Totem Tape

Ben Newman a freelance illustrator out of Bristol, England created some new decorative tape featuring a playful totem pole design that we're really liking.  Available at Betty & Dupree's site  HERE. (Via Curiosity Group).

Report from the New York International Gift Fair

Beau Ideal

Hi Everyone!  I'm Nole from Oh So Beautiful Paper, and I spent the better part of this week in New York City for the New York International Gift Fair.  If you're not familiar with the Gift Fair, it's a huge wholesale trade show where retail shop owners around the country (and the world!) come to purchase items and stock their shops.  The show is similar to the National Stationery Show, except that it takes place twice a year and cov­ers way more than paper.  There are sec­tions just for global importers, hand­made prod­ucts, home and bath, baby and kid prod­ucts, and lots, lots more.  There's a lot to take in!  Jan asked me to share a few favorites from the summer show, and so I've tried to narrow it down to just the best of the best of what I saw at the show.  Here goes!

First up, some of my favorite exhibitors this year happen to specialize in beautiful porcelain ceramics. I love the romance of Gleena's designs, particularly the numbered bowl sets and botanical plates.  As someone who loves to travel, I'm also a huge fan of the postcard mugs from Bailey Doesn't Bark (they make awesome gifts!) along with the rest of her beautiful tableware, textiles, and paper goods.  And it really doesn't get better than the delicate designs from Portland-based Pigeon Toe.  Just look at the gorgeous color inside those vases!

Gleena

Gleena

Bailey Doesn't Bark

Pigeon Toe

I've been a huge fan of Shanna Murray's illustrated wall decals (see top photo also) for quite a while now (I have several at my home!), so it was a real pleasure to see all of Shanna's decals in one place at the show. 

Shanna Murray

Shanna Murray

I love paper, so it comes as no surprise that so many of my favorites from the Gift Fair involve paper and stationery.  I love going to shows like the Gift Fair and Stationery Show because I always discover someone new and exciting – this year it was the UK-based Lazy Oaf.  Rachael from Pistachio Press had a booth full of beautiful letterpress cards and one of my new favorite art prints.  I also love the collection of heirloom wedding guestbooks and albums from Velvet Raptor, boxed stationery sets with gold borders from Russell + Hazel, and colorful greeting cards from Beau Ideal. The Smock booth was also full of color – the colorful blooms were DIY projects made from their collection of gift wrap sheets!

Lazy Oaf

Pistachio Press

Pistachio Press

Smock

Beau Ideal

Velvet Raptor

Russell + Hazel

Russell + Hazel

I could seriously lose myself in gorgeous textiles and jewelry at the Gift Fair, particularly in the handmade section.  So many pretty things!  While I try to exercise self-control when it comes to jewelry, I always love the delicate and minimalist designs from Laurel Denise.  This year I had the pleasure of discovering the beautiful hand-printed textiles from Toronto-based Pehr.  Love those chevron stripe napkins and tea towels!

Laurel Denise

Pehr

I don't often have the chance to focus on kid-friendly products, but I seriously love the stamp kits, wall decals, and art cards from Wee Gallery.  I think it's so great that they include non-traditional animals in their art cards, from lemurs to anteaters – not just the usual cat, dog, and horse!

Wee Gallery

Wee Gallery

Thank you so much to Jan for giving me the opportunity to share a few favorites with all of you!  If you're interested in seeing more, feel free to come visit me over at Oh So Beautiful Paper where you can see the complete coverage from the summer Gift Fair!

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Launched in Sep­tem­ber 2008, Oh So Beau­ti­ful Paper® is a daily design, wed­ding, and lifestyle blog. Edi­tor and pub­lisher Nole Garey of Oh So Beau­ti­ful Paper show­cases fab­u­lous sta­tionery design and is ded­i­cated to pro­vid­ing a resource for read­ers seek­ing inspi­ra­tion and design­ers for their per­sonal sta­tionery projects, from wed­ding invi­ta­tions to busi­ness cards to cal­en­dars and sea­sonal hol­i­day cards.

Pretty Paper from Thank You Cards Shop

Amy Lowry is a self-taught Vancouver based stationery designer. Her current collection features lovely summer themed thank you cards and thank you notes with a decidedly bright travel theme. Amy's time is divided between her computer screen (!) and exploring the hiking trails of our beautiful province she calls home. To see the full Summer Brights line visit her site thankyoucardsshop.com as well as our market this month here.

Update: Amy is hosting a HUGE giveaway on her blog this week. Click here to see.

NSS 2011 Preview: Pistachio Press

With the National Stationery Show coming next week, we'll be featuring some previews as they come across our radar in the next week or so.  First up, I'm excited about this collaboration of notebooks by Rachael Hetzel of Pistachio Press and Abbey Hendrickson of Aesthetic Outburst!  Also they couldn't be two nicer people.  The cross stitch collection is designed by Abbey, printed by Pistachio Press.  And the mid-century design is by Rachael.  Both notebooks are printed on 140# kraft paper and contains 48-pages. They'll sell for $7 each or a set of three assorted designs for $18. They can be pre-ordered at Pistachio Press's Etsy shop here.  Rachael will also  have them in her booth at the National Stationery show, number 1664.

Pistachio Press
Aesthetic Outburst
National Stationery Show, Booth 1664

Wouldn't It Be Nice?

Loving this stationery from Scout's Honor Co. out of Vermont that is inspired by a vintage grain sack that designer Annemarie Buckley received for her birthday. I mentioned Annemarie's blog a few weeks back on one of my Link Love posts, and keep waiting to see if she has an online shop yet.  No word at press time, but crossing our fingers (wouldn't it be nice)?  In the meantime, one can contact her here.

Butterfly Paperie

 

Butterfly Paperie is a new online stationery shop based out of the San Francisco/Bay Area.  It is one of their missions to do their part in saving the hand written note, by providing pretty stationery to encourage people to write more.  They carry a well curated selection of artisan & letterpress designers, that bring together the whimsical, the modern and the sophisticated into one space.  Some of the lines that they carry are Mr. Boddington's Studio, Social Type, Rifle Paper, Dee & Lala, Linda & Harriett, Suitor & Screech Owl Design. 

visit:: www.butterflypaperie.com  

Cards by Dani Press

I love this story of how a business was born by Dani Press: "My friend Dylan and I were on our way to Easter lunch, riding rickety bikes through dutch countryside. He had flowers in hands to give to our hosts, and in this really perfect moment, he threw both his arms out and they looked like wings. Luckily, I caught the shot. I immediately looked at the photo and thought, "That could be a card", and that is the exact moment the scales tipped from thinking to doing and six months later, it was the photo for my very first card."

With her own photography from around the world, Dani of Dani Press creates these little cards that are both inspiring and reminiscent of cards from the 70s. Check her out on the internet, here, here and at our market this month, here!

Anthropologie Commissions 1000 One-of-a-Kind Books from roughDraft Books

As part of Anthropologie’s holiday line, the US-based chain store commissioned e Bond of roughdrAftbooks (a Poppytalk Handmade participant) to make a limited edition series of handmade journals for people who want to write, document or remember. The series, called 1000 Books, will be available this holiday season in four styles exclusively in Anthropologie stores nationwide.

Fun Fact: Bond was key in inventing the Anthropologie website's signature hand-touched look and feel. She was hired by Anthropologie when the brand, beloved among design enthusiasts, launched its ecommerce site. After five years of designing for the brand and running her design studio, roughdrAftbooks, during off-hours, the former Anthropologie interactive media & catalog designer recently made the transition to full-time entrepreneur/craftsperson. For fans of Anthropologie's signature 'hand-drawn' look, Bond's books are a collectible.

The journals are part of Bond's ‘exposed’ collection of stationery, which deconstructs the book by paring it down to its essential form: boards, binding & paper. Bond then paints and prints directly onto each book, layering them with her love of words, reading and documenting the everyday. While each book is a work of art, Bond hates the idea of them collecting dust on a coffee table. "I would love nothing more than for the books to be written in often, and in whatever way works best in people’s daily lives.”

Inside each book is a hand-numbered bookmark that further illustrates how each journal is one-of-a-kind and was made to be marked up at the owner's whim. In this collaborative spirit, Bond is asking her fellow documenters to share a page from their books, so that the collaboration doesn’t end. Designs can be emailed to roughdraftshares[at]gmail[dot]com and will be featured on Bond's website, roughdraftbooks.com

e Bond's books are also available this month at Poppytalk Handmade. Click here to visit. And at her etsy shop here.