This morning, I woke up to a letterpress epiphany. I might be able to get letterpress invitations for my wedding!
You might wonder what’s so good about it? *what is letterpress*
The Background :
As some of you might know, my best friends and I run a small wedding stationery company named Pemberley Paperie. If you look at our company blog, mind you, it totally doesn’t represent our style. We are just too busy doing projects for clients, that we neglected our blog.
(Update: I am no longer with Pemberley as I want to focus on my wedding design & decor company, Rosette Designs & Co)
Both Katryn and I are in love with letterpress stationery. We love the deep impression against thick crisp cotton paper (Cotton paper is made from 100% cotton fibers. Practically non-existent in Southeast Asia, which is belligerent considering cotton is a common commodity in Asia. But I can be wrong, who knows). The paper itself is worth the money. I love the handmade feel it evokes. By the way, it is really handmade, manual.
It is not about the design because you can achieve the same design in both letterpress or offset printing. Until now we always use offset printing, because letterpress is only a pie in the sky, in the sweet bye and bye. Only bridezillas or professional brides like us dream about having one.
We jumped up and down when we received our first samples of letterpress invitation from Bella Figura. As a disciple of Martha Stewart’s Weddings and wedding blogs, we study letterpress markets in US and concluded that it is really at a bank-breaking price, can go up to a thousand USD for the set.
(Martha Stewart Weddings magazine fueled the renewed interest in letterpress invitation in 1990s )
But that perception didn’t stop me from sourcing for our own printer. I have designed a fabulous invitation for my holy matrimony, that even I signed at the sight of it (every time, seriously!)
So while I was still in the state of half-consciousness, I was wildly awoke when I read my email!
Ooh la la, I might be able to afford my letterpress dream..
If you have no clue of what letterpress is, here is a brief explanation :
Letterpress is one of the oldest and most beautiful printing techniques and dates back to the invention of the movable type by Johann Gutenberg. Metal plates with the images raised are inked and then pressed against soft, cotton paper. Type was hand-cast and individual characters were hand-set into lines until machine set composition made the process easier. This technique is almost a form of art rather than science as no 2 pieces are exactly alike. Because the paper is run through an antique press dating back to the 1800s, each pieces is subtly unique.
Here are some of the samples from our favorite companies.
Wanna see the machine ?
List of my favorite wedding stationery :
Cheere Berry (the middle suite ), Mika78,Ceci New York and many more!
