LETTERPRESS WEDDING INVITATIONS: Chauhie Brings You The Cherry Blossoms

In the DC area, we cannot wait for the Cherry Blossoms to bloom. We love it so much, we have a parade just to prove it. So of course, I am loving this cherry blossom letterpress invitation set by Chauhie.

National Stationery Show Spotlight: Pancake and Franks

First of all, how cute is the name Pancake and Franks? Too cute. More letterpress goodness for you to peruse and consider for your wedding invitations. Pancake and Franks also print on 100% recycled paper. So that's a eco-fabulous plus! These are my favs, especially the Pisces invitation (number 3). See more on their web site.

National Stationery Show Spotlight: Hello! Lucky

Hello!Lucky has been a fav of mine for many years. One of the reasons that I love them is because they create stock invitations that feel custom. Primarily because of their unique designs. They will make a tweak to the color, add a unique font, and you can have your very own custom look. See their destination collection and much more on their web site.

National Stationery Show (NSS) Spotlight: Smock Letterpress

I was sick as a dog a few weeks ago and totally missed the National Stationery Show. I was so disappointed. But I have the booth list and I want to spotlight some of my favorites invitation companies this week. So if you are still looking for your invitations, check out who I think is hot - all this week!

First up is Smock Letterpress. Love them! This was the amazing NSS invitation that they sent to me.



I have been a big fan of Smock for quite some time. Probably because I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE letterpress. If you can afford letterpress, do it! For me, it just raises the bar to send your guests an amazing invitation on the crispest of white card stock carefully printed on a fab letterpress machine. Here are some of my favs:

Just So Lovely: Anemone Letterpress

This is so lovely. The Sprout letterpress wedding invitation set is the creation of Anemone Lettepress. See this wedding suite and their entire collection here.

Letterpress Goodness: Smock

Letterpress fans, welcome to day 4 in our Letterpress Goodness series. Each day, we are spotlighting a letterpress studio that is creating amazing letterpress fabulousness.



Today's spotlight in on smock. Amy Stigler is the Creative Director @ smock and tells her story of life and letterpress. Here's her lovely interview and amazing pictures. Enjoy and you can contact Amy via the link above.

What is the name of your business? How long have you been in business?
Smock. Smock was launched in 2008. It is a sister company to Bella Figura which I have been designing for since its inception in 2003.




What is your name, title, and role in the business?
Amy Graham Stigler. Designer / Creative Director. I design & concept the Smock line of stationery, paper products and invitations.




What makes you do what you do?
I have always been a very visual person and fell in love with the beauty & texture of letterpress while in graduate school in the mid 90s. I have been designing letterpress stationery ever since (first with Snow & Graham, then with Bella Figura, now with Bella Figura & Smock).

What paper products do you offer? What is your price range?
Smock has both a stationery line and an invitation line. Our note cards, greeting cards & wrapping paper can be purchased in stores throughout the country or online (see smockpaper.com for list of retailers). Our wedding invitation line is semi-custom -- a client starts with one of our many designs and then customizes its with color, pattern, paper, to make it unique to the event. Our prices are competitive with other letterpress lines.

What is your typical work day like?
My ideal work day starts with running and yoga (after getting the kids fed, dressed and squared away). Then I hit the computer and really spend most of my day designing & concepting the Smock line. One thing I always do when I am concepting a design is to make a quick 'sketch' and sit with it for a day or so to see if it warrants further development. Many designs never make it past this stage. Other than that, I do the more banal business stuff -- pay bills, return emails, order supplies, tidy up my desk (endlessly!).



Do you do custom work? Tell me a little about your custom design process? How long do custom orders usually take to complete?
I don't do a lot of custom work at this point since designing for Smock really takes up so much of my time. One thing that I do offer to clients is the ability to work off of the Smock Wedding Book and customize from there. Because the book has so much depth the design possibilities are nearly limitless.

What advice would you give to brides who want letterpressed invitations?
Look, look, look. And touch. Start with the designer/designs you love and then educate yourself about the company -- quality of their printing, materials used, pricing, philosophy, customer service, and so on.

What makes products created by letterpress so special?
The texture and three dimensionality of letterpress is completely unique. And often letterpress companies are smaller and more conscientious -- environmentally and otherwise.




If you could design wedding invitations for anyone in the world, who would it be?
My daughter (when her time comes).

Where do you go for inspiration?
I glean inspiration from just about anything -- nature, art, antiques.




What trends do you see emerging in letterpress/invitation design in 2009?
Bold color combinations. I am also seeing an interest in more traditional understated designs.

What is your favorite typeface and pantone color?
My consistent favorite typeface is Bell MT. Favorite Pantone: 5523 (soft blue-green).

Letterpress Goodness: Golden Rectangle Press

Letterpress fans, welcome to day 3 in our Letterpress Goodness series. Each day, we are spotlighting a letterpress studio that is creating amazing letterpress fabulousness.


Today's spotlight in on Golden Rectangle Press, run by the dynamic duo - Beth and Peter. So here is their lovely interview and fab pics. Enjoy and you can contact Beth and Peter via the link above.

What is the name of your business? How long have you been in business?
My husband Peter and I are Golden Rectangle Press and we have been designing and printing invitations and stationery together for 2 years. Before Peter came along, I had been creating wedding invitations since 2003.

What is your name, title, and role in the business?
Beth McGouran, co-owner, designer, letterpress printer. Peter is the screen printing extraordinaire, art editor, and the balancing influence in keeping a number of the designs male-friendly.



What made you want to start your own business, if applicable?
We've been creating together since we met so the transition to our own company seemed like a natural step and we wouldn't have it any other way. When you work for someone else, you start to lose bits of your soul. For some people, it may be small bits here and there, but I always feel that I get very far away from myself. My design career has given me a lot– most importantly– invaluable experience working with tons of clients and different personalities.

But for a long time, I have had a very strong desire to design pieces that I have more of a connection to; pieces with more meaning and emotion. I love the idea of creating something that marks an historical moment in someone's life. Something that they will keep forever. I still have my parents' wedding invitation and I consider it a priceless piece. Whether or not the couple remembers me personally is unimportant. The fact that they'll have a part of something that I made for them is very exciting. And it's all about love. How great is that?


What paper products do you offer?
We love the Neena line and use it a lot. We also favor Crane's Lettra, Mohawk and Strathmore. Our list is always expanding because we both love paper and the scope of products to choose from is enormous.

What is your price range?
Our suites start at $8.50 per set and vary according to designs, number of colors and extras like metallic inks and lined envelopes. We are in love with lined envelopes!

What is your typical work day like?
What is a typical work day?! When you work for yourself, you learn to expect the unexpected and go with the flow, not the undertow. Cliche but true!

Do you do custom work? Tell me a little about your custom design process? How long do custom orders usually take to complete?
After initial concepts and ideas are discussed, it takes about 3-5 days to flesh out design solutions. From there, the couple chooses between the designs and can mix and match elements from one piece to the next. The length of the design process depends a lot on the couple. Some are very hands on which is great because they get to be a part of their invitation design, but it also lengthens the process so it's important to allow enough time. After design sign off, we allot 3-4 weeks for printing.



What advice would you give to brides who want letterpressed invitations?
If you can afford it, do it! Letterpressed invitations are so magical, you can't help staring at them and running your fingers over the impressions. We fondle them constantly! You can't get that kind of timelessness and elegance from offset no matter how beautiful the design is.

What makes products created by letterpress so special?
Letterpress provides both a human connection and a connection to a piece of history before technology depersonalized everything. Our connections to one another through email, Facebook, text messaging and the Internet have boiled down to pixels. Our links to each other are most predominant in computerland which makes them seem less real, and when one device makes another obsolete those moments of connection are gone with them. Computers and printers can be wonderful creation tools but when it ends there, the human element is removed. When you hold a letterpress print in your hand, you are connected to the person who made that print using their hands, arms, legs, entire body, their love, their patience, and the oldest method of printing. There's a lot of soul in that.





If you could design wedding invitations for anyone in the world, who would it be?
If we could time warp into the past, we would create invites for any of the great artistic geniuses whose work could become part of the imagery or wording. daVinci, Picasso, Mucha, Klimt, Haring, cummings, Auden. Any of the classic type designers and patternmakers. John & Yoko!

Where do you go for inspiration?
Everywhere- architecture, photographs, music, posters, screen prints, and nature. Creative souls are inspiring.




What trends do you see emerging in letterpress/invitation design in 2009?
It depends on what the press says (no pun intended!). Someone will always publicize the latest trend and everyone quickly hops on that train. In work and in life, neither one of us typically follows trends but a good trend that is on the rise is the use of recycled and green products. Let's keep our earthly time capsule alive and breathing.

What is your favorite typeface and pantone color?
We mostly work with the classic typefaces or anything that looks very classic and refined. We try to stay away from type with a major swank factor. Colorwise, we favor a lot of the warmer Pantones in the red and brown families. We also love metallics.

Letterpress Goodness: Parklife Press

Letterpress fans, welcome to day 2 in our Letterpress Goodness series. Each day, we are spotlighting a letterpress studio that is creating amazing letterpress fabulousness.



Today's spotlight in on Parklife Press. We gave you a sneak peek into Parklife Press last year when Parklife was sweet enough to sponsor a giveaway. 'Cause you girls love a good giveaway. Parklife is the brainchild of Travis Friedrich, who is another "one-man show." So here is his wonderful interview and gorgeous pics including pictures of the giveaway winner's notecards. Enjoy and you can contact Travis via the link above.

What is the name of your business? How long have you been in business?
I started my company, Parklife Press, in late 2005... so it's just over 3 years old.

What is your name, title, and role in the business?
I'm Travis Friedrich, the owner and sole employee (with occasional help).

What makes you do what you do?
I love being in charge of my own time and deciding for myself what projects are important. That, combined with the fact that there aren't exactly a whole lot of job openings in letterpress and/or printmaking in general, led me to start a business of my own.



What paper products do you offer? What is your price range?
Parklife offers just about any sort of custom letterpress work you can think of (wedding stationery, business cards, personal notes, event invitations, etc). That said, about 90% of our printing is for weddings. Our prices for wedding invitations tend to run between $5 and $15 per set depending on the details. In the world of custom letterpress, there's a huge range in prices from shop to shop. I think Parklife's rates fall at about the 25th percentile (we're more expensive than a few, but more affordable than most.... and MUCH more affordable than some).




What is your typical work day like?

Most of my time is spent at my desk, whether it's doing design work for a client, ordering supplies (plates, paper, ink, etc), or answering emails and phone calls from potential customers. About 2-3 days a week (often on the weekends when I don't have as many emails coming in) I'm in the studio printing.

Do you do custom work? Tell me a little about your custom design process? How long do custom orders usually take to complete?
Yes, almost every order Parklife prints is custom. Usually, a client will open an order with a fairly clear idea of what they want, whether it be a variation on something in our gallery, or something they've dreamed up. I then put a few preliminary proofs together to show them, and we go from there, honing the design until it's perfect. The design process usually takes a couple of weeks, although there's a big range. A decent chunk of my work is for designers who come to me with finished designs... I'm happy to print those as well. Printing takes 3 weeks or less once the design is ready.




What advice would you give to brides who want letterpressed invitations?
Two things: First, I'd steer them toward a company that will give detailed personal attention to your order. It's nice to work directly with a single person who will see your order through from start to finish. Second, see a sample of the work before choosing a printer. Not all letterpress is done well. There's sometimes an assumption that if it's letterpress, it's high-quality, however, there's a big difference between a shop that puts a lot of stock in the details, and one who doesn't.

What makes products created by letterpress so special?
First and foremost, I just love the way letterpress pieces look. A crisp impression on thick soft paper is wonderful. Secondly, there's something nice about the fact that the printing is done by hand, one sheet at a time, on an old antique press (mine is over 100 years old).

If you could design wedding invitations for anyone in the world, who would it be?
Besides Brangelina? Hmmm... I'm not sure that anyone's coming to mind... I'll get back to you if I think of someone.

Where do you go for inspiration?
It seems like I'm always stumbling on inspiration (in magazines, on TV, on signs) so I don't often need to seek it out. My customers are also a great source of design ideas. Most of the pieces that are now Parklife designs stemmed from a custom job for a specific client.





What trends do you see emerging in letterpress/invitation design in 2009?
It seems like sans-serif type has been quite popular lately, both in wedding stationery and in pop culture in general. It'll be interesting to see if it continues. I also think perhaps the popularity of pocketfolds and enclosures of that sort may continue to grow.

What is your favorite typeface and pantone color?
I've really been liking Century Gothic a lot -- especially in all caps with generous kerning. As for color, PMS 5503 (Parklife's Pale Peacock) seem to keep popping up in my work.

PICTURES FROM THE BRIDAL WISHLIST/PARKLIFE PRESS GIVEAWAY

Here are pictures from our letterpress giveaway that Travis so graciously participated in. The winner won 40 personalized notecards and envelopes.