Summer 2024 - 30

OCCASIONS
There's far more to this category than just wedding invitations.
A declining population means that every birth should be
celebrated - in this case, with a gold-foiled Carlson Craft
creation (top right). Meanwhile, Sky of Blue Press & Papery
(bottom right) offsets its bridal business with corporate holiday
card clients - while out-of-the-box add-ons like Little Love Press'
(above) custom city map kitchen towel build one's bottom line.
menus, place cards, escort cards, itineraries, napkins, cups,
social stationery and custom confetti. Since she meets her
brides in person, she has a hard time imagining how she'd
replicate the process online.
" I feel like [designing] the invitation is so much fun, it's at the
beginning of the planning process when everyone is still fresh! "
Warren described. " We have so much fun at our meetings with
brides, there are so many options you can choose to include in
your invitation suite. It is interesting to walk a bride through
all the pieces and get her reaction to each style, and then take
that information and create a wedding invitation that fits the
couple's style. "
" Everyone who comes into my studio/shop sits down with me
initially, and we just have so much fun figuring out everything, "
echoed Ebrahimi-Camens. " One of my most recent wedding
clients, a mother-of-the-bride, was meeting with me at our
first design meeting and she got a text from her other daughter
asking to speak to the family that night. We both looked at
each other and grinned. Later that evening the mom texted
me and said, 'Well, my other daughter is getting married now
too, so you'll have another invitation suite to do.' I was thrilled
about the work ahead of course, but more than anything I was
so happy for their family, so I replied, 'It would be an honor.' I
absolutely love what I do and love these little vignettes of love
and happiness - it's so fulfilling. "
30 Summer 2024 | STATIONERY TRENDS
AN EVOLVING CLIMATE
Makers who produce these components tend to see their
wholesale clients selling their wares in both real and virtual
spaces. Dawn Feldman, aka " Aunty B, " is the owner of Hawaii
Fine Stationers, which offers heavyweight, all-cotton invitations
and a wide range of stationery components featuring vibrant
imagery in the Hawaiian spirit and with multilayered embossing
on heavy papers. Every last sheet is best appreciated in real life.
" Most sales are still conducted online, " Aunty B noted.
" Product information online can't always convey the vibrant
colors and embossing relief that is available in person. A dealer
or retailer should invest in and work with a talented professional
photographer when they showcase items online. The lighting
and production artwork really brings the product to life online,
which cannot be achieved with a snapshot via iPhone. "
While nothing can truly replicate the in-person meeting,
there are work-arounds, detailed Ebrahimi-Camens, but these
do lengthen the timeline. " Online designers can offer face-toface
meetings on Zoom, but it's hard because the client is not
right there to touch and feel a paper sample. There has to be a lot
of mailing of samples back and forth, so they have to build the
time it takes for that into the whole process. "
Summer 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Summer 2024
