The only thing that made Erika (left) and Madelyn sad about finding such great husbands was the realization that we wouldn't be able to come up with ideas for our weddings anymore. But it didn't stop our love and pursuit of design, style, and most of all, great stationery.
An interior designer turned graphic designer with clients in the wedding, fashion, architecture, and food & wine industries, Erika had long been encouraged to design her own line of stationery … especially by Madelyn. With 15 years of public relations and event planning experience, Madelyn's communications skills meshed perfectly with Erika's design sensibilities. Soon, all of our friends were asking for our collaborative ideas on everything from events and invitations to decor (and really, why wouldn't they, we have great taste).
So why we'd call it Wardrobe? Back in the day, well before email, IM and Facebook, one's personal stationery set was called a stationery wardrobe. Combine that with our love of fashion and interior design, and we thought Wardrobe Stationery suited our vision to a tee.
Check out some our fave combos...
You know how it's great fun to put together that fabulous outfit that you look so hot in? Or decorate a room with just the right pieces that make it so you? Why shouldn't stationery follow the same creative process? You have such great taste, such great style, and you deserve stationery that reflects that. But we learned firsthand that finding that special high-style, high-quality stationery is easier said than done.
Turns out there’s a big gap between high-end custom design and reasonable pricing. We'd see a great looking design online, but be totally disappointed when the stationery arrived. Or, we'd see a drop-dead gorgeous totally custom invitation only to find it cost $20...for each invitation...without the insert or RSVP cards, much less a coordinating thank you note.
So we set out to design our own. We looked at what we liked, finding inspiration in our favorite fashion and interior designers. That meant modern designs. Elegant patterns. Unique details. We absolutely had to have the highest quality stock – post-consumer use, of course – and use the best printing methods here in the US of A.
We knew we wanted pieces that coordinated well in a set. A thank you note that complements the birth announcement. Programs and name cards coordinate with the wedding invitation. So everything is pulled together just so, but with flair. And all for one price.
With Wardrobe Stationery, we created a great palette of options, but the final design is up to you. Ready to create your wardrobe?
When buying stationery, especially online, it's important to understand the lingo of printing production to ensure you get a quality product. Various printing techniques and paper stocks will affect how the stationery not only looks, but feels in your hand.
Letterpress - old-fashioned yet very trendy, letterpress requires an actual metal plate to be created, thus leading to longer lead times, typically 8-12 weeks. Ink is pressed into the paper to create a debossed /indented feel, in one or two colors with muted intensity and uneven ink coverage over large areas. Due the labor and often antique equipment, costs generally fall into the more expensive range. We thought about letterpress, but it's everywhere now, not quite as special as it once was, and frankly, we're getting a little tired of the one or two color on off-white paper look.
Engraving - usually reserved for the most formal affairs and selected by those where budget is not a consideration, engraving requires the making of a custom copper plate that paper is pressed against, creating a slightly raised effect. Engraving is usually limited to one color and restricted to text and perhaps a small ornamental motif. Beautiful, but engraving just seems too formal and old-fashioned for the modern vision we had.
Thermography - a less-expensive process meant to mimic engraving, type is raised. Often used on business cards and type-only designs, or when very little ink coverage is required. Often times the "shiny-ness" of the ink does not lend itself to personal stationery, and the ink limitations are too restrictive for our colorful designs.
Digital Offset - don't be fooled; digital offset is NOT offset press printing, and is usually just a larger version of the printer you have at home. Ink coverage can be spotty and type can look fuzzy. Usually lower quality and thinner paper can be fed through digital printers. Hold a piece that's digitally printed vs. one of our offset printed pieces, and you'll see and feel the difference.
Brightness - brightness is measured by how much light is reflected by the paper, so a higher number represents a brighter or whiter paper. According to the international ISO standard, newsprint is 55-75 ISO brightness. Our paper stock has a brightness rating of ?? , compared to the typical ?? . This means, yes, our paper's brighter, but also that the colors of our inks are truer and hold more saturation. No one wants a gray, washed out wedding invitation!
Weight in the US, paper weight is based on the end use, so you may see "text" or "cover" after a weight in pounds. (You'd never see an invitation printed on text weight, at least we HOPE not, so you can safely assume that any time you see a paper weight it's a cover thickness.) The weight is determined by weighing 500 sheets. For example, cover paper is based on the basis size 20" x 26" x 500 sheets = "x" lbs. and is referred to as an "x" lb. cover paper. A sturdy, thick business card is 100 lb. cover. Typically, we've seen stationery printed on 70-80 lb. paper perfectly acceptable. But, we decided to use 100 lb. cover anyway because we love the feel of a substantial invitation.
What does this all mean? First, there's so much more to beautiful stationery than the design that's printed on it, and when purchasing online, the customer should be informed of these important characteristics. Second, we have created Wardrobe Stationery with these characteristics in mind in order to give our customers not only great design, but also a great product, all around.