brooklyn stationer

YELLOW!

2011-02-24T11:10:00.003-05:00

i can't get enough of all this pre-spring sunshine.
here's what crisp and fresh feels like:

one of my favorite cards from pancake & franks

pretty biz card edging from lovely stationery

chipboard postcard from set editions

floral coaster set from ruby press

letterpress print by nick agin

my fave li'l chick card from foxy & winston

HAMMERPRESS VALENTINES

2011-01-24T15:52:00.000-05:00

i love that these valentines from kansas city letterpress champs hammerpress don't say "be mine", but "YOU'RE mine".
nice and assertive.
pretty great.

VINTAGE POSTCARD

2010-12-26T11:51:00.006-05:00

i'm drawn to the dreamy femininity in this vintage postcard found at the selvedge yard, of all places.

[political ramifications aside, i also sort of want a yard full of teepees (tipis) now, too.]

LUNA, R.I.P.

2010-11-26T16:37:00.003-05:00

bye bye, goosey.

SERGEI MIKHAILOVICH PROKUDIN-GORSKII

2010-11-20T18:34:00.007-05:00

i found these rare color images of the early 20th century russian empire on the huffington post today and they were too pretty to pass up.

using a special technique that captured three black and white photographs in succession, the pictures could then be combined using red, green and blue filters to create realistic color. take that, iphone photo apps!

sergei mikhailovich prokudin-gorskii was commissioned by tsar nicholas II to document 1909-1915.

HALLOWEEN

2010-10-27T13:14:00.006-04:00

getting ready for halloween this weekend, i found these cute images by two of my favorites.

simple watercolor by natsumi nishizumi

simple letterpress design by dee & lala

MOONTREE LETTERPRESS

2010-10-26T12:10:00.009-04:00

in my book, it's never too early to think about fun holiday greetings and moontree letterpress has some of the cutest around.

design geek bonus? rebecca's collaboration with illustrator cassidy iwersen reminds me a bit of my favorite marimekko pattern, hetkiä/moments.

OFFICINA POLYCHROMA

2010-10-24T16:35:00.006-04:00

gorgeous wedding invitation from a cute 100 layer cake feature, and another from the german officina polychroma website. swoon...

2010-09-13T19:24:00.003-04:00

this cute photo from shall we go is one of my pins on my 'blacks and whites of sorts' at pinterest. a fun way to strengthen curatorial muscles. sign up!

MONOCLE

2010-09-05T00:03:00.000-04:00

monocle opened their new york outpost last week in the west village. among all the other divine treasures, i'm excited to take a peek at their happiness index print by poster illustrator satoshi hashimoto.

AUSTIN PRESS

2010-09-04T10:32:00.002-04:00

doesn't this just say it all?

lovely letterpress from san francisco's austin press.

DR. KENNEDY JONES

2010-09-03T09:12:00.009-04:00

hollie chastain's dynamite card and collage work on etsy from her dr. kennedy jones shop. i love how her color palette just feels so much like fall.

MATS GUSTAFSON

2010-09-02T07:00:00.001-04:00

what.
is.
lovelier.
than.
this?

such a departure from his more familiar ethereal watercolors.

(from an old link at moodboard.)

PERCH PAPIERS

2010-09-01T10:20:00.004-04:00

calligrapher and paper artist from seattle, i found perch papiers on etsy and simply love her lettering. so pretty!

OPENING CERMONY CANDY-GRAMS

2010-08-31T11:22:00.006-04:00

cute, cute idea...

hip downtowners opening ceremony are offering old-school candy-grams á la junior high. got your eye on someone special? $3 for each; you can either stop in the store and scribe your own sweet nothings or ask them to jot it down for you online. your lucky recipient will receive an email directing him/her to visit the shop to pick up their cool card and lollipop on-site.

DARLING CLEMENTINE

2010-08-24T09:39:00.003-04:00

look at these cutiepants notebooks from darling clementine.

IRIS SCHWARZ

2010-08-23T12:40:00.004-04:00

back to school for grown-ups might mean sprucing up a home office or studio.
i know i'd love to line up this triptych of pretty iris schwarz prints. simple black ink on paper; quiet and lovely.

BLANCA GÓMEZ

2010-08-21T11:04:00.005-04:00

holy christ! red cap launched a new line of blanca gómez cards?!
must. start. paying. closer. attention!

nary an item cuter, dear readers.

MOLESKINE CAHIER ROUND-UP

2010-08-20T09:27:00.000-04:00

screened, embroidered, rubber-stamped, hand-illustrated.... i love how easy it is to hack these into your own thing. more back to school fun with these adorable notebooks from various etsy sellers:

golden girl silhouette on navy or red from cutiepie company

pretty 2-color dahlias from ink whimsy

clean, precise embroidery from papermode home

charming little umbrella from by belinda

lovely hand-painting by mary's granddaughter. those doll arms kill me!

and something for the boys from portland's two guitars

and from CREATEaTHOUGHT

JOHNNY MILLER

2010-08-19T10:59:00.000-04:00

BACK TO SCHOOL!

i love this time of year...
i love these serene johnny miller still life photographs of desks even more.

oh joy featured these other gorgeous johnny miller photographs yesterday. divine.

NEW CRANE & CO. WEBSITE

2010-08-18T18:13:00.000-04:00

nice to see the launch of the new crane & co. website. while crane is widely known for their luxurious papers and traditional stationery, it's always fun to look at some of their contemporary products -- especially to sneak peek at the holidays.

MAE MAE PAPERIE

2010-08-14T16:36:00.005-04:00

lovely black and white monogram on mae mae paperie wedding invitation set. look at that typography!

link from 100 layer cake blog

DALTON GHETTI

2010-08-11T16:37:00.004-04:00

so awesome!
i love knowing something like this it out there...
brazilian carpenter, dalton ghetti, microsculpts these pencil leads with razor blades, sewing needles, and sculpting knives. beautiful.

thanks for the link to kid robot, zach!

MA VIE EN ROSE

2010-07-06T19:48:00.009-04:00

funny. i just realized the last few things i've acquired are all the same color pink.

angelika taschen's cool new york book

watermelon lined envelopes from crane & co.

the june issue of world of interiors

mac tinted lipglass in pink poodle

RED

2010-06-13T22:01:00.017-04:00

mark rothko red, 1958

watching the tony awards with all the mentions and wins for the rothko play, red, makes me think of these other beautiful things.

marc jacobs coat

herman yu red dahlia flat card

(advance apologies for not crediting some photos -- please let me know if they're yours.)

BOOKHOU

2010-05-04T23:46:00.002-04:00

it seems like everyone we know is having or just had a bébé. yippee!

how fun it would be to give all our friends the gorgeous flock mobile from bookhou.

STUKENBORG

2010-04-20T18:01:00.003-04:00

BEST THING ALL WEEK.

gorgeous letterpress prints using DICE (!!!) as the inked surface from stukenborg.

i might pass out.

found via amelia grohman's tweet here.

MADE BY JOEL

2010-04-08T07:09:00.006-04:00

this man puts us all to shame. ok just me.

it's baffling to me how someone is so creative and productive in what is seemingly and simply his spare time. portland's joel henriques is continuously inventing little bits and big bits of what range from dark room experiments to latchhook rugs to charming animals put together with leftover materials. i'm always inspired. and envious. he's like, "oh, i just found some vintage dominoes and leftover wire from some framing, so i threw together an exact replica of the eiffel tower while i was waiting for my coffee..."

does having kids instantly increase your art+crafts-itude? it must.
either way, i'm ten times the slacker now, just for having looked at this again.

i love his paper city.

SPRING FLING

2010-04-07T08:43:00.009-04:00

here's to beautiful days and it being light out when i leave work.

chris silas neal boombox illustration.
jen gotch peonies photo via her flickr page.

JILL SYLVIA

2010-04-06T06:42:00.007-04:00

i was thrilled to be introduced to cut paper artist, jill sylvia, last month. her installations are precise and delicate and beautiful and almost-unbelievable (as in how does she DO that?).

if you were fortunate enough to catch her, she's been in two recent shows in new york: she was part of scope in march and is still showing through april 18 at christina ray.

nb: click on the photos -- they look even better bigger.

BROOKLYN LOVE

2010-04-05T06:00:00.002-04:00

super cute postcard with charming sentiments from paper pastries.

found via lilac & ivy blog

HAPPY EASTER

2010-04-04T11:22:00.002-04:00

this darling li'l tote features shinzo katoh's cute illustration for molla space.

MARGARET & JOY

2010-04-02T11:39:00.000-04:00

i just recently discovered the margaret & joy food photography site through oh joy eats. such gorgeous, lovely simplicity.

APRIL SHOWERS

2010-04-01T11:32:00.004-04:00

i found this great pattern over at the two trick pony blog. they're working on new designs for their 2011 calendar and this perfect spring color combo caught my eye... great for a baby or bridal shower, too.

DEBI VAN ZYL

2010-03-30T11:47:00.002-04:00

simply put: some days are more difficult than others.

from one of my favorite, favorite blogs and artists, debi van zyl.

GOODBYE, WINTER

2010-03-26T12:59:00.007-04:00

a couple of pretty pictures from one of my favorite illustrators, julie morstad.

i like these ones in particular because they remind me of the first children's book i remember as a kid called mary of mile 18. not really in look, of course, but they feel the same to me. it was my sister's, i think... anyway, it was a canadian hit. look it up.

WPA POSTERS

2010-03-25T12:27:00.007-04:00

i'm still swoony about the WPA posters from FDR's new deal public works project. hard to believe it was 75 years ago (!) this april.

i particularly like the ones from the brookfield zoo.

MUSTERTUSSI

2010-03-20T13:13:00.001-04:00

stunning vintage wallpaper-y notebooks from mustertussi.

SAUL BASS

2010-01-25T12:54:00.003-05:00

from sam rosen over at the post family, this is the legendary saul bass discussing aesthetics vs. making money.

the pitch-perfect pull quote:
"it's worth it to me. it's the way I want to live my life. i want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares."

amen.

MARIN VAN UHM

2010-01-24T10:18:00.000-05:00

this gorgeous letterage alphabet is by designer marin van uhm.

found over at joe bauldoff's hello bauldoff

CODY HUDSON

2010-01-23T09:27:00.000-05:00

just found this great piece by chicago designer/artist cody hudson over at the bedlam of beefy. find more of his cool work at struggle inc.

VINTAGE HEART STAMPS

2010-01-19T16:50:00.012-05:00

these have always been my favorite love stamps.
i'm cuckoo for them.
how perfect is it that they used the heart as the V instead of as the O?

looking around ebay for them today, i also found these cool ones.
just in time for los valentinos...

1972 portugal

1970 netherlands

just some pretty chicago heart association seals.

BELLA FIGURA

2010-01-15T08:53:00.004-05:00

thanks to papercrave for highlighting some of the 2010 additions to the gorgeous bella figura wedding invitation collection. the talented folks at bella figura do a super job of curating and producing work from various designers, giving their portfolio depth and variety that single-designer lines often lack.

WHAT TYPE ARE YOU?

2010-01-14T06:00:00.001-05:00

this is currently making the rounds -- i found it over at felt & wire.

turns out, i'm perpetua titling light.
confession: i did this 3x until i got a face that was a favorite.
had to use fake names and everything! cheaterpants...

visit pentagram to play.
[password: character]

BLUE POOL ROAD

2010-01-13T10:13:00.008-05:00

day off.

wishing my week was as serene and lovely as everything over at blue pool road. be it peggy wong's 'polaroids', her custom wedding invitations, her blog posts, or her stationery line, it's always a nice, calming break to wander around her sites.

and what a sucker i am for a fellow typeophile (typophile? er, a lover of type, not of typos...).

HANNA KONOLA

2010-01-12T06:43:00.003-05:00

i like to use the new year's downtime to revisit work the holiday season makes it impossible to concentrate on. i keep coming back to finland's hanna konola. you guys might know her from rare device or lines&shapes.

what i like most about her work is, to me, it's immediately apparent that it's not american. does that make sense? her color palette, her shapes, her composition -- it's all quite pretty and simply feels different and new.

check out her blog.
check out her flickr.
check out her li'l shop.

MORRIS & ESSEX

2010-01-11T06:55:00.002-05:00

already looking forward to valentine's day. some people love halloween, some people love new year's eve, i love st. valentine.

this cute card from morris & essex will make the list this year.

DARLING CLEMENTINE

2010-01-10T00:00:00.000-05:00

around for a couple of years already, i predict that this charming little line from norway will finally hit big in american paper shops this year. who can resist how cute it all is? go, darling clementine, go!

MOSCOT!

2010-01-09T19:35:00.006-05:00

just bought my husband these cards over at power and light press.

have you seen my husband?

right?

get his moscot nebbs here, hipsters.

¡OLÉ!

2010-01-08T22:47:00.002-05:00

i'm absolutely bonkers for illustrator happy menocal's matador series, and wish the prints were magically made into a box of 10 notecards sitting on my desk right this minute.

SCISSORS

2010-01-07T20:11:00.001-05:00

two pretty pieces found (i think?) through ohjoy and design*sponge respectively.

check out the talented artists eva juliet in montreal and amanda in d.c. enjoy!

NIGHT AND DAY

2010-01-06T22:09:00.000-05:00

warm, pretty orange tones from the perfect blanca gómez to contrast the winter chill in new york right now.

HERZOG AND THE MONSTERS

2010-01-05T22:14:00.000-05:00

british animator lesley barnes knocked my socks off with this short film.

THE STATIONERY POSITION

2010-01-04T09:08:00.000-05:00

fun personalized folded notes to start off the year.
check 'em out at the stationery position.

POLSKA!

2010-01-03T20:56:00.001-05:00

despite the cool kids having spilled over to greenpoint from williamsburg long ago, i still love its old polish feel.

these vintage book covers from a journey round my skull are great.

POSTAL PRESS

2010-01-02T09:31:00.002-05:00

kick off the new year with this beautiful specimen calendar from portland's postal press.

resolution to keep a journal in 2010?
take a peek at their cutey farm animals. cheers!

2010 CORRESPONDENCE

2010-01-01T20:27:00.001-05:00

happy new year!
one of my resolutions, like many i suspect, is to stay in better touch with my fave raves. looking back, 2009 inadvertently become the year of my job, and before i knew it, zach and i had been back in brooklyn for a whole year already. i was too far out of touch.

time flies. one way to slow it down is to make/take time to send a missive or two or ten to the important peeps. pancake & franks makes it easy.

the only hard part is deciding which to start with -- her everyday box or the gourmet box? both are very darling.

to a great 2010!
be good; keep in touch...

BETSY DUNLAP

2009-12-03T09:20:00.004-05:00

a great new mini-interview over at the martha stewart/ darcy miller the bride's guide wedding blog featuring betsy dunlap's darling save-the-date cards of new york wedding planner and invitation guru, shana sperling.

find betsy's lovely work here and her hello handmade collaboration with shanna murray here.

YOURS EVER

2009-11-29T11:50:00.001-05:00

from the times today.

enough said.

RUTH DUCKWORTH, R.I.P.

2009-10-25T15:17:00.005-04:00

i just read the sad news about ruth duckworth's passing. i love her beautiful work very much and am glad i was able to see the ruth duckworth: modernist sculptor show a few years ago at the minneapolis institute of arts. she was best known for her giant murals, but my favorites were her small, intimate porcelain pieces. she was incredibly talented and my heart hurts a bit today...

JAWBOX

2009-10-07T23:00:00.006-04:00

you kiddin' me?

good news here.
who's that handsome drummer, btw?

MODERN PRINTED MATTER

2009-10-01T20:12:00.000-04:00

lovely new gocco'd botanical calendars for 2010 from modern printed matter.

handprinted on recycled paper -- see and buy them here.

KELLY MURPHY IS A GENIUS

2009-09-09T06:00:00.001-04:00

former kate's paperie printing consultant kelly murphy is an awesome artist with cheek to boot. her rooster paintings are already favorites and her hip jewelry is new. check her out at suburban sabbatical and buy her great stuff at kelly is awesome.

WHY AL FRANKEN RULES

2009-09-08T05:00:00.000-04:00

norm coleman can't do this. sucker.

APRIL MUELLER DESIGN

2009-09-07T16:52:00.006-04:00

how cute are these wedding invitations?

created for eco-friendly low impact, the invitation was printed on old pages taken from wedding etiquette books. the envelopes are printed kraft bags and the type wraps from front to back. find april mueller here and here.

IKEA TYPOGRAPHY

2009-09-06T16:29:00.004-04:00

anxious times.

i have to think that the over-5,700 people who signed the petition asking ikea to change their catalog typeface from verdana back to their signature futura are actually upset about the recession, rising unemployment, and the maniacs who bring guns to health care town halls, and are simply mis-channeling it to this monumentally less-important typography debate. read the times article here.

a bit of perspective, eh?

MOONTREE LETTERPRESS

2009-09-05T16:04:00.001-04:00

congratulations to rebecca kutys on the new moontree letterpress website. see her great work here. read her fun blog here. follow her on twitter here.

and take a peek into the new esty craft night at their new dumbo digs next week. moontree will be a fun addition with these darling recipe cards.

LOVELY MPLS

2009-09-03T15:58:00.001-04:00

cutiepants posters from designers jamie paul and kevin hayes at lovely mpls. one by day, the other by night.

find them at their etsy site here.

URBAN CENTER BOOKS

2009-09-02T15:28:00.002-04:00

adding to the list of "why we love new york":

in order to avoid the tourist masses on fifth avenue the other day, my husband and i wandered over to and around madison avenue on our way back from takashimaya and found the coolest bookstore we didn't know existed. urban center books is a teeny little shop inside the old villard houses, where the new york palace hotel and gilt are. (recognize the exteriors from gossip girl?)

a municipal art society of new york project, urban center books specializes in architecture and design with an amazing collection of new york-specific works. it's in this charming little parlor room that overlooks the palace's courtyard -- finding it was one of those magic new york moments. a great way to lose an hour of your afternoon.

PRETTY MAIL CALLIGRAPHY

2009-09-01T15:19:00.002-04:00

one of the most fun parts of the blog is having followers send me links to stuff they know i'll love. such is the case with annie lloyd's darling company pretty mail calligraphy. a former kate's paperie employee, annie relocated to the washington d.c. area and offers a lovely line of lettering for invitations and envelopes.

thanks to kelly curren at kate's paperie for the link!

AN EVENING AT THE WALDORF

2009-08-12T23:10:00.006-04:00

LONG LIVE GREAT LETTER-WRITING!

jean and bud ince. what an incredible story.
how have i lived since 1978 without coming across this?
have you all read about them? positively dreamy: lump in my throat, hand on my chest wonderful. take a look here.

HABLE CONSTRUCTION ::: BACK TO SCHOOL

2009-08-11T05:58:00.000-04:00

i don't care if it's 390 degrees here in new york right now, i'm still psyched for fall. look how cute this new pink tote and li'l planner are from hable.
nice! get 'em here.

NEITHER SNOW

2009-08-10T13:10:00.008-04:00

anne over at design*sponge just featured mara zepeda of neither snow and her gorgeous home as a sneak peek and i enjoyed this photograph and her accompanying comment a lot. check out her great blog, too.

I found a big box of these lead engravers plates from the 1930s – 50s in Boston. They have the initials and addresses that were then used for stationery. It inspires me to look at the addresses while I work and remember how important correspondence was and still is in people’s lives.

THE HIGH LINE

2009-08-09T13:20:00.007-04:00

we finally got a chance to go hang out on the high line and i think it's awesome. in addition to the gorgeous landscaping and smooth design, these two items in particular caught my eye:

spencer finch's window installation the river that flows both ways

the wooden bleachers at the 16th street entry

this photo is from a cool blog called you're my favorite.

PAPER + CUP WEDDING

2009-08-08T14:19:00.000-04:00

it was nice to see the new flat-print release, voyage, from paper+cup here in brooklyn. i like to keep an eye out to see how designers are adjusting to the current economic landscape. flat printing is a super way for couples to stay within a slightly tighter budget without sacrificing great design.

PRETTY PALETTE

2009-08-07T13:52:00.006-04:00

congratulations to grace bonney at design*sponge on her 5th anniversary! and many thanks to her and the hypertalented deanne cheuk for the pretty desktop wallpaper giveaway -- a lovely idea and gift. download it here.

similarly pretty bottles from this tabletop in a scout-holiday post-event photograph.

SUMMER VACATION

2009-08-06T14:44:00.001-04:00

hi ya. we're back from summer vacation. did you miss us?

I'M SMITTEN

2009-07-06T04:53:00.000-04:00

i am smitten!

it's moments like these when i feel pangs of homesickness for my old shop. ashley alexander from i'm smitten released three new(ish?) card designs in her already-charming collection and i can only admire them from afar, as opposed to buying many of them to sell to our awesome customers who were big fans of her work. find them and lots of other cute stuff here.

photos courtesy i'm smitten website

LOOP

2009-07-05T10:05:00.002-04:00

another one of my favorites from the stationery show is loop. founder/designer elissa brown barbieri debuted her collection in 2007 and her now-recognizable hand-drawn patterns are showing up on cards and papers everywhere. her dedication to eco-conscious materials and a commitment to a variety of environmental causes makes scooping up her lovely items even more of a treat. too, i thought it was pretty darling that her mom was helping her work her booth at the show. check out her blog here.

photos courtesy of loop/elissa

BURGERS and BEACHHOUSES

2009-07-04T19:23:00.012-04:00

burger by zach barocas

happy fourth of july!

today might have been the first all-around nice day yet.
it was pretty great... what's better than a brooklyn BBQ, i ask?

ok, maybe an andrew geller beachhouse.

pearlroth house, 1958

reese house #1, 1954

frank house, 1958

elkin house, 1966

irwin hunt house, 1958

photos from andrew michael geller website

LEISURAMA

2009-07-03T19:39:00.003-04:00

this is a really good documentary to check out if you haven't seen it.

great oldschool art direction.

A HOLY GRAIL OF SORTS

2009-07-02T16:02:00.001-04:00

my, oh, my...what a sight!

did everyone see this article in the times yesterday? it's a lovely style piece featuring various local stationers and some beautiful personalized collections.

it does my heart such sweet service.

both photos courtesy the new york times

R.I.P.

2009-06-25T00:24:00.002-04:00

a sad day, indeed.

CURSIVE GRAND OPENING

2009-06-23T20:01:00.023-04:00

we are lucky new yorkers, we are.

if you hadn't heard, cursive new york, the ultracool and very lovely independent store within abc carpet & home, has expanded; they opened a second location inside grand central terminal a couple of weeks ago. my friend and cursive's manager, the dear m.k. wong, was kind enough to tell us a little bit about the process and results, along with co-owner michael schultz, who, with partner, doug duncan, also runs the wholesale company, motel deluxe (which happens to be a wholesale outlet for sesame letterpress as well).

cursive is a favorite of just about everyone i know who lives in the city, visits the city, or has any sort of fashionable affinity for paper goods and stellar gifts. their influential style, merchandising expertise, and approach to independent retail has made the store a great success. we congratulate them and wish them all the best with the new location!

(my thanks to the wonderful kate babb shone for knowing cursive first.)
________________________

BKLYN STAT: HOW LONG HAS CURSIVE BEEN OPEN? WAS MOTEL DELUXE ESTABLISHED BEFORE THE LOCATION AT ABC?

MK: Cursive officially opened October 2005 in ABC Carpet & Home. Motel Deluxe, a wholesale distributor, had already been established since 1995.

BKLYN STAT: HOW DID YOU HOOK UP WITH MICHAEL? HAD YOU KNOWN THEM PREVIOUSLY?

MK: It was August 2004 during the NY International Gift Fair at the Jacob Javits Center and I happened to be back in NYC for a brief stint while still living in Paris. I was working with my former employer, Kenneth Wingard, and able to network at the same time. Many of my gift show friends were asking me what my future held and I mentioned my passion for opening my own store/showroom or at least manage someone else's store. It turns out that Michael and Doug of Motel Deluxe were thinking of opening their own store in NYC and I should go talk to them about joining forces.

BKLYN STAT: WAS CURSIVE SUCCESSFUL RIGHT AWAY? WHAT STRUGGLES HAVE YOU FACED WITH THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN?

MK: Cursive was successful immediately. We had filled a niche in ABC and in the surrounding neighborhood. Traffic slowed down a little bit, however, we are in a destination place and the tourists and loyal clientele continues to keep us busy.

BKLYN STAT: WHAT SETS CURSIVE APART?

MK: What sets Cursive apart is our strong point of view; We carry unusual, handcrafted, artisanal products and strive to build relationships with both our vendors and customers.

BKLYN STAT: WHEN DID THE EXPANSION PLANS BEGIN? WAS THERE ALWAYS A PLAN TO OPEN ANOTHER/MORE STORES? AND WHY GCT? I IMAGINE YOU GUYS LOOKED AT A LOT OF SPACES?

MICHAEL: Expansion plans began before ABC. The opportunity to open a store inside GCT arose and we can't beat the foot traffic; it is a perfect demographic and perfect for what we do. Yes, we looked at over 15 spaces from Soho to Madison Ave.

BKLYN STAT: WILL THEY STORES BE THE SAME? ANYTHING SPECIFIC ABOUT THE GCT TRAFFIC/CUSTOMER TO ADJUST TO? (eg. people walking through gct might not have ever been inside abc)

MICHAEL: Surprisingly, the customers and products are the same.

BKLYN STAT: WILL MOTEL DELUXE BE AFFECTED IN ANY SPECIFIC WAY, GOOD OR BAD?

MICHAEL: Having two retail stores has given us a better understanding of the wholesale business and understanding the retail customer.

BKLYN STAT: TALK A BIT ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH MATT AND BRECK FROM SESAME LETTERPRESS -- WHEN DID YOU ALL MEET, HOW DID THE COLLABORATION GET STARTED, ETC.?

MICHAEL: We've known Sesame Letterpress for 4 years. I met Breck at an open studio in Dumbo and afterwards asked if she would be interested in doing a wholesale collection using French paper.

BKLYN STAT: THOUGHTS ABOUT THE CURRENT STATE OF PAPER IN REGARDS TO THE STRUGGLING ECONOMY? WE WERE ALL STUNNED WHEN MRS. JOHN L. STRONG CLOSED.

MK: Having managed Cursive at ABC for the past 3.5 years has opened my eyes to what our customers are looking for and it is not just unique product but also good customer service that goes beyond helping them find a gift. Some of my memorable experiences with customers are when we are able to share information and network a bit. I enjoy being able to introduce something new to a customer and give them a bit more personal information about a card or an object, than it just sitting there.

MICHAEL: I think the realization that we are going to see even more stores closing and wholesale companies going out of business have become very apparent. The companies/ shops that push forward and continue bringing new products to market will be the only ones who stand a chance at surviving this downturn. Everyone is very nervous.

I am hoping to find some great gift related items for 4th quarter and this might mean traveling to the European shows again. We have taken a little time off from this strategy but I am feeling it might be the time to reinvest in those special items no one else will have. It can be a huge hassle but at a customer level you get a great payoff.

cursive kindly supplied their own photography.

NIGHT OWL PAPER GOODS

2009-06-20T13:21:00.005-04:00

get out of here! how cute is this little guy?
what is it with otters? i could burst.
(i'm still in love with that damn youtube video. sick.)

big, huge, night owl love from brooklyn to birmingham.

JEN GOTCH

2009-06-19T10:57:00.006-04:00

this pretty beach diptych and three weeks of new york rain make me want to scream: WHERE IS SUMMER?!

see her lovely work here and here and here.

OBLATION PAPERS & PRESS

2009-06-16T21:55:00.000-04:00

i keep forgetting to post these little beauties.
oblation debuted their new letterpressed monogram series last month at the stationery show. double-thick cardstock, rounded corners, red ink, flat card with grey envelopes. i can't get enough of them... 100% charm.

TERMINAL DESIGN

2009-06-15T21:41:00.005-04:00

new from terminal design in brooklyn, a typeface called tangent.
i'm crazy for the 'thin' part of the family. $45 here.

WILLŌUGHBY

2009-06-12T20:26:00.002-04:00

while looking through the archives at the very cool felt & wire blog, i was reminded how much i love this project. willōughby is celebrating 30 years of great design this year and reworked their branding.

everything about it is well done. sort of perfect execution... like the various annual branding and identity winners in magazines i'm such a sucker for like how and print.

great paper. great design. great letterpress. presto magic.

thank you felt and wire for the photos

TWO GUITARS ON ETSY

2009-06-10T19:58:00.001-04:00

portland's scott ballard seems to be a bit of a renaissance man: designer+printer, photographer, and filmmaker, he also blogs about beer. busy busy, indeed. i think i first ran across his etsy site after i bought the super 8/joie de vivre postcard at greenwich letterpress in the village. can that be right? i think so... anyway, i think he makes great stuff and it's nice to have a masculine touch on things like his moleskine notebooks, letterpressed cards, and gocco prints. they're balanced and well-conceived and -colored, and his images are nice to look at. check him out.

NOTPAPER COLLAGE

2009-06-05T20:06:00.002-04:00

anyone after my own heart, who has ever loved a yellowed letter, a fading photograph, penmanship, typewriters, old postcards, vintage stamps, or found ephemera of any kind might dig this blog about collage called notpaper.

editor/curator aprile elcich stuffs her blog chock full of samples from a huge variety artists she likes, complete with lots of Q+A. her goal is "to feature every single collage artist (that exists!)". take a peek at some of her own work above and below and check out her website here.

(thanks to the stellar rebecca trawick from bluebird studios for the find.)

PAPER ARTIST JOHNNY KELLY

2009-06-03T19:46:00.008-04:00

i was very happy when i found this video, the seed, by paper artist johnny kelly.
what a great distraction... i watched it many, many times in a row.
that apple just kills me. and the feather, my god, the feather! too good.

there's also a cool 'making of' and other work to take a look at here.

RING MY BELL

2009-06-01T19:18:00.005-04:00

eye candy for today.
i'm nuts for these images of doorways in dublin i found on flickr here and here.
aren't they pretty?
are they all like this? i've never been there...

(photo credit to one steve-h.)

MARTHA STEWART FOR CRANE & CO.

2009-05-30T20:55:00.002-04:00

by now, this huge debut has surely made the rounds. in case you aren't aware, martha stewart teamed up with american icon papermaker crane & co. to release a collection of custom wedding invitations. they launched at this year's stationery show and the very pretty lookbook can be viewed here.

reviews are mixed. i think most fans and retailers were expecting to be blown away, and the designs seem to speak more to ms. stewart's traditional nuptial sense than to any sort of trailblazing, trend-forward style.

perhaps this is evidence of the weddings editors doing a really great job of culling samples of talented, outside designers for the magazine, which is what we've become accustomed to anticipating and seeing, as opposed to items produced in-house? it does feel a little underwhelming which is confusing.

there has been much debate over collaborations like this, including vera wang for william arthur and kate spade for crane before that.

what do you think?

photos courtesy of crane.com

TYPE A

2009-05-29T20:30:00.005-04:00

what's better than a lovely script typewriter?

ALPHABET SOUP

2009-05-28T14:08:00.014-04:00

peter from binth was a treat at the stationery show, as always -- their new framed single letters are darling and i want to scoop 'em up. as if their original alphabet print wasn't cute enough. take a peek here.

similarly, it was nice to get an email from tara hogan at ink + wit promoting her poster sale. i love her alphabet print as well. just $45 here.

petit collage and sycamore street press and sweetbeets make some very cute ones, too. i'm crazy about the different color palettes. right now it seems all of our friends are pregnant and these would make super gifts for le bébé.

WHAT, AM I NUTS?

2009-05-27T12:13:00.001-04:00

sometimes i think some things are my favorite things, and at the time, or for the time, they really are - reference 5/25/09, for example. but then i come across something that is (shazam!) my ultrafavorite thing, and i sort of can't believe i ever posted something else, those other things, as a favorite thing in light of my new "now THIS is my favorite thing" kind of thing.

either way, i gotta keep an eye on my use of absolutes...

behold. and watch it full screen. from a show at the walker art center last year, the superb martin dosh as bandleader and my pal, michael lewis, on saxophone. oh, and you guys know the violin kid on the left.

World of Dosh "circles and squares", set 1 (finale) from Chumm® on Vimeo.

ZACH BAROCAS: POET, PUBLISHER, NEW THING

2009-05-26T09:54:00.001-04:00

i'm thrilled to post this from an article in the new boston review by poet and harvard professor, stephen burt. in it he describes what he sees as a new direction and collective in poetry, deeming it the New Thing (his caps). burt includes in this stellar company my husband's online magazine the cultural society and his first book of poems among other things... so, so proud of him.

an excerpt:

If the most important independent press for the New Thing is Flood, the most important magazine is Zach Barocas’s Web-based Cultural Society. Barocas entitled his own first book (itself surely part of the New Thing) Among Other Things. Barocas’s poem “Things to Do Today” makes a list of “things I’ve counted on,” among them “cigarettes, history, trucks, & trash,” “lapses, / flares, & lusty resolve”; disarmingly stark lines elsewhere in that same book promise to “abandon / elliptical things.” Among the first poets Barocas’s journal published, in 2001–02, were Peter O’Leary, Norman Finkelstein, and Michael Heller, prominent scholars of Objectivist writing, and Mark Scroggins, then at work on Zukofsky’s biography. Barocas has also published Johnston, Massey, Marks, and Foust; the Flood writers Philip Jenks, John Tipton, and Pam Rehm.

see the whole article here.
take a peek at zach's book here.

PUDDING + POP MUSIC

2009-05-25T18:17:00.000-04:00

so maybe today three of my favorite things are:

1. this mark bittman recipe/video for chocolate pudding.
2. my new $2 red-orange bangles from earrings plaza. clank!
3. this song by i'm from barcelona. (about whom i purposely and uncharacteristically don't know a single additional thing. can't risk ruining it for myself.)

what's music got to do with stationery you ask?
well everything, of course.

ILEE PAPERGOODS

2009-05-24T23:39:00.000-04:00

how fun it was to come across the ilee booth at the stationery show this year. i was familiar with their bright, colorsmacked designs after having bought a number of single cards from their etsy site, but didn't know they had grown into wholesalers as well. good for them! using etsy as a platform to launch a business is a topic thousands of us are interested in... i'd like to look further into this when i'm feeling more articulate and insightful. in the meantime, enjoy the saturation.

brooklyn stationer

YELLOW!

HAMMERPRESS VALENTINES

VINTAGE POSTCARD

LUNA, R.I.P.

SERGEI MIKHAILOVICH PROKUDIN-GORSKII

HALLOWEEN

MOONTREE LETTERPRESS

OFFICINA POLYCHROMA

PINTEREST

MONOCLE

AUSTIN PRESS

DR. KENNEDY JONES

MATS GUSTAFSON

PERCH PAPIERS

OPENING CERMONY CANDY-GRAMS

DARLING CLEMENTINE

IRIS SCHWARZ

BLANCA GÓMEZ

MOLESKINE CAHIER ROUND-UP

JOHNNY MILLER

NEW CRANE & CO. WEBSITE

MAE MAE PAPERIE

DALTON GHETTI

MA VIE EN ROSE

RED

BOOKHOU

STUKENBORG

MADE BY JOEL

SPRING FLING

JILL SYLVIA

BROOKLYN LOVE

HAPPY EASTER

MARGARET & JOY

APRIL SHOWERS

DEBI VAN ZYL

GOODBYE, WINTER

WPA POSTERS

MUSTERTUSSI

SAUL BASS

MARIN VAN UHM

CODY HUDSON

VINTAGE HEART STAMPS

BELLA FIGURA

WHAT TYPE ARE YOU?

BLUE POOL ROAD

HANNA KONOLA

MORRIS & ESSEX

DARLING CLEMENTINE

MOSCOT!

¡OLÉ!

SCISSORS

NIGHT AND DAY

HERZOG AND THE MONSTERS

THE STATIONERY POSITION

POLSKA!

POSTAL PRESS

2010 CORRESPONDENCE

BETSY DUNLAP

YOURS EVER

RUTH DUCKWORTH, R.I.P.

JAWBOX

MODERN PRINTED MATTER

KELLY MURPHY IS A GENIUS

WHY AL FRANKEN RULES

APRIL MUELLER DESIGN

IKEA TYPOGRAPHY

MOONTREE LETTERPRESS

LOVELY MPLS

URBAN CENTER BOOKS

PRETTY MAIL CALLIGRAPHY

AN EVENING AT THE WALDORF

HABLE CONSTRUCTION ::: BACK TO SCHOOL

NEITHER SNOW

THE HIGH LINE

PAPER + CUP WEDDING

PRETTY PALETTE

SUMMER VACATION

I'M SMITTEN

LOOP