Tag Archives: Stationery

Interview w/ The Pillarbox

23 Nov

I don’t know about you, but if you have every tried to find a beautiful, English language greeting card in Prague, it is nearly impossible.  Same plight goes for wrapping paper.  Last week, I conducted an interview with local entrepreneur, Roisin Lamb, on the recent opening of her fabulous stationery store, the Pillarbox, located on Balbinova 24, in Prague’s Vinohrady district.

During my morning chat with Roisin, I learned that the Pillarbox was named after the free-standing, red post boxes found in the UK, and aims to provide Prague-ites with a wide array of English language greeting cards, invitations, wrapping accoutrement, kids items and gifts under one roof.  Carrying both local and UK stationery and product lines such as Rachel Ellen, Jellycat, One Green Bee, Glick, Woodmansterne, and jewelry from Louise Maystrenko, the Pillarbox is the place to go if you have forgotten someone’s birthday, are looking for colourful gift wrapping accessories such as bows, ribbons, stylish wrapping paper and bags or are in need of adorable invitations for a party.

As you get your mind in holiday mode, if you haven’t stopped by the store, it is a must for the upcoming holiday season, especially if you are on the hunt for some quality gifting accessories.  The best part about the Pillarbox is that it is open on Saturday from 11am to 3pm, quite uncommon for your typical Prague boutique!  Filling a necessary gap in the Prague market for stationery and paper products, the Pillarbox, with its knowledgeable and helpful staff ready and willing to gift wrap for you (boys/men- take note!!), will surely grow to become the new go-to store.

If you are looking for other places and spaces to get acquainted with the Pillarbox in Prague, you can find Roisin on December 3rd at the International Women’s Association of Prague’s (IWAP) Christmas fair at the Diplomat Hotel, as well as at the Prague British School’s holiday market event on December 15th and on their Facebook page.

 

R Studio

17 Aug

A little more from R Studio, one of the stationery designers from Minted.com, whose design I liked.  Renee Stevens is the owner of R Studio and is based in Syracuse, NY.  Her experience and background in mixed media is a strength and really makes her simple, yet bold stationery appealing and standout.  More from Renee here.

via The R Studio

via The R Studio

Wedding Planning: Save the Dates

14 Aug

I am happy to report that wedding planning is now in full effect. My fiancée and I decided a couple of weeks ago to plan our wedding in Europe,  Summer 2012.  First thing’s first when planning a destination wedding:  Give your guests as much notice as humanly possible that you are abdicating tradition and fleeing Toronto in pursuit of a romantic, coastal/beach/vineyard/mountainous/palatial destination somewhere Europe.  Sounds more appealing to me!

Back to the save-the-dates.  Selecting save-the-date cards was a simple process, contrary to what I thought would ensue.  I thought I would spend hours browsing all my favourite stationery sites, unable to choose from all the magnificent designs, but I was under a bit of a time crunch to find something, see a proof, have it shipped to Toronto and mailed out before September, so I started with Minted.com and ordered a set without looking anywhere else.  We narrowed it down to four choices from four very talented designers:  The R Studio, Marabou Design, Please Reply Designs, and Ana Gonzalez (i can’t find her site).  I”m not going to spill the beans and tell you which invitation I chose, but…. stay tuned.

#1

via Minted.com by R Studio

#2

via Minted.com by Marabou Design

#3

via Minted.com by Please Reply Designs

#4

via Minted.com by Ana Gonzalez

 

 

 

lox and savvy

20 Jun

Australia based stationery company, Lox and Savvy is turning out some creative and bright paper goods.  No one is doing flourescent right now except Lisa, who does it very well.  I love her choice to combine geometric shapes with bright neon colours.  Lisa, the creative energy behing Sydney, Australia based Lox and Savvy is inspired by 60s + 70s furniture and design objects and applies a dash of 80s when it comes to colour.  To hear more from Lisa’s inspirations, read her interview here.  Can’t wait to see what comes out next!

via paper crave

 

via write on and more

via on sugar

via leeloo

 

via the terrier and lobster

 

upup creative

9 May

Don’t you love honest cards that tell it like it is?  I love what Julie Green, the talented designer behind Up Up Creative on Etsy.com.

via etsy.com

 

via etsy.com

 

via etsy.com

Pounding Mill Press + Ming Makes Cupcakes

19 Mar

I am getting ready to go out tonight and waiting for my friend to finish dinner.  What better to do than blog?  I just found two cute sites by the same person that I thought I would share.

The first is Ming Makes Cupcakes, a website dedicated to cupcake, cookie and savoury recipes. The site is laid out in a minimalist style with nice photography of the desserts and a corresponding recipe on the right side of the page.  Ming Makes Cupcakes no longer is updating its content but the information on the site is terrific.

via ming makes cupcakes

The second site linked to Ming Makes Cupcakes is Pounding Mill Press, an Oakland, California based paper goods company.  Pounding Mill Press does ready-made and custom-made cards, invitations and several other cute gifts/paper accessories.

via pounding mill press

via pounding mill press

via pounding mill press

Letterpress in Toronto @ Snap + Tumble

15 Mar

A couple weeks ago my friend and I spent a creative couple of hours together on a Saturday at a letterpress workshop run by Tanya Roberts of Snap + Tumble.  We got to work with two different letterpress machines, learn how to set up a print, and made our way through 150 pieces of cardstock each! 

It was a lot of fun and nice to make something with your hands and see the finished product.  I found Tanya’s letterpress class especially rewarding since I spend a considerable amount of time blogging about beautiful letterpress stationery.  Now I can write from experience that I know how time-consuming, intricate and detail oriented the process is to get a good-looking end product.  I am happy with my thank you cards and personal stationery but it doesn’t come close to some of the professional items you see on the market.  If you are interested in a fun couple of hours, have an interest in learning about letterpress or want to make your own stationery, I would totally recommend the experience.  To see more of Tanya’s stuff, check out her blog here.

hand drawn invites

15 Feb

I was speaking to a friend tonight who is getting married this year, and she was telling me about her invitation selection process.  In passing she mentioned that she was wondering whether an all text invite is okay for a wedding.  If you have seen any of my previous posts on wedding invites, you’ll know my answer to that question is YES! YES! YES!  There is no need to go the traditional route of calligraphy on a cream background. 

Thank goodness for all the wonderfully talented and creative graphic designers out there who have pushed the boundaries of stationery to include colourful, contemporary, and sometimes minimalist designs.  I say anything goes as long as it reflects the couple.  In the spirit of my conversation tonight, I dedicate this post to you my friend. 

I love these invites from NY based, Erin Jang.  They were designed to be part of Bella Figura’s 2011 collection.

via the indigo bunting

via the indigo bunting

via the indigo bunting

affordable letterpress

5 Feb

I am laughing to myself as I write this post.  Affordable letterpress are not two words you often hear together in the same sentence but when experienced stationery designers ban together like they have in The Pressroom and Company, economies of scale are realized.  The Pressroom and Company , officially launched January 15, 2011, has a good business model offering letterpress enthusiasts a mini marketplace of designers and companies who have elected to collaborate together.  I have been trying to read up a bit more on letterpress myself as I am going to be taking a letterpress workshop at the end of February with a friend in Toronto.  The Pressroom and Company has designers such as Brown Sugar Design, Good on Paper, Ruby & Willow, Flush Designs and the Social Type among a sizeable list of contributors from around the globe.  Their blog and website are full of ideas, prices (thank you for transperency!), FAQs and links to the designers. 

via float paperie

Love the Design

17 Jan

I tell you, I continue to be impressed with Toronto’s event and design scene.  Case in point- stationery company, Love the Design on Queen East. Opened in 2009, owner Christine Flynn, is both a photographer and an artist and her company offers stylish cards and some interesting photography/wall art.  I love her invites.  Here is a selection of my favourites.

via Love the Design

via love the design

via love the design

via love the design

via love the design

via love the design

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