playful calligraphy style.  This is a very fun set of materials for a very fun couple. We love it when couples come in with a vision of what they want and we are given the chance to address their wishes and push it even further.

We also created a series of thank you cards that can be used throughout the before and after wedding festivities.  We have some really fun ides in store for all their ‘day of’ materials.

Thanks Melissa + Amy!

Check out the Designer Rolodex for more tal­ented wed­ding invi­ta­tion design­ers and the real invi­ta­tions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Chelsea Davis Photography

Friday Happy Hour: Oaxacan Sunrise

We recently expanded our bar by adding a bottle of Mezcal, a smokey Mexican spirit closely related to Tequila.  Mezcal is delicious but not the easiest thing to mix into cocktails, and there are some (but not many) great Mezcal cocktail recipes out there to try.  So, we played around a bit and came out with (what we humbly think is) a fantastic Mezcal Sour – one that we’re calling a Oaxacan Sunrise.

Read below for the full recipe!

Oaxacan Sunrise

2 oz Mezcal
3/4 oz Pomegranate Liqueur
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/4 oz Simple Syrup

Combine the ingredients and shake over ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and enjoy.

 

Mezcal, like Tequila, is made in Mexico by fermenting and distilling the agave plant.  Mezcal, unlike Tequila, is made by first roasting the piña, or heart, of the agave plant in earth-covered pit ovens for a few days before fermenting.  This imparts a powerful, delicious smokiness that evokes Scotch whiskey, though Mezcal has a much deeper vegetal flavor.  It’s probably not for everyone, but it’s worth giving it a try.

Here’s what our Oaxacan Sunrise tastes like: smokey, vegetal and fruity, sweet and tart, delicious and refreshing.  It’s like a sweet tart campfire.  Mezcal is a strong flavor that can easily overpower a drink but we think we’ve found a pretty good balance here.  If you prefer a sweeter drink, you could replace the pomegranate liqueur with pomegranate molasses or grenadine, but the tartness of this recipe helps to keep the smokiness of the Mezcal under control.

 

We haven’t tried it with this recipe, but we’ve had great success with Mezcal Flips at some of our favorite local watering holes.  If you’re feeling adventurous and want to turn this into a Flip, add about half a raw egg or egg white to the mix and shake nice and hard to blend smoothly.  It won’t affect the flavor much, but the resulting texture will be rich and silky.

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper