We just returned today from what has become an annual trip to New York City for the National Stationery Show.  I over heard someone say the show is like Fashion week for paper - so true!  Stationers from all across the country and beyond decorate booths and showcase their very talented works.  From imprintable invitations to canvas bags, ornamental pens and handmade journals, framed art prints and letterpress coasters...and oodles of greeting cards, boxed notes, wedding invitation designers and more!  Letterpress, flat printed, themography, foil, engraved, silk screen, gocco, and so on.  We really enjoyed our visit this year - the trip has become a wonderful time to get to know our buyers and chum around with our fellow artisans. 

A shot of our booth - 1740.  We moved up to a corner this year and loved the way it helped us display our custom albums.  We lined the corner with our book stands to have easy viewing of our stationery, holiday and wedding albums. Our design this year was based on reuse of past materials with a twist.   We reused our fabric walls from last year - stretched and tied up like a corset.  Our product lined were mounted to fabric covered boards and hung from lines of chain link.  Burgundy drapes from years past were repurposed as album stand covers.  And we used our foamy faux wood floor again - it's so great under foot!

A look down the aisle and some product shots.

 

 

New! Calling cards from our stationery album.

Overall, the show was a lovely surprise!  Buyers were very friendly and energetic, creating a warm and enthusiastic atmosphere.  Everyone knew the economy was still an issue, but that didn't stop smart buying and thoughtfully investing in innovative custom albums.  Sunday and Monday were very busy as usual with lots of browsing and buying from current and new stores.  On Tuesday we received a visit from Real Simple and InStyle Weddings.  I recently completed a calligraphy project for Martha Stewart Weddings and enjoyed catching up with my friendly contact from Martha.  There were bloggers floating around the scene as well and we got to meet Nole from Oh So Beautiful Paper. 
We also encountered some new contacts and opportunities.  I will surely blog about them as soon as they come to fruition.  We were also pleased to be mentioned in 3 stationery and gift trade magazines and given a shout out during one of the trends seminars at the show. 
Now that we've returned we'll be packaging and shipping!  One of the packages will be making the long trip to our very first store in Australia!  Several packages will include stationery, wedding or holiday albums - hopefully planting seeds for the design of more beautiful pieces of stationery.