The Paper Fold

44:52

Alyson O'Connor of Rust Belt Love Paperie

The Paper Fold ·

2023/05/30

Stop what you are doing this instant, Nerds, and listen up to the newly crowned, Louie Award-winning Writer of the Year! Alyson O'Connor is one half of the decade-old Rust Belt Love Paperie (RBL) team — husband Nick is the other half — but she shapes our stationery community in a big way, all on her own. RBL's greeting cards spotlight the centuries-old letterpress medium exquisitely, and as such are gorgeous, artful creations in and of themselves — but their messaging elevates them into modern

en

34:33

Emily McDowell of @emilyonlife (Part 2 of 2)

The Paper Fold ·

2023/04/18

Paper nerds, here's the second part of my interview with this one-of-a-kind stationery innovator and disrupter! @emilyonlife and I kick off discussing The Long Table Collective. The collective provides invaluable mentoring for Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian artists & creative entrepreneurs as it attempts to even out the design playing field. Five ultra-lucky artists receive one year of professional mentoring in a small-group format, meeting virtually twice per month with Lisa Congdon and

en

44:49

Emily McDowell of @emilyonlife (Part 1 of 2)

The Paper Fold ·

2023/03/20

A decade ago, Emily McDowell of Emily McDowell Studio sparked a greeting card revolution and evolution with the release of her Empathy Collection. Her card reading, "There is no good card for this" was both an acknowledgment that the market didn't reflect real life, and a challenge to makers to begin doing just that. Emily's self-named stationery brand would eventually become Em & Friends; in 2022 it was acquired by Union Square Publishing, the publishing arm of Barnes & Noble. While she currently

en

38:41

amy.atnynow of NY NOW

The Paper Fold ·

2023/02/13

For this extra-special episode, my Paper Planes Cocktail Hour Podcast co-host and I decided to try something different. For decades now, Amy Loewenberg and I passed like stationery ships in the night, walking the same shows and stationery shops. Ironically, we never really got acquainted until lockdown in 2020 — that's when we developed and starting churning out our NY NOW podcast once a month. While I have so enjoyed tag-teaming in our maker and retailer podcast interviews, we never turned the

en

44:22

Sadie Teper of Twentysome Design

The Paper Fold ·

2023/01/16

True progress may occur only at the macro level, but it begins on the micro level. Just ask Sadie Teper, founder of the feminist stationery and gift brand Twentysome Design. Her hand-lettered range draws big laughs as it voices our often unspoken thoughts — just ask her craft fair patrons, or the stores across the country that stock her. But beneath the humor, the message is always a positive, inclusive one, which is that much more powerful held in your hands. Thus one card reads, "I love watching

en

49:54

Sharon Glassman of Smile Songs

The Paper Fold ·

2022/12/19

It's tough getting any stationery brand off the ground, but one that goes an entirely new direction is a real challenge. Just ask Sharon Glassman of Smile Songs. This Brooklyn fashion writer turned Colorado songwriter actually came to stationery circuitously — as she was envisioning a way for her listeners to access her anytime, she actually was planning on making music boxes at first! Sharon quickly realized that our smart phones ARE our music boxes ... with a little help from QR codes,

en

46:16

Kristen Ley of Thimblepress

The Paper Fold ·

2022/11/28

What is success exactly? That is the question Kristen Ley began asking herself following the meteoric rise of her paper and gift brand Thimblepress. Taking her creations from Etsy shop to Target shelves in a few short years was a dream come true, but at what cost? Caught up in a mindset of "hurry rush do," Kristen became scattered. "I was spinning out, doing way too much, and not taking care of my mental and physical self," she wrote me. "I had put off doctor's appointments for years, I was cutting

en

56:22

Libby Llanso of Seedlings

The Paper Fold ·

2022/10/24

Most of today's young stationery makers grew up swooning over our medium, but Libby Llanso of Seedlings literally grew up working in our trade. As the daughter of Legacy Publishing Group's Cathy and Carlos Llanso, her childhood was filled with packing orders, attending various markets and helping her mom select art for the next year's release. But rather than continuing the status quo, when Libby came on board, she was able to create the range she envisioned. Thus Seedlings sprouted from Legacy —

en

61:12

Jocelyn + Roland Kirouac of Ümlaut Brooklyn

The Paper Fold ·

2022/09/19

If you ever wanted to put your truth out there and hesitated due to the response you feared you’d get, hesitate no longer. Just ask Jocelyn + Roland Kirouac of Ümlaut Brooklyn. Although this range has a reputation for having the proverbial potty mouth, their product actually doesn't contain a lot of profanity. What it does have, however, is the couple's uncensored and occasionally shocking take on the world around them. Thus, while their stationery is practically guaranteed to make you laugh out

en

42:14

Brittany O'Brien of Brittany Paige Designs

The Paper Fold ·

2022/08/08

If you've ever felt creatively restricted by your corporate job, move over! Brittany O’Brien of Brittany Paige Designs feels your pain, but better yet, she acted on it. She launched her namesake brand in 2017 with six greeting cards — all concerning break-ups — and although the release was small, it proved to be incredibly powerful. With it, Brittany was officially uncensored, untethering herself from how she was in her words "taught to be small." Unsurprisingly, her stationery and gift range

en

64:57

Stacie Bloomfield of Gingiber

The Paper Fold ·

2022/07/18

Do you want to unleash that creative powerhouse that resides within you? Then you absolutely cannot miss my chat with Stacie Bloomfield. This design dynamo was just named a 2022 40 Under 40 Honoree by Stationery Trends and Gift Shop Plus magazines, and it will become pretty apparent, pretty quickly, why I gave her a perfect score when I judged the entries. Stacie literally grew Gingiber, her Arkansas paper and home goods company, from her kitchen table to a seven-figure business now carried by

en

66:47

Rosanna Kvernmo of Shorthand

The Paper Fold ·

2022/06/21

Hold onto your undated planners everyone, Rosanna is here, and my, does she have a lot to spill! When I last checked in with her, pre-pandemic, the founder of this letterpress brand and Los Angeles shop had just lost her husband and co-founder Joel to brain cancer, leaving their 18-month-old daughter Judith behind as well. Our stationery community is such that we rallied around Rosanna from around the nation however we could, but it was Rosanna's fortitude and mindset that enabled her to

en

43:15

Wendy Hind of Tiny Poetry Project

The Paper Fold ·

2022/05/23

We all know that a life lived in letters is a far richer one, but what about the letter itself? Former university vice president, professor, policy advisor, attorney and poet Wendy Hind tackled this question, and you may be surprised at the results. The mission of her Tiny Poetry Project is to give, not receive, so for her poems printed on plantable paper, being stationery is just one step in its circle of life. After being read and digested, each notecard or postcard can be planted to yield

en

47:20

Bonnie of The Bonnie Marcus Collection

The Paper Fold ·

2022/04/25

Every last woman stationery maker you see today is building her brand upon the shoulders of the women who forged their paths before them — and the younger generation may not even know it. Bonnie Marcus has been a prominent figure in the stationery and gift industry for 20 years, counting celebrities like Cindy Crawford and Kathryn Heigl among her custom clientele and snagging the prestigious American Express “Make Mine a $Million Business” contest for women entrepreneurs. Yet it only appeared easy

en

46:14

Michelle Angenent of 417 Press

The Paper Fold ·

2022/03/21

So, you think you can write a clever card, the kind that makes you laugh uncontrollably and that you just HAVE to send your friend, who will totally get it? Maybe you should think again — it's not nearly as easy as it looks. Just ask Michelle of 417 Press, who has been letterpressing her signature blend of wit and wisdom since 2015. The graphic designer first discovered letterpress while planning her own wedding — but soon realized she has a special affinity for one-liners. So, quicker than you

en

49:04

Ken and Rachel of The Lobster Studio

The Paper Fold ·

2022/02/28

If you can make it in NYC, you can make it anywhere ... and that truism definitely applies to The Lobster Studio. This brand first came to life organically, as a hand-drawn, homemade Valentine from Ken Crossland to his wife Rachel Lauren James. It depicted the tails of the cats in their newly blended households forming a heart. That one card became a small collection, and in 2018, The Lobster Studio was officially born. Since then, the lifestyle range has grown slowly and organically alongside Ken's

en

70:19

Leah and Grace of Tiny and Snail

The Paper Fold ·

2022/01/24

Like many stationery brands, Tiny and Snail is a family operation. Sisters Leah Nixon & Grace Nixon Peterson launched this brand in 2017, with both designing their initial 13-card signature collection, paint stroke by keystroke. But everything flipped upside down in an instant when Leah, AKA Tiny, was crushed under a telehandler at her day job, building homes for Habitat for Humanity. Leah's right leg was amputated and she is paralyzed from the armpits down. Out of this life-altering tragedy came

en

52:15

Kate Murray of Quick Brown Fox Letterpress

The Paper Fold ·

2021/12/13

Letterpress is to stationery what couture is to clothes. In capable hands, this printing process, which literally took us out of the dark ages, transforms cotton paper into bespoke missives that effortlessly elevate whatever message they convey. But the craft requires a savvy blend of experience and instinct; it's said letterpress takes 10 minutes to learn, but a lifetime to master. Lovers of letterpress recognize its nuances much like wine or cheese aficanadoes approach the subject of their

en

46:10

Lana Effron of Lana's Shop

The Paper Fold ·

2021/11/12

Every maker has a great backstory, but for Lana Effron of Lana's Shop, the juggle is real. For a decade now, this Colorado artist and mom has been creating paintings of "love and kindness" for her upscale stationery range. While capturing the sweeter side of life and the stillness of nature comes organically to her, finding a path to balance raising two very small children and running her home-based business was more involved. For Lana, learning to create in constant chaos, while simultaneously not

en

61:28

Chelsea Shukov of Sugar Paper

The Paper Fold ·

2021/10/19

You probably didn't know it, but the letter-writing resource for the 21st century just dropped. Meet How to Write a Letter: Find the Right Words for Every Occasion, the newest entry in Penguin Random House's über-polished How To series. Co-author Chelsea Shukov visits The Paper Fold to show you how not to just add polish to your correspondence, but to truly and authentically connect with those you love with letters that truly reflect you. Since Chelsea and her Sugar Paper co-founder Jamie Grobecker

en

All Episodes

Similar Podcasts

BroadwayRadio

BroadwayRadio

The Quilter on Fire Podcast

Brandy

The Creative Process · Arts, Culture & Society: Books, Film, Music, TV, Art, Writing, Creativity, Education, Environment, Theatre, Dance, LGBTQ, Climate Change, Social Justice, Spirituality, Feminism, Tech, Sustainability

Mia Funk

The Unstoppable Singer

Danielle Tucker

Landscape Photography World

Grant Swinbourne