Stationery Trends Magazine

2008 Spring Issue Editor’s Letter

Welcome to the World, Stationery Trends!
By Sarah Schwartz, Editor

Launching a magazine is like giving birth. No matter how many assurances you receive, no matter how prepared you think you are, you're in for a wild ride. Both experiences are exhilarating, emotional and even painful. And that's fitting, because if you're not transformed as a result of a little suffering, you're not suitably awestruck by the adventure awaiting you.

Quite simply, we'd like to bring you what the magazine's title promises — stationery trends, written for the card and gift shop retailer as well as the professionals that cater to them. Retail is all about telling stories, and we'd like to do the same, with the drama coming from this industry's amazing products as well as the companies and stores that put them in consumers' eager hands.

Trends can be tricky — some endure, some don't. Early in the game, people can only guess as to whether something will hit or miss. Meanwhile, stationery is a tool of communication that expresses personal style, so it constantly metamorphoses as those two areas continually evolve. Stationery endures despite false reports — and there are many! — that it is dying.

Quite simply, if you love stationery, you're hooked, probably for life. For me, it's the sturdy boxes holding invitations, the thrill of finding the perfect card to send your college roommate — or stumbling across that amazing display at the National Stationery Show.

Right now what's happening in stationery, and all around our culture, is the green movement. Eco-consciousness has become a lifestyle for many — but whether it will really take root in our culture at large remains to be seen.

I started regarding this shift in perspective as a school of thought when I opened a recent Country Living and saw Paulette Cole, CEO of the illustrious ABC Carpet and Home, quoted thus: “I feel like green design is waking up. We are at a tipping point that integrates purpose and beauty. It's not beautiful if it's not healthy.”

So whether you call it eco-luxe, eco-chic or ecouture (the last term, my favorite, comes from Crane & Co.), there are green products in our cover story and throughout. Plus there's so much more — our profile of Anna Griffin examines one creative, motivated pioneer's dazzling rise — and imparts a sense of where the industry's headed. And GREER Chicago might just do for civility what “Crane's Blue Book of Stationery” did for etiquette.

So, whether you're reading this in the back of a shuttle or your store's back room, sit back, relax and get comfortable — and get ready for a great read!

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Originally posted Wednesday, Apr. 21, 2010