The Stationers Guild

The growth of letterpress invitations, letterpress save the date cards, baby announcements and letterpress stationery over the past ten years is not unexpected. Affordable second-hand letterpress printing presses have made way for a lot of skilled designers and artisans to indulge their imagination to produce beautiful wedding invitations and stationery using this centuries-old printing process.

Much like the process used for engraving, letterpress uses polymer or metal dies to “press” ink into malleable card-stock, principally cotton. Every color is applied using a individual press run, which calls for persistence and appreciable skill to get the close registration needed to correctly align colors and design images.

Each May during the National Stationery Show in New York City, new letterpress vendors take center stage to introduce their new styles. Even though letterpress was regarded as somewhat of a novelty some a few years back, many of the new letterpress printers simply don’t have the flair, originality and, oftentimes, the ability and expertise to produce pleasing letterpress stationery. The truth is, most “new” designs offer little that’s unique. Truth be told, the stationery marketplace is over loaded with letterpress.

Letterpress printers with deep roots in the craft, such as Julie Holcomb, Elum, Oblation (letterpress images shown here), Press New York, Page and Real Card Studio still build on their craft and their sturdy hand and passion for the craft continues to elevate the bar for letterpress printing.

Although some letterpress printers now sell online, most letterpress artisans sell their invitations by using seasoned retailers throughout the United States. Quoting pioneer Julie Holcomb, “If you are like most people, you have never ordered any kind of custom printing prior to ordering your wedding invitations. You can benefit a great deal from the experience of your local stationer, who orders all kinds of custom printing, from many vendors, all the time. They’ll help you make sure you’re covering all the bases and making decisions you’ll be happy with for a long time.”

Julie’s advice is worthwhile following. If you have your heart set on letterpress for the wedding invitations, it is wise to talk to an experienced stationer in your area.

Sheila P. May is the owner of Therese Saint Clair, a stationery store located in Greenwich, CT. A founding member of the Stationers Guild, she writes frequently about NYC Wedding Invitations.

The emergence of letterpress wedding invitations, letterpress save the date announcements, baby announcements and letterpress stationery within the last decade isn’t unexpected. Easily affordable second-hand letterpress printers have made way for a lot of gifted artisans and designers to apply their creativeness to produce beautiful invitations and stationery using this very old printing process.

Similar to the process used in engraving, letterpress employs polymer or metal dies to “press” ink into pliable card-stock, generally cotton. Every color is applied using a separate printing press run, which demands patience and considerable skill to have the close registration needed to properly align colors and motif designs.

Each May during the National Stationery Show in New York City, new letterpress vendors take center stage to introduce their fresh styles. Though letterpress was regarded as being a bit of a novelty some 5 to 10 years back, most of the recent letterpress printers simply do not have the flair, creativity and, in many cases, the ability and expertise to make attractive letterpress wedding invitations. In fact, many of the “new” designs provide little that’s new. Quite frankly, the stationery marketplace is saturated with letterpress.

Letterpress printers with deep traditions within profession, such as Julie Holcomb, Elum, Oblation (letterpress samples shown here), Press New York, Page and Real Card Studio are able to innovate and their firm hand and love for the craft continues to set the standard for letterpress printing.

While a few letterpress printers now sell online, nearly all letterpress artisans market their stationery by way of experienced retailers across the United States. In the words of pioneer Julie Holcomb, “If you are like most people, you have never ordered any kind of custom printing prior to ordering your wedding invitations. You can benefit a great deal from the experience of your local stationer, who orders all kinds of custom printing, from many vendors, all the time. They’ll help you make sure you’re covering all the bases and making decisions you’ll be happy with for a long time.”

Julie’s advice is definitely worth following. If you’ve got your heart set on letterpress for your wedding invitations, it is wise to talk to a professional stationer in your area.

Sheila P. May is the owner of Therese Saint Clair, a stationery store located in Greenwich, CT. A Found Member of the Stationers Guild, she writes frequently about national and  NYC Wedding Invitations trends.

The increased popularity of letterpress invitations, letterpress save the date cards, baby announcements and letterpress stationery within the last ten years isn’t surprising. Affordable second-hand letterpress printing presses have allowed a lot of gifted artisans and designers to indulge their creativity to create gorgeous wedding invitations and stationery by using this very old printing process.

Much like the process utilized in engraving, letterpress employs polymer or metal dies to “press” ink into pliable cardstock, primarily cotton. Each and every ink color is applied using a separate press run, which calls for persistence and great skill to have the close registration needed to properly align colors and design images.

Every May at the National Stationery Show in New York City, new letterpress vendors take center stage to display their latest designs. Though letterpress was regarded as somewhat of a novelty some a few years ago, the vast majority of recent letterpress printers and designers simply do not have the good taste, originality and, in many cases, the ability and expertise to make eye-catching letterpress wedding invitations. In fact, most of the “new” designs offer little that’s unique. Truth be told, the stationery market is saturated with letterpress.

Letterpress printers with deep traditions in the profession, like Julie Holcomb, Elum, Oblation, Press New York, Page and Real Card Studio still build on their craft and their sturdy hand and passion for the craft continues to raise the bar for letterpress printing.

While a few letterpress printers now sell online, most letterpress artisans sell their invitations by way of knowledgeable retailers throughout the United States. Quoting pioneer Julie Holcomb, “If you are like most people, you have never ordered any kind of custom printing prior to ordering your wedding invitations. You can benefit a great deal from the experience of your local stationer, who orders all kinds of custom printing, from many vendors, all the time. They’ll help you make sure you’re covering all the bases and making decisions you’ll be happy with for a long time.”

Julie’s advice is truly worth following. If you have your heart set on letterpress for your wedding invitations, it is advisable to talk to an experienced stationer in your neighborhood.

Sheila P. May is the owner of Therese Saint Clair, a stationery store located in Greenwich, CT.   She writes frequently NYC Wedding Invitations.

The increased popularity of letterpress invitations, letterpress save-the-date cards, birth announcements and letterpress stationery over the past several years is not surprising. Affordable second-hand letterpress printers have permitted a lot of skilled artisans and designers to apply their creative thinking to create beautiful announcements and stationery using this centuries-old printing technique.

Similar to the printing process used for engraving, letterpress makes use of polymer or metal dies to “press” ink into pliable papers, mainly cotton. Every ink color is applied using a separate press run, which calls for persistence and great skill to obtain the close registration needed to correctly align colors and motif designs.

Every May for the National Stationery Show in New York City, new letterpress firms take center stage to market their latest styles. Even though letterpress was looked upon as a bit of a novelty some 5 to 10 years back, most of the new letterpress printers and designers simply lack the flair, creativity and, more often than not, the talent and experience to make attractive letterpress stationery. In reality, most of the “new” designs offer little that’s unique. To be honest, the stationery market is over loaded with letterpress.

Letterpress printers with deep roots within profession, like Julie Holcomb, Elum, Oblation (letterpress images displayed here), Press New York, Page and Real Card Studio still build on their craft and their sturdy hand and love for the craft continues to raise the bar for letterpress printing.

Although some letterpress printers have migrated online, the majority of letterpress artisans market their stationery through experienced retailers across the United States. Quoting pioneer Julie Holcomb, “If you are like most people, you have never ordered any kind of custom printing prior to ordering your wedding invitations. You can benefit a great deal from the experience of your local stationer, who orders all kinds of custom printing, from many vendors, all the time. They’ll help you make sure you’re covering all the bases and making decisions you’ll be happy with for a long time.”

Julie’s advice is worthwhile following. If you have your heart set on letterpress for the wedding invitations, it is prudent to see a professional stationer in your neighborhood.

Sheila P. May is the owner of Therese Saint Clair, a stationery store located in Greenwich, CT. A founding member of the Stationers Guild, she writes frequently about national and local Custom Wedding Invitation trends.

This month Oblation Papers & Press will release its new line of wedding invitations called “&” or ampersand.  This trend-setting letterpress design and printing company based in Portland, Oregon has been creating cutting-edge stationery and invitations since 1989.    Oblation uses hand-made cotton paper from recycled fabric scraps to create its custom invitations.

Oblation Press

Late last year, we learned that Oblation would introduce a new line of invitations called “&” or ampersand.  Ron Rich, who together with his wife Jennifer, own Oblation informed me that they had originally intended to call the new designs “Black and White” but finally settled on ampersand.  Like most everything the Rich’s take on, this new line of invitations displays a comtemporary edge while still retaining the great elegance of traditional letterpress designs.

Letterpress Printing

For more information on Oblation’s wedding invitations, contact a guild member store in your neighborhood.   As with most fine stationery, appointments are recommended.

Sheila P. May
Thérèse Saint Clair

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.

Sheila May, the owner of Therese Saint Clair, writes that “business stationery is the simplest, most obvious and  cost-efficient advertising, marketing and public relations vehicle your business will ever use.”  Sheila goes on to say “Hand someone your business card and you are handing someone your brand, your identity and your professional credibility.  What you are on paper is what you are instantly perceived to be in business.”

In his book, The Etiquette Advantage in Business, Peter Post writes “business stationery is a form of public relations.”  We often say that you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and many business relationships begin with the simple exchange of business cards.  Says Sheila, “it’s surprising to see how little time business people spend on designing a proper suite of stationery.  They are often shocked to see the difference that fine stationery can make:  it’s like giving your business a fresh coat of paint.”

While Crane & Co. remains a popular choice for business stationery, many fine paper companies have greatly expanded their business offerings.  In particular, we have noted that a number of fashionable invitation designers now have now expanded their calling card and business card lines.  We recently received samples of letterpress business cards from Oblation that are simply stunning and quite well-priced.

If your business stationery could use a facelift, we strongly recommend contacting a Stationers Guild store in your neighborhood.  Also, we would encourge you to consult the Stationers Guild website which has some excellent advice on designing your business stationery.

In a recent article that was picked up by Planet Green, Cara Smusiak cites the advantages of setting up an online RSVP for your wedding invitations.  With little real evidence to support her claim, Ms. Smusiak argues that “Wedding invitations add up to a giant carbon footprint. Between invitation delivery and RSVP responses, there’s a lot of transportation and mechanical sorting involved—all of which requires energy, which is probably supplied by an unclean energy source.”

At the risk of being ostracized by the green community, I do think Ms. Smusiak’s claim is exaggerated and her advice may, in fact, cause more harm to the environment than sending out wedding invitations.  For instance, the Gartner Group and HP report that the average web user uses 28 pages of paper daily.   In fact, 115 billion sheets of paper are used annually for personal computers:  more than 3 times the volume of first class letters (non-sorted) in the United States.   I guess the question is:  Are we really any better off collectively if  the emailed recipient is simply printing the invitation and direction card at his or her work station?  I don’t know the answer, but I suspect that it is probably a wash.

While I am all for helping the environment, I would like to do so responsibly.  There are many talented invitation designers such as Oblation and Julie Holcomb who have been promoting green papers and eco-friendly printing solutions long before “eco-chic” and green weddings became fashionable.  While we may feel better touting questionable green claims, the movement would be far better served by addressing more serious problems than pretending that wedding invitations are destroying the environment.  ”Green wedding invitations“ sounds cool, but I suspect that it is just simply an ill-considered urban legend that continues to gather momentum without the benefit of much thought, let alone serious debate.

Environmentalists like Scot Case of Terrachoice, regularly point out the sins of “greenwash” and how exaggerated and deceptive claims undermine the environmental cause.    Beating the drum for this particular “cause” is guilty of the sins of irrelevance and lack of proof.

There is a huge difference between designing a custom wedding invitation with an experienced stationer and populating a website template supplied by an Internet dealer.  While you may have some initial ideas in terms of colors, time of the season or, perhaps, you have seen a sample invitation in a bridal magazine, most young couples will use a search engine.

“Custom wedding invitations” must be a very popular search term as evidenced by the fact that there were more than 2 million pages listed on Google when I entered that phrase into the search bar today.  While there are many websites competing for your eyes, the question is whether they are useful.  I guess it depends on what you are searching for and whether you wish to play a meaningful role in designing your wedding invitation.

Based on the sheer number of websites that appear in the top listings for organic search (not paid), it appears as if the vast majority of these websites represent online printers or online resellers.  Customization to an online printer or reseller means selecting from a number of sample images on their website and then filling-in an online template for the wording, font style, inks colors and quite possibly the printing process.  While some of these websites are very sophisticated, the process is similar to painting by the numbers.  I have written previously about the pitfalls of selecting wedding invitations online, but this approach may work for some people.

For those seeking a truly “custom” wedding invitation, I strongly recommend that you consult an experienced stationer in your neighborhood.  You may find one of these stationers by entering your zip code or city and state in the search bar on the StationersGuild website.  These stationers carry a number of samples provided by leading designers and fine paper companies in the industry.  Many of these companies such as Arabella, Smock, Page, Mr. Boddington, Oblation, Lallie, Prentiss Douthit, Encore and Julie Holcomb do not sell online and instead rely on their authorized dealers to act as an interface between the client and the printing company.  Seeing invitation samples from a variety of designers and paper companies is essential to help refine your customization options.  While at first it may seem a bit overwhelming, when your work with a leading stationer you will be able to narrow down your options and discuss ways to add your own customization ideas to create a truly personalized invitation.

While leading companies such as Crane & Co. and William Arthur have a large network of qualified dealers, they also allow you to create your wedding invitation online.  While some people may find this more convenient, all of their online customization options and many more can be obtained by working with one of their qualified dealers.  As Sheila May of Therese Saint Clair points out, “99% of my wedding invitations contain one or more customization features that are simply not available in the samples provided by my fine paper companies or online.  Most brides want to stamp their personality on the event with something meaningful or of special significance to the bridal couple and their families.”