The Stationers Guild

Last Christmas one of my daughters gave me Mark Bittman’s book, Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating.  Clearly more concerned about my growing waistline than my malnourished intellect, my daughter’s inspired gift got me to thinking about calories and food production from an entirely different perspective:  the environment.  In Mr. Bittman’s eye-opening introduction he asserts that, according to the United Nations Food and Agricultual Organization (FAO), “global livestock production is responsible for one-fifth of all greenhouse gases – more than transportation.”

Mark Bittman, the noted food critic for the New York Times, and straight-man to hilarious chef Mario Batali in Spain… On The Road Again, makes an utterly convincing case for reducing our meat consumption and  ”save ourselves and our planet (and some money) by doing so.”  While I have not yet swapped cow for tofu, my daughters will be delighted that I have decided to moderate my diet and eat more responsibly.  In addition to practical reasons for modifying our eating habits, Food Matters has 75 great recipes to help facilitate that change.

You may be asking, what does stationery have to do with global livestock production?   A cynical answer might be that if everyone were to skip the double cheeseburger and instead send out a hand-written note the world be a better place.  Surely, a nice piece of social correspondence doesn’t  use  any more paper than the wrapping paper and bag that accompanies your 700 calorie burger.

While it is fashionable to be “green” I am always a bit skeptical of “green” claims when it comes to paper.   Scot Case of TerraChoice discusses the seven sins of greenwash which are routinely violated in most ”green” stationery promotions.   I am not sure if these questionable claims are deliberate, but stretching the truth seems to be a common and growing trend within the stationery industry.  It is indeed unfortunate as there are so many passionate and talented designers and craftspeople like Julie Holcomb, Oblation Papers and Elum Designs where “green” is a way of life rather than misleading promotional hype.

Mr. Bittman’s book on eating habits and global livestock production brings home a sad truth:  We seem to spend far too much time focusing micro-issues while  the “big green picture” gradually slips out of control.  Certainly, global livestock production and packaging, which represents more than 40% of all paper production, are far more serious environmental concerns than the simple yet elegant act of sending a personal note.

Sarah Schwartz, the talented editor of Stationery Trends magazine, gave two standing-room only presentations at the National Stationery Show last week.  The topic was Stationery Trends for 2009.  There was so much useful and practical information crammed into Sarah’s colorful presentation that it was sometimes difficult to keep pace with her rapid-fire overview of 2009 stationery trends.  With apologies to Sarah for missing something significant, I would like to comment briefly on the six key themes highlighted in her presentation.  I am doing so without graphics since I don’t want to overload the server.

Trend 1 - The Value Proposition:  Clearly, the economic recession has had a marked impact on consumer purchasing decisions.  There were numerous examples of companies offering different printing alternatives (flat-printing or lithography vs. letterpress) to provide more affordable options for the consumer.  Along that same line, several companies were offering less expensive substitutes.  For instance, Demby and Solomon have an attractive line of return address stickers rather than the generally more expensive printed envelope.

Trend 2 – Colors to Covet:  Purple is emerging as a “hot” new color.  Orange and yellow have been around for several years and both remain popular choices for today’s young consumer.  Gray features in many upscale designs.

Trend 3 – New vs. Old Patterns:  Several companies have created a modern twist on old patterns.  For instance, Elum Designs has created some truly contemporary stationery letterpress designs using old patterns.  Lucky Onion is another company that comes to mind that is producing some “hip” invitations using traditional designs.

Trend 4 – The Perfect Green Storm:  Many companies are offering Eco-friendly stationery or invitation papers.  Playing the “green” card has become quite fashionable.  I did give the papers made from elephant dung a pass, but Night Owl Paper Goods has some attractive greeting cards and invitations made from wood.

Trend 5 – Designer Cachet:  A number of fashion trend-setters have added their name to stationery and invitation lines.  Vera Wang branches into new territory with the debut of Wedding Invitations II in June.  This follows Vera’s very successful Wedding Invitations I with William Arthur in 2005.  Martha Stewart has partnered with Crane & Co. to produced a line of 24 wedding invitation styles.  Lilly Pulitzer, MOMA and several others are adding their own distinctive touch to new stationery and invitation lines.

Trend 6 – Design Trends:  Sarah cited so many design trends that I will only highlight a few.  Animal prints (particularly wild animals), birds and butterflies are popular across many invitation lines.  Cityscape patterns found in Lallie and Faux Designs are also proving to be quite popular.  For me, the most distinctive trend was the introduction of texture into the design process.  Lattice, lace, damask and toile were evident across may lines and in some cases, like the new Vera Wang wedding invitation line, were the most riveting feature of the stationery ensemble.   Personalization, through monograms or names, continues to a growing trend in stationery.

Sarah seminar is clearly a must-see for those who are looking for something new and distinctive.  While the National Stationery Show was somewhat smaller this year, I did manage to discover 10 new companies that were not on my initial target list.  Thanks Sarah for a great introduction to this year’s National Stationery Show.

Fashionable letterpress stationery designer Elum has a special promotion for wedding invitations through June 4th.  Elum will print the return address on your invitation and reply card envelope for free with your wedding invitation order.  Only one color is permitted under this promotion.   If you have been in the searching for distinctive letterpress invitations but opertating under a tight budget, Elum is certainly worth a look with this great promotional offer.