Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » national stationery show 2008: part one

i’ve saved the very best for last today. this year’s national stationery show was seriously fantastic. i mean, fantastic. after two solid days of walking i still wasn’t able to cover everything because i kept stopping at all of the incredible new vendor booths- the show was seriously teeming with talent. my couch, dining room table and every flat surface in the rest of the apartment are literally covered in press kits, catalogs, cds and business cards from the show so let’s get started! today will be devoted entirely to covering this one show so stay tuned for parts two-five this afternoon. it’s a serious stationery extravaganza.

the great lakes debuted a great series of cards and small accessories like notebooks and their bean-bag “salty tear” bags. (that’s their card at the top of the post, too)

a beautiful limited edition print from lee at pearl & marmalade.

the gang from hello!lucky had a great selection of new cards- and a sneak preview of their new book “handmade hellos”. the book looks incredible and will be a fantastic collection of handmade stationery ideas from some of our favorite independent artists and designers.

brooklyn’s enormous champion debuted a beautiful collection of stationery at the show this year. i loved their animal prints- and the hand-cut animals (not for sale yet) that decorated the booth.

sugarcube press had a really great booth this year- i loved their vintage-style bookplates. as someone who gives a fair amount of books as gifts, little pieces like these really help make gifts special and more personal. i also loved their alphabet cards- great for kids and grown-ups. also, the mixed paper photo above is a great set of cast-offs that sugarcube press sells as a diy card kit. it’s such a clever way to reuse the pieces of paper that aren’t fit for regular sale. i saw a lot of companies doing that this year- finding ways to reuse the scrap or mistake paper. it’s always nice to see people incorporating “green” ideas in clever ways.

the lovely ladies of ilee press had one of my favorite booths of the entire show. i loved their gorgeous letterpress calendars and the pre-made invitations. i got some many ideas here for our wedding stationery here- their floral prints were just so beautiful. click here to check out and shop ilee’s etsy page (the calendars will be up soon).

I purchased some of the ilee calendars last year for christmas gifts - They are spectacular! I love them. My gift recipients loved them as well. I’m sure i found them through this site, I’m almost positive. I appreciate all of the comments and link that you provide, I’m forever falling in deep love with so many of your recommendations.

Kristin

i’m bummed that you would give kudos to ilee, who’s designs remind me way too much of so many other letterpress companies who have already paved the way: Snow and Graham, Elum, Sarah Drake Design and Sesame, to name a few.

Sarah

I’m curious- are these companies, some of which were only founded a few years ago- really to be credited with paving the way?

If so- paving what way? Letterpress has been around for a long, long time- way before any of these companies.

Jackie

Hi Sarah

If you have a chance- I’d be interested to see which pieces of Ilee’s you feel are inspired by or directly copied from the companies you mention.

I would like to involve Ilee in the comment section discussion. Comments like this, true or false, affect small businesses greatly so I’d like to give them a chance to respond.

Personally, I haven’t noticed similarities of concern between Ilee’s work and the companies mentioned above.

Grace

I don’t mean to accuse, as I know as a designer that we all glean inspiration from many sources, some that we don’t even remember. I just wanted to see credit given where it is due.
Specifically, the biggest similarity I see is Ilee’s cherry blossom with Snow and Grahams. Since this is a company that has been around ten years plus, I think it’s safe to say that they have paved the way in popularizing letterpress design for many of the smaller paper companies that have popped up in the last few years. I also see a similarity between the chyrsanthemum in Ilee’s line and that of Elum’s.
Thank you.

Could you point out the similarities between Ilee’s work and the work of Sesame Letterpress and your company, Sarah Drake Design? Those companies are named as well and I think it’s important provide as many details as possible if you are going to suggest that someone took a little too much inspiration from certain companies.

I want to apologize to the designers over at Ilee for the comment I made last night. It was based on a thirty second impression from their etsy page and not a thorough research of their company. It was irresponsible of me to make such a comment and i regret if I caused anyone any undue stress.

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