the view from here

"Hope is a thing with feathers"

I designed this card earlier this spring. I wasn't thinking of Emily Dickinson's poem. This is just an instance of a happy coincidence. I'd like to share the poem with you:

Hope     

Hope is the thing with feathers 
That perches in the soul, 
And sings the tune--without the words, 
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard; 
And sore must be the storm 
That could abash the little bird 
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land, 
And on the strangest sea; 
Yet, never, in extremity, 
It asked a crumb of me.

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We are certainly about to enter into the "chillest" of seasons. I'm going to try my best to let this "thing with feathers" keep me warm in the coming months and make sure that I am always straining to hear its tune despite the storms that are bound to ensue.

Launching Union Park

Yes, you're all invited to the launch of Union Park -- Invitations, Announcements and Calligraphy with a Personal Touch.

I've been working with a letterpress printer on designing wedding invitation suites, baby announcements and holiday cards all summer. We have been going back and forth on colors, type styles, designs, etc. Now I actually have live samples of my work executed beautifully in letterpress. I'll be putting up a website shortly featuring my samples, but for now you'll have to come by and say hi to see the work.

Like a Freight Train

If my posting seems infrequent of late, it's because of this behemoth event called the National Stationery Show that is bearing down on me and the rest of the greeting card industry like a freight train. If it was only about exhibiting (selling) new products it wouldn't be so bad. But there's a ton of things that need to get done to get ready for the show. It's practically a full-time job.

In addition to creating new product offerings, there's pre-show marketing, booth design, website design -- all of that on top of the day to day running of my card and calligraphy business. Yeah, it's a little crazy here in the studio these days. Oh, did I mention that the SoWa Art Walk is overlapping with the Show? My studio space will be open for the SoWa Art Walk and my assistant will be manning headquarters while I try to write up more business in New York. So instead of leaving a trail of papers and beads behind me in Boston, I actually have to leave my studio in an exhibit-able condition.

This week I started sending out invitations for reps, retailers and press to come and visit my booth. I wanted an invitation that was a preview to the work I'll be exhibiting and I also wanted to capitalize on the core strength of my designs which is elegance combined with a sense of fun. In addition to an intriguing invitation, I also decided to hand address all the envelopes. It's time-consuming but I'm hoping all the extra labor will result in a much higher "open rate" (as opposed to going directly from the mailbox to the recycling bin), which I'm hoping will translate into a visit and finally a sale. I think getting people to open their unsolicited mail is probably one of the toughest things to do in direct mail. I'm hoping that my audience will get a kick out of getting such an invitation in the mail that it will pre-dispose them into thinking this is something they should get for their customers.

As a final touch I also purchased postage to match the envelope and invitation. I'm really pleased with these flower stamps -- the images are simple and stunning. They are just the right accent on my apple green envelope. The postal clerk was trying to sell me "Forever" stamps since the price of stamps is going up shortly (May 12). I held fast to my stamp selection because all my invitations have to go out next week anyway. However, I might buy even more of these flower stamps because they are so beautiful and even with a one cent stamp (which has a nice illustration of an American kestrel) they still make a nice envelope presentation.

I hope I haven't over-thought this mailer. I just wanted to send something out that wasn't just information with a dash of hype. I wanted to send something out that was personal and meaningful, something that is a part of me.