Interview w/ The Pillarbox

I don’t know about you, but if you have every tried to find a beautiful, English language greeting card in Prague, it is nearly impossible.  Same plight goes for wrapping paper.  Last week, I conducted an interview with local entrepreneur, Roisin Lamb, on the recent opening of her fabulous stationery store, the Pillarbox, located on Balbinova 24, in Prague’s Vinohrady district.

During my morning chat with Roisin, I learned that the Pillarbox was named after the free-standing, red post boxes found in the UK, and aims to provide Prague-ites with a wide array of English language greeting cards, invitations, wrapping accoutrement, kids items and gifts under one roof.  Carrying both local and UK stationery and product lines such as Rachel Ellen, Jellycat, One Green Bee, Glick, Woodmansterne, and jewelry from Louise Maystrenko, the Pillarbox is the place to go if you have forgotten someone’s birthday, are looking for colourful gift wrapping accessories such as bows, ribbons, stylish wrapping paper and bags or are in need of adorable invitations for a party.

As you get your mind in holiday mode, if you haven’t stopped by the store, it is a must for the upcoming holiday season, especially if you are on the hunt for some quality gifting accessories.  The best part about the Pillarbox is that it is open on Saturday from 11am to 3pm, quite uncommon for your typical Prague boutique!  Filling a necessary gap in the Prague market for stationery and paper products, the Pillarbox, with its knowledgeable and helpful staff ready and willing to gift wrap for you (boys/men- take note!!), will surely grow to become the new go-to store.

If you are looking for other places and spaces to get acquainted with the Pillarbox in Prague, you can find Roisin on December 3rd at the International Women’s Association of Prague’s (IWAP) Christmas fair at the Diplomat Hotel, as well as at the Prague British School’s holiday market event on December 15th and on their Facebook page.

R Studio

A little more from R Studio, one of the stationery designers from Minted.com, whose design I liked.  Renee Stevens is the owner of R Studio and is based in Syracuse, NY.  Her experience and background in mixed media is a strength and really makes her simple, yet bold stationery appealing and standout.  More from Renee here.

via The R Studio

via The R Studio

Wedding Planning: Save the Dates

I am happy to report that wedding planning is now in full effect. My fiancée and I decided a couple of weeks ago to plan our wedding in Europe,  Summer 2012.  First thing’s first when planning a destination wedding:  Give your guests as much notice as humanly possible that you are abdicating tradition and fleeing Toronto in pursuit of a romantic, coastal/beach/vineyard/mountainous/palatial destination somewhere Europe.  Sounds more appealing to me!

Back to the save-the-dates.  Selecting save-the-date cards was a simple process, contrary to what I thought would ensue.  I thought I would spend hours browsing all my favourite stationery sites, unable to choose from all the magnificent designs, but I was under a bit of a time crunch to find something, see a proof, have it shipped to Toronto and mailed out before September, so I started with Minted.com and ordered a set without looking anywhere else.  We narrowed it down to four choices from four very talented designers:  The R Studio, Marabou Design, Please Reply Designs, and Ana Gonzalez (i can’t find her site).  I”m not going to spill the beans and tell you which invitation I chose, but…. stay tuned.

#1

via Minted.com by R Studio

#2

via Minted.com by Marabou Design

#3

via Minted.com by Please Reply Designs

#4

via Minted.com by Ana Gonzalez

lox and savvy

Australia based stationery company, Lox and Savvy is turning out some creative and bright paper goods.  No one is doing flourescent right now except Lisa, who does it very well.  I love her choice to combine geometric shapes with bright neon colours.  Lisa, the creative energy behing Sydney, Australia based Lox and Savvy is inspired by 60s + 70s furniture and design objects and applies a dash of 80s when it comes to colour.  To hear more from Lisa’s inspirations, read her interview here.  Can’t wait to see what comes out next!

via paper crave

via write on and more

via on sugar

via leeloo

via the terrier and lobster

upup creative

Don’t you love honest cards that tell it like it is?  I love what Julie Green, the talented designer behind Up Up Creative on Etsy.com.

via etsy.com

via etsy.com

via etsy.com

Letterpress in Toronto @ Snap + Tumble

A couple weeks ago my friend and I spent a creative couple of hours together on a Saturday at a letterpress workshop run by Tanya Roberts of Snap + Tumble.  We got to work with two different letterpress machines, learn how to set up a print, and made our way through 150 pieces of cardstock each! 

It was a lot of fun and nice to make something with your hands and see the finished product.  I found Tanya’s letterpress class especially rewarding since I spend a considerable amount of time blogging about beautiful letterpress stationery.  Now I can write from experience that I know how time-consuming, intricate and detail oriented the process is to get a good-looking end product.  I am happy with my thank you cards and personal stationery but it doesn’t come close to some of the professional items you see on the market.  If you are interested in a fun couple of hours, have an interest in learning about letterpress or want to make your own stationery, I would totally recommend the experience.  To see more of Tanya’s stuff, check out her blog here.