Stationery Trends Magazine

Designer Profile: Martha Stewart

The domestic diva joins forces with Crane & Co. to release a collection like no other By Sarah Schwartz, Editor Martha Stewart has shared everything from paint colors to pasta salad recipes with her adoring fans. Now the expert on everyday living has created a wedding invitation collection with paper monolith Crane & Co. It's not too surprising that the release, which was one of the brightest spots on the show floor at NSS 2009, also puts a distinctive, Martha Stewart-esque spin on the way invitations are shopped. According to Megan Kuntze, brand director, Crane & Co., some consumers told them that ordering from large albums could be overwhelming. So boxes filled with samples to touch and feel are sent to participating stationers, who may order an extra set to mount on boards or in a small notebook. There's also a 35-page lookbook for brides…  » Read more

---

Editor’s Letter

The News Isn't All Bad By Sarah Schwartz, Editor As I write this, there's no shortage of bad news in the air. The nation is sharply divided over healthcare, unemployment rates fester and the economy continues to limp along. But there is still some fun and freshness in our air, one of the reasons I love this industry so. Taking advantage of short leases and shorter attention spans, many big names, from Levis to Lexus and Gap to Gucci, are embracing the phenomenon known as pop-up stores. Typically a location opens up for a few days, weeks or perhaps a month, creates a fabulous buzz and then closes shop. It takes advantage of the sense of haste so prevalent in our digital-driven times. In this issue, we document a month-long pop-up spearheaded by Manhattan's Wedding Library in Brooklyn. The first three weeks were each devoted…  » Read more

---

Going to the (Pop-Up) Chapel

An Upper East Side fairy godmother of nuptials brings wedding magic to Brooklyn — but only for a moment By Amanda Avutu, Special to Stationery Trends A modern fairy godmother — that's how Claudia Hanlin, founding partner of The Wedding Library, likes to think of herself. Brides across Manhattan would emphatically agree. Inside the four-story, turn-of-the-century townhouse, located at 43 E. 78 St. in Manhattan, Hanlin and her partner, Jennifer Zabinski, have distilled the best wedding services and products a well-heeled Upper East Side bride-to-be could wish for. But this summer, Hanlin and Zabinski had outer borough brides on the brain. Thanks to a chance encounter with a Daily Candy blurb about 303Grand, a revolving storefront (pop-up store) in Brooklyn, The Wedding Library had a unique opportunity to bring some matrimonial magic across the East River. So, from June 4-28, in partnership with 303Grand, Brooklyn…  » Read more

---

Negotiating the Social Networking Maze

Small businesses get clients, network and more in this 21st-century domain By Sarah Schwartz, Editor “As far as social networking is concerned, it's still a bit of a mystery,” wrote Lisa DeNunzio of Paper Emporium, Coral Gables, Fla. “We've signed up with Facebook, but we aren't utilizing it fully. I'm not sure how having 300 friends will translate into sales. Twitter is a total puzzlement, and blogging has only garnered us two followers. We do feel we are losing business to the Internet and are not sure how to counter that.” DeNunzio is hardly alone in her uncertainty, both within our industry and the larger community of small businesses. Although by one estimate some 260,000 North American businesses are social networking, a recent Sage North America study found that understanding it takes time: 65 percent of social networking small businesses said they felt more comfortable…  » Read more

---