simplepretty

Oh, how I love Sugar Paper. Living in a house of boys, it compensates for and feeds my girly side. I may be well-versed in ESPN Sportscenter, but I need my pinks + gold foil, too! Co-founders Chelsea Shukov & Jamie Grobecker (and their talented staff) expertly deliver the goods. Stepping into the Sugar Paper booth instantly transported me to their shop at the Brentwood Country Mart. An amazing feat for a pop-up space.

Sugar Paper’s personality shines through in everything they produce, from custom stationery to letterpress art prints to a new recipe binder (love a binder system + now a pretty option!) I’m so glad that Sugar Paper’s single card line is growing: their greeting cards never fail to put a smile on my face.

**Don’t miss Sugar Paper’s recently re-launched website: you can see all of the new product and stay in touch through “play”, dedicated to all things social media. Love it.

There are a few additional photos from my visit to Sugar Paper’s NSS booth in my Flickr set.

Another line making its debut at the 2012 show was SIMPLESONG Design. Designer Suann Song has really honed her aesthetic with this strong collection of elegantly utilitarian paper goods. (I’m coveting the “school notes” letterpress notecards and the self-adhesive wax seals: so smart!) Was glad to have a few minutes to catch up with Suann at her booth on Sunday.

I’m back from my whirlwind visit to NYC and the Stationery Show. I will be posting more than usual this week in order to share all of my favorites from the show. And speaking of favorites, I’d like to introduce you to Seed House. Stephen and Shauna (who are also the creative brains behind Forage Haberdashery and Something’s Hiding in Here) have a gigantic hit on their hands with their new line. Inspired by an old seed house spotted during a visit to Charleston, SC, Seed House is meticulously designed with a vintage feel and full of charm: I’m planning to add most (if not all) of their line to my stationery collection. Simple + (very) pretty.

so nice to meet you, stephen & shauna!

and thanks also to stitch design co. (stitch helped with the identity and branding for seed house): i would never miss something courtney and amy design +/or recommend.

If you’ve flipped through a magazine or perused the blogosphere recently, no doubt you’ve come across press for San Francisco shop March, and rightly so: owner Sam Hamilton redesigned her shop in 2011, turning the focus from antiques to kitchens and housewares. The space is cheery, bright and full of stylish and craveable product. (I simply had to see it, and so March was Stop Number One on my recent trip to the Bay Area.) What you may not know is that the graphic design work for March, which I’m equally smitten with, was created by San Francisco studio Design is Play. I love the totality of their identity work, from the double “M”/circle logo for March, to the letterpressed hang tags, to the packaging for the March Pantry line (clever reworking/tweaking/update to Gotham).  The result is a label so pretty, you feel like you’re bringing home a small piece of artwork instead of a jar of kosher salt. Perfect.

all images courtesy of design is play: march pantry photography taken by kirk amyx

To mark the 20th anniversary of SMS texting, Moleskine has launched an SMS notebook for analog texting. Introduced at Milan’s Design Week, Pietro Corraini’s idea is simple and appeals to the kid in all of us: choose from 56 messages (“I love you”/”Call Me”), select the desired distance from markings on the cover (up to 17 ft), pull back on the elastic, and shoot. Brilliant, and no need to wonder if your message arrived – you will know. Watch Moleskine’s SMS in action below. Produced as a limited edition and available at the MoleskineStore.

images from moleskine.com; video from moleskineart’s youtube channel

ᔥ protein