I think the ongoing demise of the handwritten letter & the ‘snail mail’ posting of cards or notes to mark occasions (special or otherwise) is rather sad. A txt msg or email will never be a good substitute for receiving an interesting piece of post – you can’t beat the excitement and anticipation of finding an intriguing envelope waiting for you in your letterbox! And what about penmanship?! Do the kids still handwrite… you know, with ink and actual pens?
I love this postcard, found a couple of years ago at the wonderful (
but now sadly closed downupdate: open again! see comments :) Bowne & Co. Stationers in the South Street Seaport area of Lower Manhattan
(postcard © John Derian Company, Inc)
As I appear to be a confirmed (and grumpy!) Luddite when it comes to the ubiquity of digital communications I’m very happy to have some of my work included in the screen printing and papercutting sections of this nifty new book by Charlotte Rivers (published earlier this month):
And I’m delighted to find myself sharing its pages with a super-talented friend…
Jesse Breytenbach, Cape Town, South Africa (letterpress & block printing)
… and a whole host of other great, old-school stationery practitioners. The book is divided into eight sections: hand-drawn illustration, screen printing, letterpress printing, block printing, digital illustration, calligraphy, papercutting and collage/3-D/sewn, and includes brief but informative descriptions of each technique followed by inspirational examples from around the globe. Here are some of my favourite discoveries from the book:
MrYen, Leeds, UK (papercutting)
Sesame Letterpress, New York, USA (letterpress printing)
Winged Wheel, Tokyo, Japan (letterpress printing)
Karolin Schnoor, London, UK (hand-drawn illustration)
Katharine Watson, Washington DC, USA (block printing)
If you’re looking for some inspirational stationery eye-candy the book can be found online here (Amazon UK) or here (Amazon US) >
9 comments
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1 March, 2012 at 12:38 am
mlleparadis
of course i had to comment on this post! the title was irresistible.
how cool! that you are in this book with such talented company (and that i own – yes i have retained stuff, just to admire, not to send) the pieces that appear in it – yay! congratulations!!!!
and yes how sad….i had to have a big sigh recently over the piles of “stationery” that i have stockpiled over the years that may never enjoy being written on. since, it’s true – i’m almost as guilty as the rest …..of you-know-what.
1 March, 2012 at 1:53 pm
sakurasnow
Thank you MlleP (lovely to know you’ve retained some of those cards :)
I too have boxes of ‘stationery’ that weigh heavy on my mind… I still send birthday cards and suchlike but it has been too many years since I wrote a good, long, handwritten (and, ideally, hand-illustrated) letter. It’s disgraceful, I tells ya! ;)
1 March, 2012 at 5:14 pm
Rarer Borealis
Bowne and Co. is open again! I stopped by a little under a month ago and saw them as the last stop on the New York Museum tour. They’re still selling all sorts of printed goods- I say ‘they’ when it’s just the one fellow who’s been running it for years. He’s still there and pressing!
1 March, 2012 at 5:16 pm
sakurasnow
Oh, that is great news – thank you for letting me know!
6 March, 2012 at 1:39 pm
poppy
Suzanne!
Lovely book! Congratulations! I’d love to get my hands on one! AND I adore the title-less cover of The Secret Life of the Panda!
6 March, 2012 at 2:35 pm
rondje
Wow, looks like a great book and therefor pretty cool to be in it!
8 March, 2012 at 2:56 pm
Jesse
Yay! So nice to see your things in the book! And the Winter Wood cards on the contents page – great! I can’t wait to actually see a copy; thanks for posting pics of my stuff.
The letterwriting thing has really been gnawing at me. I feel an itch to write/decorate a good letter – I used to have time for the most elaborate envelopes. I think I developed my comic drawing style on envelopes, actually.
13 March, 2012 at 8:34 am
kendalee
Wow, gorgeous book – Congratulations! I have just added it to my Amazon wishlist! I treasure the beautiful pieces I’ve received in the mail from you and have always loved stationery (had a massive collection of writing paper when I was in school, my pride & joy, and still have a huge stash of all things paper) but I too am guilty of not writing “proper” letters anymore, and barely even manage to get Birthday cards in the post. It’s a shame. Maybe something to add to my things-I’d-like-to-rediscover list. Although, I must say that living so far away from lots of friends and family I love that I don’t have to wait weeeeeeks to hear their news anymore (years in the case of those who were never great letter writers) so I love the texting, e-mailing, facebook-update era for that reason.
19 March, 2012 at 6:15 am
Yoko Hayashi
Wow!!! It’s really cool and beautiful book!! Congratulations! what a great news :-). I’m putting up your Winter Wood cards on the contents page in my desk side. I’m incredibly proud of you, because your are so talented! Photos are beautiful on your pages. and another page’s artist you recommended are also incredible.
I must get this book ;-)