When Lunalux garnered a mention in the new eat.shop guide to indie Minneapolis/St. Paul dining and shopping, the author made special mention of scratch pads we printed a while back, featuring weighty words like “Honour,” “Valour,” “Passion” and “Compassion.” Because we always print scratch pads in small batches, they were pretty much out-of-stock by the time the book was published. Inspired by eat.shop’s appreciation for the pads, we’ve revived and revised the designs – click on the image at the left for a larger view.

These bundles of three themed pads are now available exclusively at the Lunalux studio store. Like all of our Deluxe Scratch Pads, they’re letterpress-printed in small quantities in our Loring Park studio. Satin ribbon holds the trios together. So far, the Notepad Tiad series includes “to fix, to clean, to buy” (perfect for Honey-Do lists), “love, honor, cherish” (makes a great shower or wedding gift), “shopping list, wish list, shit list” and “the good, the bad, the ugly.” Watch for holiday-themed Notepad Duets to hit the shelves soon.

One of the most gratifying aspects of doing custom design work for clients is the opportunity it affords me to build relationships that extend far beyond the end of a given project. Like with Bonnie & Graham. Years ago we designed and printed their wedding invitations, a 5×7 card printed in powder blue and chocolate brown, featuring characters that were hand-written by Graham’s mom. Since then I’ve been glad to see Bonnie shopping our store on occasion, and in the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of doing more custom work for both her and Graham.

This summer, Graham came to Lunalux for assistance with business cards for his photography studio. He had cards with a great logo, but wanted a new layout and type treatment. His new cards are simple and clean and fresh, letterpress-printed on 179# all-cotton cover. The slab-serif small-caps font really bits into the thick card stock. They’re striking!

After the pair relocated to San Francisco this fall, Bonnie asked me to help her develop a postcard to promote her art buyer/direction services. With a cowgirl theme in mind, we sought out a clever graphic and bold, Old-West-style typefaces. The card is letterpress-printed on 110# bright white wove-finish cover, in a rustic reddish brown.

I feel honored to have happy customers come back for more. I strive to listen to our clients, understand their needs, give them the most attentive service, and deliver beautiful, well-crafted paper products. When a customer fondly remembers work we did for them years ago, and seeks us out again when new opportunities arise, this is the highest praise I can hope for.

I avoid selling products in the Lunalux store from American companies that are manufactured overseas. Even before recent headlines exposed lax standards employed by Chinese manufacturers, I’ve been down on this business model. It’s hard for Little Old Us to hold our ground when mega-retailers sell cheap but charming stationery products that were printed in Taiwan. I’m not always vigilant, we do carry a few lines in our shop that bear the “Made in China” imprint. But I prefer to offer goods that are made in Asia in a good way – companies that are designing cool stuff and getting it made on their home turf, then selling to a global marketplace. We’ve received orders from several such companies in recent weeks.

Millimeter/Milligram popped up on my radar a few months ago, but it took me a while to figure out how to buy from this Korean company. They’ve finally got a US distributor, making it easy for us to order their products without the hassles of conversion rates or overseas shipping. The designs are fresh and retro-inspired, so all you hipsters will flip for the notebooks, leather business card cases, and spiral-bound to-do lists. And pens. And greeting cards. And more.

The String Doll Gang have been hot sellers ever since we brought them into the shop a few years ago. Our inventory dwindled over the summer, but we just got a big shipment that includes old favorites (Crazy Eyes, Colin the Pirate) and new characters (Cowboy Bill, The Enforcer). Click on the picture at the right to see and enlarged group portrait of Some French Guy (with a baguette tucked beneath his gauche arm), Buster (who promises to “keep you out of the doctors office and in the game”), and Bella (like all good punk rock String Dolls, she sports some great body jewelry!). These wee creatures are hand-crafted in Thailand, so each is a unique 2.5-inch-tall work of art.

We just got a new shipment of Japanese stationery as well. I’m particularly fond of the two designs at the left; the Three Baby Pigs pack features 4 envelope and lettersheet designs, all starring, you know, Baby Pigs. The Honey Bee set boasts classic Japanenglish: “Do you know birds with a tender heart? Tenderness that blue birds taught me. The nature is our treasure. My mind begins to soak in the color of the sky.” I’m pretty sure you want to buy this!

In the not-too-distant future, Lunalux hopes to seamlessly blend its old-fashioned sensibilities with new-fangled technology in a vast on-line store, where paper hoarders across the country – around the world, even – can browse a complete catalog of everything we make, and buy a little of this and a little of that. Until then, if you want Lunalux fine letterpress-printed paper goods, you have to either come to our store in Minneapolis or find us in a stationery store near you. Luckily, there are a few retail stores who are more technologically advanced than we are, and their online stores include a few of our products. To wit:

Red Stamp recently ordered a wide variety of Lunalux products! They’re a locally based internet-only stationery shop. So far, they’ve only added a few of our Call-me Cards to the site, but hopefully you’ll see invitations, letter sets and more on there real soon.

Greer in Chicago seems like an awesome store, and we’re thrilled to be part of their inventory. I’ve never visited the shop itself, but you can buy oodles of unique paper goods on their website, including a few items from the Lunalux catalog.

We’ve been selling our goods to Milwaukee’s Broadway Paper for many years. You can buy many of our calling cards on their retail website.

Cronin & Company specializes in paper goods appropriate for business and business-personal correspondence. If you use the “advance search” feature on their site to search for Lunalux, you’ll see that they stock an assortment of our greeting cards and stationery sets.

It’s possible that we’ve missed a source or two, so if you know of another online store that offers our products, please let us know!

It’s a competitive time to be looking for work. What can you do to stand out in the sea of qualified and experienced applicants? Job Hunting 101 tells you it’s important to write thank-you notes after interviews, but you’re not the only one who’s heard that little tip. So when a good friend embarked on a career change this summer, I encouraged her to invest in fresh personal stationery to help her communications make a real impression on new contacts (click on the image to the left for a larger view of the finished product).

I worked with Lynn to design a buckslip, a flat note card measuring 3.875 by 9.25 inches, that fits a standard #10 business envelope. Our starting point was the color green, and we found a great envelope in a hue that really struck her (nothing but the size is standard!). Her name and a small floral motif are letterpress-printed on a substantial 140# off-white card; matching calling cards complete the modern, sophisticated suite. Lynn’s vibrant envelope is sure to rise to the top of anyone’s stack of mail, and even her briefest “It was great to meet you, I look forward to talking with you next week about opportunities in your department” notes are eye-catching and reflective of her bold style.