The Stationers Guild

In the Victorian era, calling cards were considered as a sign of social standing, today the calling card has returned for the ease of giving out information to someone you’ve just met or as use as a gift enclosure.  You can select an adorable baby calling card for your baby with designs ranging from modern and cute to abstract, or you can have the traditional engraved card for its timeless beauty.  No matter how you use the personalized calling cards you will be sure to give the “write” impression every time. 

Phyllis Langsdorf
The Write Impression

We just received an email from a friend of one of our European clients asking us how she can order stationery.  Found below is a slightly editorialized (names removed) and abridged version of her email request:

“I have just been admiring the (pale blue) card and envelope sent me by Jane Doe of Oslo, Norway, and would like to know how I can order some similar cards and envelopes as well as sheets of letter paper.  Until recently, I have used the stationery I bought through Merrimade, but after they went  ’modern’  they only answer standardized, in robot-like-fashion to my questions, and there is no r e a l  person I can write to or  e-mail with. So I have given them up. But I urgently need new stationery!”

I suspect that this is not unusual in our increasingly digital world:  personal service has been replaced robots.  As stationers, we are finding that there is a clear negative correlation in the “quality of service” and “quality of stationery” as our suppliers increase the level of automation in their front and back office.   As the email above suggests, the buyer is also finding it increasing difficult to interact with moronic robots that have replaced common sense with efficiency. 

As the  evidence of a disconnect between discerning clients and the skilled artisans that produce fine stationery continues to accumulate, I suspect that fine paper manufacturers must eventually decide whether they want to be all-things-to-all-people or concentrate on providing distinctive papers, quality designs and great customer service to a more restricted client base that appreciates personalized stationery and custom invitations.  It is not an easy decision. 

Richard W. May
Therese Saint Clair

With this holiday season shaping up as one of the most frugal on record, most holiday shoppers will intuitively pare back their spending.  In some cases they will search for less expensive substitutes and in others they will simply postpone major expenditures.

Personal stationery is an excellent holiday gift for family members of all ages.  It’s never too early to encourage your children to develop their correspondence skills. Both Christmas and Hanukkah are important holidays to communicate with distant friends and family.  Regardless of your current economic situation, most Guild member stores have a wide selection of boxed cards and notes for every budget.

A printed monogram letter for your first or last name on a fold-over note or correspondence card is often sufficient for the younger members in your family.  Alternatively, ask your stationer to personalize the boxed stationery by adding a name or monogram.  In fact, with a minimum of level of technical skill you can do it yourself with an ink-jet printer.  Just make sure that the card stock is marked “imprintable” and the paper is sufficiently light-weight (no more than 96#) to go through your printer.

If your wife or husband is looking for something more substantial, we recommend personalized stationery.  While this is generally a more expensive proposition, you have an almost infinite variety of personalization and printing options.  With so many possibilities, we often recommend during the holiday season to buy a box of stationery and enclose a gift certificate for your spouse to select their own personalized stationery in the new year.  This has two major advantages.  First, your spouse will custom design the stationery that suits their tastes and personality.  Secondly, most of the major stationery lines have sales promotions in January.  Who knows, you may get a free engraving die ($96 value) from Crane & Co. or a free return address on your envelope from William Arthur.

Richard May
Founding Member

This may seem like a silly question, since sending a Thank You note is a gracious way to express your appreciation for an act of kindness or hospitality. Sheila May, owner of Therérè Saint Clair, a stationery store located in Greenwich, CT, goes further and says “it is not only the ‘gracious’ thing to do, but simply proper etiquette and common sense.”

While Thérèse Saint Clair carries several lines of engraved Thank You notes from many fine paper companies, Ms. May explains “that boxed Thank You notes are simply an inferior substitute for personalized stationery.” She goes on to explain that “a fold-over note with the words ‘Thank You’ engraved on the card strikes me as a bit impersonal and somewhat last-minute. Where possible, I try and steer our clients toward designing their own personalized stationery. Don’t you think it is more refined to say ‘thank you’ inside your card than have it as a bold pre-printed headline?”

“The hand-written note is one of the most intimate and personal forms of communication,” says Sheila. “Your selection of the paper, font style, monogram, motif, ink color and envelope lining all working in harmony is often as much an expression of your personality as the words you write.”

One of the great advantages of personalized stationery is its versatility. It works equally well for “Thank You” notes as it does for congratulatory messages or sympathy notes. While most boxed “Thank You” notes tend to be fold-over cards, other options are available if you design your own personal stationery. Ms. May notes that “bordered cards tend to be very popular for both men and women and, after somewhat of a lull, we have seen a resurgence of half-sheets, particularly among business executives.”

Ms. May suggests that you work with an experienced stationer, preferably a Guild member, to design your stationery. “Paper is tactile,” explains Ms. May, “and it is absolutely essential to sort through many paper samples to choose the paper that feels right to you. Once you have selected your paper, concentrate on a font style or monogram style. Monograms are great for social stationery, but your printed name or initials are best suited for business correspondence. The printing process is an important final step in crafting your stationery. Engraving and letterpress are the most traditional forms of printing. Nevertheless, they are more expensive than thermography or lithography. If you select colored paper stock, I strongly recommend that you consider engraving since the opaque nature of this printing process will not distort ink colors.

Personalized stationery need not be expensive. There are many design and printing options for you to consider. “The most important consideration is the paper stock,” notes Ms. May. “Crane, William Arthur and several other fine paper companies have beautifully-designed and affordable boxed correspondence that can be personalized by your local stationer. I strongly recommend that you base your selection on how the paper feels rather than any promotional hype.”