We get Twin Cities Business magazine each month, and always find interesting stories in here about developments in the broader community. We’re thrilled that a few of our letterpress stationery products were included in the November 2011 issue, in a story about holiday gifts in the work place. The story includes a brief Q&A with Daniel Post, the great-grandson of manners maven Emily Post. Mr. Post gives this advice regarding the best gift for a colleague or employee: “Stick to items that can be used in the office like stationery, paperweights, et cetera.” That being said, we’re pretty sure we’re ground zero for all your office gifts this year! Look for Twin Cities Business on newsstands near you, or check out the mag in digital format. Lunalux products are on page 26. Other recommended reading in this issue: there’s a story on page 16 about our pal Barry Rubin, who’s now both a pen seller AND a pen DESIGNER. Way to go, Barry!
Mind your manners and be sure to send proper thank-you notes for any and all holiday gifts you received! At a loss for words? Check out the in-depth thank-you note primer we published last January. Need some thank-you notes? Consider this new design we just added to our wholesale line. “Thanks a Million” is letterpress-printed in gold ink, surrounded by an intricate vintage frame in dark green, on thick natural white wove-finish bristol cover. It looks so money, literally and figuratively. “Thanks a Million” is available now at the Lunalux store; individual cards cost $4, boxes of 6 cards go for $14. This card is one one of six new designs that we just finished printing last week, all featuring vintage decorative frames – we should have more images of these new cards on our site soon, but if you can’t wait that long, check the Lunalux Facebook page for a sneak peek.
When we started making custom wedding stationery in the mid-90s, save-the-dates were hardly a blip on the radar. But over the last few years, we’ve seen them bloom into a commonplace component to the wedding planning process. Save-the-dates get your wedding on the busy social calendars of guests near and far, and are especially helpful to those who will need to travel for the festivities. Because they’re a fairly new wedding tradition, there aren’t many strict etiquette guidelines to follow. Save-the-dates can be mailed 6-12 months before the wedding, as soon as you have the date and location nailed down. One firm rule: every guest who receives a save-the-date must also receive a formal invitation. No pre-inviting your distant cousins, then pruning the mailing list for the invitations proper.
In recent months, we’ve had the pleasure of working with couples who came to us with really fun ideas for this first element of their wedding paper parade. Molly and David, who are planning a destination wedding in Arizona, wanted to include a cactus and a calendar on their announcement. The petite 3.5×5 announcements are letterpress-printed in warm colors on plush ecru paper, and paired with a sunshine-yellow envelope (click on the photo, above-left, for a larger view). Elizabeth and Will, who live in New York but are getting married at Minneapolis’ Mill City Museum, wanted their save-the-dates to have the bold, gritty feeling of a concert poster. We combined an image of the old buildings near the museum, including the distinctive Gold Medal Flour sign, with distressed type. The image and text are reversed out, so the negative space is letterpress-printed in bold orange ink on smooth thick white cardstock. We let the ink coverage run a little light, to enhance the weathered feeling of the finished image.
Leah and Jeanie are planning their wedding ceremony in Canada, followed closely by a reception in the Four Season’s Dance Studio just down the alley from our store. Inspired by the international nature of their affair, the couple asked us to create a save-the-date that looks like a U.S. passport. A golden eagle adorns the front of the folded card, and the inside bears the brides’ stats passport-style, “stamps” for each of the events, and even a custom illustration of the iconic Spoonbridge and Cherry. And we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect paper than Neenah Paper’s navy and white columns duplex cover.
Ages ago, someone made a list of traditional presents for wedding anniversaries. We all know that 40th wedding anniversaries are honored with silver stuff, and for the 50th we give gold. But would you ever think that tradition dictates a gift of bronze or appliances for the eighth anniversary? As stationers, we at Lunalux are particularly glad that the first anniversary is acknowledged with gifts of paper.
So when David Hale came into our store and asked me to work on personal stationery for his wife as a gift for their first anniversary, I was both happy to help and impressed that he was honoring the tradition of giving paper to his wife Meghan on their first wedding anniversary. I hand-wrote an elegant note explaining that we were at her service to create custom stationery to her liking, and David gave that card to her on their anniversary. During subsequent meetings with Meghan, we considered many different motifs, fonts and color combinations. Ultimately we decided on a design that honors her Irish heritage: a shamrock pressed, without any ink, deep into thick white paper (we sometimes refer to this as “blind embossing” even though it’s really not), with her name printed in gold ink. We also printed the same shamrock on bright green A7 envelopes. In the end, Meghan was thrilled with her personal stationery, and we give David a gold star for his thoughtfulness!
We recently printed notecards for Kaywin Feldman, the new director of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. These simple 4×6 flats were letterpress-printed in one of the museum’s signature colors on brilliant white wove-finish cover, and we rushed to get the cards to Ms. Feldman’s office before her first day on the job. It’s a pleasure to do work for such an impressive institution, and we’re glad that someone in the museum’s offices understands the importance of high-quality personalized stationery in a business setting!
Graceful personal communiques are invaluable in establishing and maintaining business contacts. I have the Lunalux logo letterpress-printed on both 3.5×5 and 5×7 notecards, and I use them all the time to send follow-ups after meetings, or to thank clients for their support of our business. Hand-writing a brief note on a lovely piece of stationery shows respect and reverence for the recipient, and indicates that you value the relationship.
