It is certainly an exciting time for Haute Papier as we gear up for the 2012 National Stationery Show. We thought we would show you a teeny tiny bit of how our new product R&D process works. What you see above is a photo of what we call "The Board". Well, it's actually a few boards, but you get the idea. Nothing gets ink until it's decided on and not changing unless absolutely necessary. This, of course, really means that something just doesn't work in the end. Live and learn, right?!? And below, "The Wall". These are the finals and our true inspiration to keep on going until May. Everything is look awesome and we can't wait to launch!
Real Party: Karen's 35th!
Check out these two color letterpressed birthday party invites we printed for Karen from Soiree San Francisco! We actually got to meet Karen a couple of weeks ago when she was in town for her "day job" at the CEB. She visited our warehouse in Rosslyn to meet our presses and design some custom personal stationery - we can't wait to share that too... she's keeping with the fuchsia and adding one of our favorite new elements - gold foil! We hope you have a wonderful birthday in Tahoe Karen!!
Hot off the Press: Silver Foil Holiday Suite
Nothing like saving the best for last! I've been waiting for weeks to share this last holiday card suite with you. We created this for one of Haute Papier's dearest friends and long time client, Nancy Margaret. She wanted a big "wow" factor this year since the birth of her and her husband's first child happened in 2011 and she had the most adorable photograph to share with friends and family. We still can't figure out how they got all three dogs and the baby to sit still for this great shot by Jennifer Anderson Photography (once our neighbor in Leesburg!). The cards were printed on Crane's 220# lettra (so luxurious!) with red letterpress and silver foil stamping on both the front and back. The envelopes were the perfect shimmery red with silver foiled snowflakes falling on both the flap and front of the envelope... and we couldn't have a suite this great without custom stamps as a final touch! Thank you to The Adlers for giving us the creative liberty, as always, to put this wintery delight together for you!
HP is Earth Friendly!
Haute Papier is proud to use Crane's Lettra for all letterpressing from our lines. What's earth friendly, you ask? Crane papers are unique in the fact that all of their paper products are 100% tree-free. It actually wasn't till the 1860s that companies started cutting down trees to use as the raw materials for their paper goods.
What Crane does is use a material called “linters” as the base of their paper, which is basically the tiny fibers that cling to the cotton seed after the ginning process. These little fibers must be removed in order to efficiently extract cottonseed oil. Normally these linters would be thrown into the landfills or used as cattle feed, but Crane puts them to good use by creating their high end papers from them. On top of all this, they also take many other steps to ensure they have an environmentally friendly product, like using bleaches that are similar to Clorox which are gentler.
Also, they have their own waste water treatment facility where they process any organic waste produced in the paper making process into topsoil. So, now you know... At HP we're doing our part in all sorts of ways to help the environment!