unfold uk

points for originality

Everyone thinks, or would like to think, that what they create is unlike anything else out there but it's pretty rare to see something completely novel.  I was pleasantly surprised, therefore, to find a couple of things at the Top Drawer trade show recently that I hadn't seen before in some way shape or form.

it's plastic by any other name

These little square cards by Stooshie Design feature a 3-D perspex ring that frames a particular design element [in this case, a Scottie dog]. Perspex, by the way, is British for acrylic.  They are created by Linda Carlin, an incredibly sweet Scottish woman who educated me in Scottish slang.  A stooshie, you see, is an argument or fracas, as in after one too many pints, their lively debate degraded into a right stooshie by the end of the night.  It's a bit of a strange name given that Linda hardly seems the argumentative type. Whatever her mood may be, she does make cute and - better yet - original cards.  

   

 

put it together 

I've never seen a card made out of jigsaw puzzle pieces before.  Maybe it's been done before and I just missed it - wouldn't be the first time - but I think this is clever.  While the White Cotton Card Co.'s designs aren't really my style, I like the way they execute this concept and it's fun. 

They've tested the cards and reported that they don't cost anything extra to send and the postal service will deliver the envelope full of puzzle pieces without a problem.  Will wonders never cease.

lighten up

Last week I attended yet another trade show in London. For such a small place, England hosts a disproportionately large number of gift and design shows.  This most recent one is called Top Drawer, which is a smaller show of higher end, cutting edge home accessories, jewelery [or jewellery as it's spelled here] and paper products.  There are no seminars, no big events other than the exhibition; it was small and manageable and a really pleasant day.

Since I'm a sucker for brightly colored profanity, these cards stopped me in my tracks:

 

They are the handiwork of Laura Bowen and Jack Gardner of Room 7, a small design team from Somerset.  Jack wrote a book called words are not things, which is a collection of aphorisms written with the express purpose of provoking thought.  I'm not typically not a fan of the Tony Robbins and Dr. Phil-style of navel-gazing, but I have to say that this book did what it set out to do: it made me think.  That's some accomplishment for a tiny little book, since thinking isn't something I do often or well. 

I'm not entirely sure what it is about a collection of interesting thoughts that inspires a greeting card to scream 'fuck', but strangely enough it works.

trendy tots & tees

My last post highlighted some artists who incorporate their designs on different media - such as prints, tees, baby onesies, housewares, etc.  Obviously it's different for every artist, but the general design progression that I've noticed begins with either a print or a greeting card, extends to other paper products such as notesets and gift wrap and then jumps to the apparel category. 

Uncooked's handiwork, above.

There are two main reasons for this.  One, the gift shop retailer who purchases greeting cards and stationery oftentimes carries baby gifts as well, and onesies [in UK speak: babygrows] are among the most popular of these.  Two, cotton apparel is cheap to source and easy to customize.   As far as brand extensions go, it makes sense.  Daniela Vitale of Girasole [below] offers her designs on stationery and lots of other things, like the onesie below.  I love the way Daniela designs her envelopes, too - such a great touch.

Monica Anderson from Remanents says that she decided to print her images on tees [below] after she wore one to a school function and everyone asked where they could get one for themselves. Opportunity spotted ... and seized!

all work and no play

It seems as though more artists are multitasking these days.  At last month's Stationery Show in New York, I noticed that more exhibitors were featuring their designs across a wider range of products, instead of focusing specifically on paper products.  Designers have been doing this for a long time, but I'm seeing a lot more of the smaller, more sophisticated artists branching out this way than I have in the past. Sometimes these 'line extensions' work, sometimes they don't.

When items such as pillows, dishes, notebooks, greeting cards and prints carry the same type of design and are displayed together in a booth, the effect can be really beautiful.  Alicia Peck of Bella Muse does this well. 

   

Alicia uses vintage icons and clever typography to illustrate paper goods as well as tees, prints and onesies. Here she uses the bee icon from one of her card designs on a women's tee. Not everything translates in every medium, so she chooses carefully. Not surprisingly, I prefer wall prints which are either inspiration for or inspired by designers' greeting cards and stationery. I'm a huge fan of Brian Reed's letterpess designs for Old School Stationers. They are eye-catching, original and saturated with color.  Gorgeous.

The image on the left is a wall print - I 'borrowed' this image from Rare Device, where you can buy it. On the right is one of my favorite greeting card designs.

No one can accuse Karin Spraggs and Adrienne Wong from Superdeluxe of lacking talent - far from it. They have a popular store in nyc and they group their products by design instead of type, which illustrates the brand's tagline a bespoke life.

My only gripe?  I wish they went a little deeper and offered several more selections in each design.  When merchandised together [like the serving plate and menu cards and place cards, above], as I'm sure they're intended to be, it works beautifully.  But what about the smaller stationery stores or websites that only sell paper and don't sell pillows or plates?  By not offering just a little more depth, they are leaving money on the table.

if you've got it

Each year, America's Greeting Card Association gives out the Louie award at New York's Stationery Show.  There are lots of categories and entrants fall into either the over $3.00 category or $3.00 and under.  While I do pay attention to the awards, I also get a bit skeptical of their scope when the same publishers and designers win year after year after year after year.  After year.  If one more Meri-Meri card wins I'm going to scream. 

Sometimes true stars break through, however, as was the case this year.  I won't say I called it, but hey, I called it.  Jennifer Parker of Canopy Cards won an award for her super-creative and very sweet Baby Love Letters.  I'm glad to say that Shannon Barnes of Flaunt, an all-around awesome chick who designs awesome cards, took a Louie home too!  That's the award-winning design, left, and that would be Miss Shannon, right.  But you knew that.

She had a pretty packed week, since she also taught America how to design the Flaunt way on none other than The Martha Stewart Show... where does this girl find the time? While appearing with Martha was probably great and all, the first question I asked her was not about her very cool experience but about... Aidan Quinn. He was on the show too and I am madly in love with him, so of course I do have priorities [paper... Aidan... you decide]. In her words, he's 'ultra-hot in person and his eyes are totally dreamy.'   Can't beat that. Here's some more of Shannon's fab work:

the gloves are off

Artists are starting to tell it like it is.  Walking the aisles of the National Stationery Show recently, I noticed a growing number of greeting cards whose sentiments were anything but sappy.  It's a trend I welcome wholeheartedly, since I never met a sarcastic person I didn't like.

I wouldn't describe Julianna Holowka's Mean Cards as sarcastic, exactly; nor are they mean as their name implies.  They are honest, simple, poignant and funny.  Julianna's from the midwest and now lives in Philadelphia designing home accessories including lampshades, pillows and prints.  She recounted to me how her first greeting card designs were born out of desperation - broke and unemployed, she blew what little money she had left on art supplies and expressed herself on paper.  I wish all therapy was this productive - I'd be a millionaire by now.   I love this card, which reminds us that it will make everything all better.  Martinis usually do.

For the raw foodies among you comes uncooked.  The duo behind uncooked, Natalie and Armand, are animators and have done work for MTV.  I really like their style, while I can't say I'm a huge fan of the copy on the cards.  I want to like it, but I just don't connect with this:

But some of them, like this one, I find really funny.  Regardless, they are certainly clever and are most certainly not Hallmark.   Thank God.

ones to watch:  The guys from Bald Guy Greetings are flat out great. In their former lives, they worked for advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners on the west coast.  Now, at their second Stationery Show, they've seen the greeting-card light. Ian Kalman is a wordsmith with a wicked sense of humor and Sean Farrell is an incrediby talented illustrator who would make Edward Gorey proud.  Together they produce the funniest cards I've seen in a while - but funny isn't really the right word. Witty, clever, dry, subversive... maybe I'll just shut up and let you decide for yourself. 

 

For the record, Ian is the bald guy and Sean fulfills the hirsute quotient with a full head of hair, beard and mustache.  I bet they are a blast at parties.

it's that time of year

Ahhh, the National Stationery Show in New York: heaven on earth for paper freaks like me.  It's a great show for seeing friends, meeting designers, talking to retailers and getting an idea of what's going on out there. 

I've a lot to share from the show floor - but of course I'm late for today's session so I've gotta run. First, some quick thoughts:

• I like the layout.  In years past, the new designers showing the cool stuff were located in another pavilion, away from the central action.  They made their own action, of course, but this year everyone is under the same roof. 


• By the same token, it doesn't seem like there are that many new exhibitors.  I'm sure this is just because I have a lot more ground to cover today, so check back - I'll probably revise my opinion.


• It's been busy, but it's been dead.  That is what I hear every year from various exhibitors. One is having a great show; the other isn't, and both are equally successful in real life.  Each artist's experience is so different from the other, it's hard to draw a broad conclusion about what is really going on business-wise.  Again, I'll do more digging today.

I've also got some fun pix to share - starting with this one!  This is my friend Alison Riley, the creative genius from Set Editions [and the postcard above]- and let me tell you, this photo was tough to get.  She is much too humble and I forced her to stand still for a minute so I could catch her on film.  Enjoy.

lights, camera...

The National Stationery Show in NYC opens in a few weeks.  Designers are running around like crazy, putting the finishing touches on their new collections [can't wait to see Wooster & Prince's new designs].  Retailers are gearing up to walk the floor, which seems overwhelmingly large. Designers wonder if they'll write a lot of orders and retailers wonder if they'll see anything worth ordering.  The Show's organizers wonder if they can get away with charging exhibitors even more next year than they did this year - but don't get me started.  I'll save that rant for another day.

I'm really looking forward to the Show.  No doubt it's because I love stationery, journals and all things paper - shocker! - but also because I'm excited to see friends and colleagues, particularly since I've moved to England and don't often have the opportunity to hang out with them.  I'm excited to see what great, creative new things they've designed; to hear what retailers are doing, and to discover which press editors are trolling the aisles. 

I'm not the least bit excited, however, to wander around cavernous Javits looking for the damn bathroom.

People have mixed opinions about the importance of attending the show.  Some designers don't find it very cost-effective since shipping a booth, inventory and people, especially from the West Coast, is insanely expensive, not to mention a hotel room and Show fees.  Instead, they invest their money in creating great catalogs and websites and watch their sales grow.  Others wouldn' t think of missing it. 

I do think it's important for new designers to debut at the Show - it is a great way to get in front of buyers, meet influential press reps and see what else is out there.  I'm not sure it's necessary to keep returning - but that relates to what each exhibitor really wants to get out of it and how they define a successful Show. 

Ultimately it comes down to knowing how to give an audience what they want the way they want it - understanding how different retailers buy [do they place their orders all at once at the show?  do they prefer to buy from a catalog after seeing samples, or place their wholesale order online?] and how editors get their information [do they want press kits, emails or office visits?], for example.  I'll share some insights I've learned from editors and retailers in future posts.  At last, you have a reason to live...

Coming up:  sneak peeks at new designs - UK retailers' opinions of the US market - licensing 101 - what consumers want right now... stay tuned!

 

spring fair - wild kingdom

Animals, like babies, sell.  Putting an animal image on anything is like printing money, which is why I saw so damn many of them at the UK's Spring Fair trade show last month.  I'm a huge animal lover, but I don't love the syrupy sweet, super-precious way that most designers treat the subject. The Brits have a great word for it: twee.  As in, that picture of the stuffed animal sitting on the puppy is just a bit twee, don't you think? 

There are some designers who avoid the twee category with edgier or funnier collections.  Some examples:

         

         

one to watch: New on the greeting card scene, Animaru won't be small for long.  Noel Hinton and his team have created the coolest animals yet, and their website is one of the best I've seen.  In case you can't tell, I love these cards - they are funny, edgy and cute [but definitely not twee].  I predict we'll see these faces looking back at us from mugs, mousepads, prints, you name it.  They've even created the perfect product for us fans:  the Animaru Box, which contains 312 cards and 50 sheets of wrapping paper.  I don't know if that's arrogance or genius, but it sure works for me.

spring fair - stick it

stick it on there

If it isn't nailed down, stick it on a greeting card.  Embellishments galore adorn a large number of the greeting card designs I saw at the Spring Fair trade show last month.  Everything from felt and flowers to 3-D cutouts, beads and glitter were piled on cards and I don't know how some of them get through the mail.  There are some cases where the effect works, as it does with this cute but not cutesy felt monkey and these really elegant pewter-stamped charms on textured paper. 

Sometimes, however, designers take the more-is-more-is-way-too-much approach:

There are also US artists who take embellishment too far, but the sheer number of styles and types that I saw in Birmingham is alarming.

one to watch:  Petra Boase is a designer who knows how to decorate a card in a clever, not cluttered, way. She's a prolific author and beloved by mothers everywhere - she's written a series of activity and craft books for kids, such as Fun with Face Painting and Supermum's Book for Best-Ever Kid's Parties.  She is also a very cool woman.  I met her at the Fair and she showed me her greeting card designs which typically include badges, ribbons, sequins and felt - and not all at once, thankfully. This card above is a flocked, textured yet subtle design. I don't think it's easy to make dimensional cards, journals or albums that are still clean and attractive, but Petra manages to do it quite well.