Stationery Trends Magazine

Welcome Spring

By Sarah Schwartz Editor   One reason I love spring in the East is that is comes after winter, and as such is that much more glorious after living in a white frozen world for so long. As everything slowly comes back to life, possibilities feel endless and it seems anything could happen. If that’s not enough to love about spring, in this industry the season coincides with our biggest show, the National Stationery Show (NSS). This amazing four-day event is the theme of this issue — which easily makes it our biggest each year. The spring edition also marks our second birthday — and, best of all, at 144 pages, this is also our biggest issue to date! That last fact is so exciting to me, not only because of the success of the publication, but because it must mean the economy is coming…  » Read more

---

Designer Profile: Bonnie Marcus

Pictured: Bonnie Marcus. Photo courtesy of the Bonnie Marcus Collection. One mom puts runway to paper to create a distinctly design-driven lineBy Sarah Schwartz, EditorStationery is a mother-driven industry. You can find them in every segment, as designers, executives, buyers, retailers or, of course, end consumers. But perhaps no mommy has woven her role into her work quite like Bonnie Marcus, who launched her line while seven months pregnant in 2002. Design-wise, at the heart of the Bonnie’s line is her love of fashion — and her innate understanding that women want runway style on their bridal, baby and everyday stationery. Bonnie, who suspects “pink ink runs through my veins,” distinguishes her line with a signature splash of hand-applied glitter and a bevy of chic beauties. This aesthetic has earned the Bonnie Marcus Collection placement in more than 1,000 venues and 2009 revenues of $1.3 million.…  » Read more

---

The Trade-to-Consumer Route

Pictured: Michael Schultz, left, and Douglas Duncan. Photo by M.K. Wong   An upscale wholesaler goes retail, with fruitful resultsBy Regina Molaro, special to Stationery TrendsYou know you're doing something right when you place your first wholesale order with Barneys New York. That was the case for the creative team behind stationery wholesaler Motel Deluxe, who eventually translated that auspicious beginning into the opening of two elegant retail shops in New York City under the name Cursive.Cursive's proprietors, Michael Schultz and Douglas Duncan, are partners in life and in business. The pair first started their fine stationery and gift wholesale company, Motel Deluxe, in 1997. "After working for other (furniture and tabletop) companies we thought we'd venture on our own," explained Schultz. "We designed a handmade card collection and showed it during the New York International Gift Fair in a booth we shared with some…  » Read more

---

Keeping Stationery Relevant

Photo: Bamboo paper lettersheets from Smock are patterned on the back with blind debossing on front, part of the cmopany's effort "to bring back the long-lost art of letter writing and handwritten correspondence in 2010." With everything and anyone getting a PR campaign, is it now our industry's turn? By Sarah Schwartz, Editor  At the 2009 National Stationery Show, this publication held a lunch for our Editorial and Publishing Advisory Boards. Paul R. Wainman, president of William Arthur, voiced a question that’s long been the elephant in the room: How do we keep stationery relevant? More and more consumers are using digital media to send good tidings, issue invitations or just for everyday correspondence. How can we ensure that stationery remain culturally relevant — and communicate this to customers? This editor has been puzzling over this ever since, so we posed the question to our readers…  » Read more

---

Putting the Cards Back in Christmas

Photo: The best Christmas card selections should have something that speaks to every taste, as this grouping by Crane & Co. demonstrates. Boost this all-important segment with a fresh approach and attitudeBy Sarah Schwartz, EditorThe news for Christmas cards was not so good as 2009 came to a close. The U.S. Postal Service reported an 11 percent decline in cancellations of first-class cards and letters from Dec. 1-13 — when most Americans mail holiday cards — compared to 2008. It’s not hard to understand why. “This is primarily the effect of the poor economy, reflecting the overall decline in sales and other activity that most businesses experienced in 2009,” explained Sean Tabb, vice president of marketing and new product development, William Arthur.Those consumers who did send cards often ordered them through online sites, while others used e-cards — which, according to one Canadian estimate, took away…  » Read more

---