MLP: Hello! Please introduce yourselves.
Breck: My name is Breck Hostetter and I run Sesame Letterpress along with the help of my husband, Matt. We live and work in Brooklyn.

MLP: How did you two get your start in printing? What is your training?
Breck: I went to the Museum School/Tufts in Boston and studied artists’ books and photography. I moved to New York after college and started printing as a way to produce editions of my book projects and fell in love with the medium. I find the slow process of feeding each card into the press to be very conducive to daydreaming and love knowing that we make a living using a press that has been working since the 1880’s (and has provided a living for a couple printers before us). Matt started printing after spending many late evenings napping on a couch in my studio, waiting for me to finish my work. I introduced him to the hand press and a stack of coasters to keep him busy and he got hooked.

MLP: What inspired you to start Sesame Letterpress?
Breck: I started printing for clients as a way to pay for my studio and supplies for my own edition projects. There was more and more demand for letterpress printing and we officially formed Sesame Letterpress (named after our beloved, late parakeet) about 4 years ago.

MLP: Many of your designs feature animals, from deer to pheasants to cranes to frogs. What about animals inspire you?
Breck: Everything about animals inspires me! I like knowing that there is an alternate world of furry (or feathery) creatures that have nothing to do with computers, rush orders, traffic, cell phones etc… Our work is heavily rooted in the 19th Century and is inspired by Victorians’ fascination with collecting animal figurines, taxidermy, bugs, butterflies, and other specimens of nature. We build our designs a bit like curio cabinets or display cases with lots of imagery framed with decorative borders.

MLP: What types of presses do you use?
Breck: I am wedded to my original press, a Golding Jobber #7, a Victorian era press from the 1880s that I use for all my custom work. Matt uses a C&P Pilot for his coaster production. We also have a Vandercook No. 4 that we use for artists’ editions, a Heidelberg Windmill that we use for our wholesale line, a Kelsey Star that we don’t ever use but it is so pretty, and a smaller Golding Jobber No. 6 that we keep in my dad’s basement in New England so we can print while we’re on vacation.

MLP: Are you native New Yorkers? What are some of your favorite spots around town?
Breck: Both Matt and I grew up in Wisconsin and each lived in a number of other cities before finding our way to New York in the mid and late 1990s. I lived in the East Village when I first moved here and DUMBO was only a couple subway stops away. At that time, studio space here was pretty affordable. We lived in Williamsburg for a few years and then to the super baby-friendly Carroll Gardens where we live now with our daughter, Greta. Through all the moves, we’ve kept our studio in DUMBO. It’s an easy neighborhood for clients to travel to and we’ve amassed a lot of awkward machinery we don’t want to have to move!

Hmm, our favorite spots around town… First I’d have to say Jacques Torres Chocolatier in DUMBO as their hot chocolate and iced chocolate have helped me get through some long days of printing. Other favorites include John Derian & Co. and New York Central’s paper department, Sleep, Spoonbill & Sugartown Booksellers and Catbird (all in Williamsburg), Swallow and Bird (both in Carroll Gardens) and of course Cursive at ABC in Manhattan.

MLP: You offer note card making classes at your studio. Can you tell us what that entails? And when are these offered? Do you have to have any previous experience?
Breck: Our note card printing classes are really fun. We offer the classes through Make Workshop, a crafting school, on the Lower East Side. It’s a 2-part workshop where participants design and print a set of 50 custom note cards and learn to line envelopes. The first class we demonstrate how the presses work and we talk about the history of letterpress printing and how the traditional methods differ from current letterpress printing practices. Students can pick from our library of images and fonts to design their cards, or they can create a totally new design on their own and provide us with the digital file. Then we order the plates and do the printing and envelope lining during the second class. No experience is necessary.

MLP: Do you have any special cards and designs coming up for the holidays? Where can we find those?
Breck: We have a line of holiday cards we produce for our Cursive line (available at Cursive at ABC Home in Manhattan) and we sold 3 holiday card designs to Target that are in the stores now. We’re also working on a couple Christmas ornaments and a letterpressed 2008 calendar. Both will be available in a couple weeks at a sale we are doing on December 16th at Devine Studios on East 4th Street, NYC. It is an annual sale featuring really great designers and we tend to buy all our holiday gifts there each year.

MLP: What do you forecast for trends in letterpress and note cards?
Breck: I am not sure what to predict for this… The number of boutique print shops is growing rapidly and yet there are a finite number of presses in the world (no one manufactures letterpresses anymore). I hope all the new printers will continue to care for their machines well and help this business stay strong. I am eager to see what sort of new creativity people can bring to this traditional craft.

MLP: Any favorite cards and designs from your own collection?
Breck: My favorite design ever is the baby announcement we printed to welcome Greta. We also made her a calling card for networking at the playground. I also still love the collection of cards we do on bright paper for Cursive. The Foxy, Peony and Forever and Ever Birds designs are my favorite pieces.

MLP: What’s the most bizarre order you’ve ever received?
Breck: One of our first printing projects was to print an edition of sewing kit cases and we also produced a set of volvelles, or paper information wheels which was cool. We love discovering new things to do with our presses and try to work letterpress into as many products as we can.

MLP: Walk us through an “average” day at the studio.
Breck: Sesame Letterpress has two typical days as some days I am home with Greta and some days I am at the studio. On the non-baby days, I go to the studio around 10, check emails, discuss the projects for the day with our excellent assistant/master printer Amanda, cut paper, mix ink, print, pack, ship, order paper, return calls, realize at 4 that I haven’t eaten lunch, wonder if I can get a hot chocolate and call it lunch, print some more and rush home at 5:30.

On the days I am home with the baby, I go to the playground at 10, call Amanda at the studio to check in and see if she has any questions, play with Greta until she takes a nap, then I return calls and emails, play with the baby when she wakes up and do my design work in the evenings when she is in bed.

Matt has a day job so he checks in with his coaster-printing staff during the day and then goes to the studio an evening a week and on the weekends to pack and ship orders and set up work for the week ahead. All in all, we do a lot of juggling which can be taxing, but we are grateful that we are able to work at something we really love and we continue to be excited that people like our work.

MLP: Who are some of your favorite card/stationery designers?
We love
Moontree Letterpress
Binth
Hello Lucky
and Paper + Cup.

MLP: And last, but not least: are you a letter-writer? Note passer? Package sender?
I used to be an avid letter writer but now I limit my written correspondence to a few big mailings a year. We print an annual holiday card and calendar that we send to family, friends and clients and we usually do a Valentine mailing and we started letterpressing invitations/prints for Greta’s birthday so we’ll be sending those to family and friends as well.

Finding the perfect paper is one of those on-going challenges we at MLP Headquarters are always struggling with. We're pretty smitten with Matterial's Drawrite tablets: orange lines, and space for both drawing and writing. Instead of doodling in the margins, these are landscape-oriented, half-lined pages, with a letterpressed cover and backing.

All paper is recycled, packaging is primarily reused from existing packages, and the tablets are created in limited editions. And, if you can stand to tear a piece out of your tablet, these would make a fine letter-writing paper.

One of the challenges in sending letters each month is wanting to send a greeting that's both personal and creative. When we got a gorgeous picture postcard in the mail the other day from one of our friends, it presented as the perfect solution to the creative-personal conundrum, and made us wonder where they'd come from.

The answer? Moo.com.

For those of you with Flickr accounts, Moo.com is a great resource for personalizing postcards with your own photographs. Choose up to 20 photos from your flickr stream (choose by tag, by set, or by collection), and get 20 customized postcards for $19.99. Postcards are standard size (5.83 x 4.13 inches), and laminated on the image size.

Click here to get started on your own postcards.

We've discovered that mail and postal art offers many opportunities in galleries around the country. Here is information on a great one below at Niagara Community College Art Gallery, along with details on how you can submit your own mail art and the format of the show.

Where: Niagara Community College Art Gallery
3111 Saunders Settlement Road, Sanborn, New York 14132-9460
Deadline: postmarked by February 14, 2008

Description: The making of mail as art, "mail art" has a history stretching back at least to the 1950s. Mail art has in the past rooted in a rejection of the commerce and exclusivity of the gallery show. The making of mail art, "mail-art" continues to be a common practice in an age dominated by electronic communication. This exhibition will continue to break down the division between the mailbox and the gallery. To that end, Niagara County Community College Art Gallery is seeking submissions for an upcoming exhibition, aiming to display the myriad manifestations of mail art. Artists working in all media are encouraged to participate. The topic and content of each piece is solely the choice of the artist. Artists are asked to produce one piece of mail art and send it to guest curator Becky Moda. Your work will be displayed in a cataloged group exhibition in the Spring. After the exhibition closes, each participating artist will receive via mail the work of another artist. "Senders receive," as mail artists say. The mail art movement is uniquely populist and non-commercial, involving non-traditional distribution methods and the potential for global reach. Let's breathe new life into this fascinating movement, which predated and in some ways predicted the artist networking boom enabled by the internet.

It is asked that the artists adhere to the following guidelines:

1. Please send one piece of mail art to: Mail Art, NCCC Gallery, Niagara County Community College / 3111 Saunders Settlement Road / Sanborn, New York 14132-9460 by February 14, 2008.

2. The mail art can take any shape, in two or three dimensions. Pieces can expand when opened, but must be easily re-mailed for less than five dollars.

For more information regarding submissions please email beckymoda@gmail.com or visit nccmailart.blogspot.com.

A thoughtful letter is always the greatest gift between two pen pals, but that doesn't mean the letter-writer doesn't want to ring in the holidays by unwrapping some great letter-writing schwag. Here are a few of our gifts for the letter-writer in your life:

Sonrisa vintage metal desks, price varies: We are drooooling over these gorgeous desks, but have no room in our teeny apartments in which to put a beautiful writing desk, so we’re going to suggest that you big spenders out there pick up one of these desks on our behalf. Made of vintage steel, whose paint has been removed to reveal its original mid-century design, these pieces are durable--and did we mention gorgeous? We promise: this is a desk that’ll have you writing letters all day long. Gift it to a (very) loved one, or maybe just claim it for yourself.

Vintage typewriters on ebay, price varies: Typewriters are part of the great nostalgia of letter-writing, and a great gift for your writer-friends. (And now you’ve got that desk above, don’t you need a typewriter too?) There are gems all over ebay, like this fiery red Olivetti with bright white keys. Search ebay for more, and bid away for the gratifying gift of click clack click.

The Card Society from port2port press, $140: This is the gift that’ll keep on giving all year long. The lucky recipient gets two cards a month for an entire year of completely original and limited run designs. If you haven’t seen Maria’s work before, take a peak at some of her past card society editions, holiday and new year cards. This is definitely on my holiday wishlist!

Letter-writing books: These are two of our favorite letter-writing books: Post Secret: A Lifetime of Secrets, and Letters of the Century: America 1900 – 1999 (above, left). Post Secret is the product of the Frank Warren project we all known and love of the same name—strangers send postcards revealing their deep dark secrets, and greatest joys to Warren, on customized postcards of their own design. Letters of the Century is a collection of some of the most notable letters written between politicians, novelists, musicians, and other emblems of America.

Notecards and Postcards from Screech Owl Designs, $15 for a box of 12 postcards, card prices vary (above, right): Just when we thought we were getting sick of birds and owls, this Brooklyn-based designer came along with gorgeous box sets of intricately drawn animals in household situations--sitting on Eames chairs, pecking at the typewriter, perched by a piano. These drawings are full of whimsy, incredible detail, and an air of sophistication. Box sets come in a delightful blue box with owl logo printed on it that is half the gift in itself. Contact gs@screechowldesigns.com for more details (currently unavailable online).

Postcards on Moo.com: Send the gift of personalized postcards to the stationery aficionado who is in love with your photography. Add images (up to 20), crop as you like, and an order of twenty will be on its way to your good friend’s mailbox.

Cardstock, Every Card You Need This Year, $60: The one thing that always catches us in a bind, is that right when you need that wedding-birthday-new baby-fill in the blank card, you just don’t have anything appropriate. You make a mad dash to the nearest pharmacy, but all they have is glittery cards with cheesy sayings. Save one of your friends from this same sad card-giving fate and gift them with Cardstock’s forty-card box of “every card you need this year” is just the solution you’ve been looking for. With simple drawings—of owls, bridges, pine cones, teeth, and birds, there is a card for every occasion all year long.

Happy giving, and happy holidays!

Thanks so much to the folks at Next Great Thing, a trend and technology site, for blogging about us last Friday. We are so excited to grow this project!

"As digital communication begins to overtake many forms of personal interaction, some young people around the world are feeling a growing nostalgia for the tactile and immediately human art of letter writing. Bloggers Youngna Park and Corie Trancho-Robie have realized that technology can facilitate rather than overtake unwired communication. They’ve created an online network of pen pals called the Modern Letter Project. After submitting a name and address, individuals will receive an email with the name and address of a letter-writing partner. After the first letter, a Modern Letter participant will typically write at least two epistles per month. One is a response and the other a note to a new pen pal. The Project currently hosts over 200 people from the U.S., Canada, and the UK."

Read the whole piece here.

We’ve featured many letterpress artists here at The Modern Letter, and if you’d like to try your hand at this old-fashioned technique, the San Francisco Center for the Book offers a series of classes for people in the area.

SFCB’s printing curriculum teaches the basics of letterpress printing and has classes for beginners as well as more experienced printers. Upcoming sessions include:

Letterpress Cards and Handmade Envelopes with Megan Adie
Fri Dec 14 9am-6pm
$130 plus $20 materials fee
Produce an impressive pile of cards, postcards and unique envelopes – all in a handmade portfolio. You'll print up to 20 cards and postcards, using varied colors, media, and techniques (wood type, linoleum, and photopolymer plates) on the Center's Vandercook presses. Finish the cards using our corner rounder, perforator, and more.

Letterpress I with Mary Laird
Mon Dec 17 9am-6pm
$130 plus $15 materials fee
Learn the basics of setting type using the Vandercook. Mary teaches how to determine paper grain, use a pica ruler, mix ink, ink the press and print. After deciding on a theme, students pair off to produce either a broadside (a one-sheet poster) or a chapbook (including a colophon, text, title and half-title page). We'll pull proofs, make corrections and print multiple copies; then we'll distribute type and spacing, and clean up. For the chapbook, we'll also cut and wax thread and sew one book as a sample for finishing the edition at home.

Letterpress II with Megan Adie
Sun Jan 06, 2008 9am-6pm
$130 plus $15 materials fee
This workshop gives you more working time on the press. You'll set your own text and print a collaborative project, delving deeper into the complexities of lockup and registration, learning how to make sure the job stick is squared, setting roller height, and printing from photopolymer plates. The class also covers the subtle nature of line spacing, word spacing and all-caps spacing; goes further into the inking process; and ends with sorting and distributing type.

A full list of letterpress workshops can be found here and you can register by calling or faxing in an enrollment form.

MLP: Hi Tess! Please introduce yourself.
Egg Press: I’m an impatient woman married to a patient man, have two little boys ages one and almost four, and for the most part have a sweet little life. If I had a trust fund I’d only knit, travel and make things. No offense to Egg Press.

MLP: How did you get your start in printing? What is your training?
Egg Press: In the early 90s I got a BFA in textile design, but made books for my thesis project. Through visits to the University of Washington Special Collections Library I learned of letterpress, took a letterpress class the moment I finished school, and then apprenticed for a small shop in Seattle. Then I moved back to Portland, Oregon to work at Nike, where I learned a little about graphic design.

MLP: What inspired you to start Egg Press, and how did Egg Press get its name?
Egg Press: While not working in a corporate environment, I spent all my time in my studio, which had only two presses at the time. I very naively left Nike so I could pursue my letterpress interests. The Egg Press name is a long story...

MLP: Are you a native Portland-er? And what about Portland inspires you?
Egg Press: I’m a native Northwesterner, having spent all but 7 years in the Portland area. Although I really like the idea of living someplace else, at this point I can’t imagine leaving, as we are so rooted here. My favorite spot is my neighborhood, and the community feeling it brings us. I love that we don’t have to go far for fun. If I had the chance to get out more, I’d spend more time at Close Knit yarn store, Bolt fabric store, Grasshopper children’s store, Extracto coffee shop, and Yakuza, a beautiful Japanese restaurant. These places are all in my neighborhood! Then out of my neighborhood: Canoe, a BEAUTIFUL gift store, and right across the street, Knit Purl, who has a great selection of my favorite yarn, Koigu.

MLP: Tell us about your studio. What types of presses do you have?
Egg Press: At Egg Press we mostly use platen presses but also have one windmill press and a couple of flatbed presses. The platen presses are great for speed and the flatbed presses are perfect for printing larger areas. For us, the type of press we use is most about the image being printed.

MLP:: And you also create screen printed t-shirts for babies?
Egg Press: We print our tees in house on a small 4-color t-shirt press. We started printing the baby tees because the images on our cards lent themselves to other applications, and tees were the most accessible. Having the ability to print in-house has helped us come up with other ideas, such as our new stitch kits, which I think are pretty great.

MLP: What cards and designs do you have coming up for the holidays? Where can we find those?
Egg Press: I’m already thinking about designing Holiday 2008! My favorites for 2007 are some of our boxed die-cut cards that were inspired by vintage food packaging, a retailers list can be found on our website. If there’s something that can’t be found in stores, you can always pick up the phone and call us. [See Egg Press's 2007 Holiday cards here.]

MLP: Egg Press also does custom printing; what is that collaborative process like?
Egg Press: We have a custom wedding album in several stores throughout the U.S, and the designs in that book can be used as they are or combined or altered. We sometimes collaborate directly with clients to create invitations or announcements specific to their needs. The process is pretty simple as we are usually able to communicate so much through email and phone conversations. Kara Yanagawa, who designs with me, also manages the custom printing workflow and is brilliant in customer service.

MLP: Do you have any favorite cards and designs from your own collection?
Egg Press: My favorites right now are our die-cut Valentines that can be punched out and assembled to make little sculptures. I love that they have a life beyond card format.

MLP: Who are some of your favorite card/stationery designers?
Egg Press: I love the women at You Send Me, they’re close friends.

MLP: And lastly: are you a letter-writer?
Egg Press: I'm much more of a package-sender than letter-writer though since having children I usually feel like I’m just hucking something in a box and mailing it out. I knit a lot and even when I send hand-knit gifts the packaging details can get neglected. But it’s the thought that counts, right?

We've recently developed a great love for the postcard -- the perfect template for a short note, a "thinking of you" moment, a memento from a far off place. Less commitment then a letter (no return address involved), and sans envelope, and only 26 cents to boot, postcards offer a creative template for brief expressions.

We were excited to discover Post Due, a postcard swap project that describes itself as follows:

".post due. is a collective of people that create unique, handmade postcards each month. The idea is to connect with at least one person from around the world through your own expression of art.Every couple months an email is sent to you with the address of someone from the collective that you send your postcard to. The postcards are anything from newspaper clipping collages, quick oil or watercolor paintings, sketches with a pen, photography ... pretty much anything the post office will accept as deliverable mail."

Postcards are scanned and displayed in an online gallery on the site. So far there are 351 postcards and counting, coming from all over the world. Visit the Post Due website for more info on how to sign up and submit your postcards to their collection.

Christmas is just around the corner, and 2008 a hop, skip, and a step away. If you haven't written your letter yet this month and are struggling with what to write about, here are a few ideas that came to mind while we were sitting inside avoiding the rain and the cold.

1. How your family spends the holidays -- any embarrassing traditions? Heartwarming rituals?
2. What're you doing for New Years?
3. The last good movie you saw? Book you read?
4. Recent movies, books, trips, new jobs, art exhibits
5. Share a recipe
6. Write a haiku/poem, ask for one in return
7. Your 2008 New Year's resolutions

Happy writing!

The Modern Letter Project talks to Kathy & Donovan of 16 Sparrows and the Letter Writers Alliance--one of our favorite projects online that combines pen pal'ing with the best of well-design stationery. Kathy talks about her problem with cursing and love for the historical; Donovan shares her love for zombies and thoughts on why we ought to keep writing letters.

MLP: Hello! Please introduce yourselves.

We are Kathy Zadrozny and Donovan Beeson. Kathy created 16 Sparrows in 2003 because she was frustrated with the lack of stationery and cards with her sarcastic sense of wit. Donovan joined up in 2006 when Kathy decided to go to graduate school. Donovan now oversees everyday production and shipping and we both collaborate on new designs and goods. We are a well-oiled machine of well-designed cynicism.

MLP: Tell us a bit about the Letter Writers Alliance – how did you come up with the idea? What were the inspirations?

Kathy: I was sorting some archives at the Newberry Library and I came upon this awesome 1930s header for a cultural alliance. I absolutely loved the look of the vintage header and for years now Donovan and I have wanted to do something pro-active about letter writing. I designed the stationery and Donovan and I started hammering out how the alliance would actually work. A few weeks later, the LWA was born.

MLP: What does it mean to become a member of the LWA? Is there a fee? How many people are involved in the alliance?

Donovan: Right now we have 128 members. As a member, you accept our mission to “carry on the glorious cultural tradition of letter writing. You will take advantage of every opportunity to send tangible correspondence. Neither long lines, nor late deliveries, nor increasing postal rates will keep us from our mission.” Membership comes with a badge and member card and access to our members-only website where you can download free writing stuffs & purchase exclusive LWA items like personalized stationery. We also have a pen pal swap. We offer a free membership when you purchase the Letter Writers Alliance stationery, or you can become a member for $3.00

MLP: And there is Letter Writers Alliance Stationery? We’re in love. Tell us more!

Kathy: The stationery was the first thing to be designed and, as I said earlier, it was based from this 1930s header for a cultural alliance. From there, Donovan and I just looked to ephemera from our own collections and designed things we wanted. Like, “Oh, I want to write a letter to my friend on a telegram, let me design that.”

MLP: How do you think letter writing has changed now that other methods of correspondence (email, cell phones) are so ubiquitously used?

Donovan: I’ve always considered letters to be treasured objects and, for me, their value has only increased with the overload of cheaper, faster communication. Every time you go to write an email or make a phone call, ask this question, “Is what I have to say to this person worth my time, effort and first class postage?” If the answer is yes, then put down that receiver and back away from the monitor! Just because something is quick and “free”, doesn’t mean it’s the best or the most effective. If you are going to make contact, why not have it be meaningful?

Kathy: It has definitely added more importance to a hand-written letter. Letters were part of the day-to-day until about 30 years ago. Heck, the mail came twice a day! Now, with it so easy to press send, the letter has become something almost romantic.

MLP: Why do you think it’s important to help preserve letter writing?

Donovan: Letters are our proof of history; artifacts of one’s life and community. Hands down, letters are the best form of correspondence we have. It is a tangible connection between the sender and receiver. You can’t hold an email and marvel about how you are touching the same object that someone else held thousands of miles away.

MLP: What do you think makes a “good” letter?
Kathy: The ones I find myself attached to are letters where we make a connection. You are reading it and you are lost – it is as if they are there talking to you. At the opposite end, I also love coded letters, but that’s because I’m a pulp detective junkie.

Donovan: I even like junk mail. I am a mail addict. I will say that the best kinds of letters are the ones that give you something to respond to, a conversation to keep going.

MLP: You two also run 16 Sparrows, a fantastic online retailer with a “Fucking Card Collection” and a “Get Up Off Your Ass” to-do list among many other great paper goods. How did 16 Sparrows get started?

Kathy: My background is in graphic design and I was working in advertising when I created 16 Sparrows. It was a combination of needing an outlet for my creativity and running out of friends to make stuff for. I’ve always been a lady that cursed a lot. It was a constant struggle with my parents trying to get me to stop being so sarcastic and not talking like a sailor. My language has toned down quite a bit over the years, but it was only to give more fuel to my odd sense of humor.

Donovan: I’ve had to edit all the cursing out of her answers. Just kidding!

MLP: 16 Sparrows offers lots of great downloads, like a pdf greeting card, mailing labels, and notecards. How did you come up with the idea for downloadable paper goods?

Donovan: Don’t forget our Zombie Guide! People love free stuff and so do we. We know that there are some people who love stationery and letters, but just don’t have the money for handmade goods, and we don’t want to cut them out of the picture. Everyone should have access to good design.

MLP: Do you have any new collections—either for the holidays or for the New Year? Tell us what’s new! And where can we get your goods?

Donovan: Oh gosh, we have so much stuff in the works. Letter writing kits, secret coding devices, calendars… We’re in the process of revamping our Effin’ Card line. Two of the new designs are already on sale here. We also have 2 other holiday designs here.

We’re entirely online, but we do have a retailers' page where you can check to see if we sell at any shops in your area. I also handmade a lot of stationery goods over at my etsy shop.

MLP: Many of your collections are inspired by historical iconography like the 1920s British telegram (Telegram Stationery) and typography/posters of the late 1800s (Paddingken Stationery). Why have you chosen to draw from these sources in your designs?

Kathy: I have quite a love for all that is vintage as well as old style typography. Donovan and I act like crazy squealing ladies when we are around old stuff like Flemish maps or a dulled brass ink well. We’re nerds who surround ourselves with these types of items and we want to create things that perpetuate that aesthetic.

MLP: Do you do personalized stationery or design work?

Kathy: We have a custom design service that is 100% customizable. Whatever the client wants done, we try to do it for them. We are also able to personalize our stationery and cards.

Donovan: My training is as an illustrator; so we also offer original illustrations for our customers.

MLP: Who are your favorite designers of paper goods and notecards right now?

PodPost (Jennie Hinchcliff and Carolee Wheeler)
Red Horseshoe
Pearl and Marmalade
Papered Together
Rar Rar Press
Golden Hen Press (Her site still isn’t up yet despite constant badgering from me. She’s my downstairs neighbor and makes lovely lovely paper and just gorgeous cards.)

MLP: And last, but not least: are you two letter writers?

Kathy: I have about five people that I constantly write to. Three of those are people I’ve never met in real life and it is so interesting to be connected with them and watch their lives unfold and develop right on paper before you.

Donovan: I consistently write or mail packages to about twenty people and there are always some floaters in and out. I’m sending about 40 cards out at Christmas and about 10 packages.

Flurry of Doves designed by Robert Sabuda, Penguins by Aimee Hucek.

As you saw in our Holiday Card Guide, this time of year inspires great design in stationery. For a last minute selection of great cards, one of my favorite places to shop for holiday cards is the gift shop at the Museum of Modern Art, which offers an array of pop-up, die-cut, 3-D, and foil-embossed cards. Designer Robert Sabuda is known for creating pop-up books and offers online tutorials on how to make your own pop-up tree or snowflake. Stop by if you live in SF or NYC!

Reports from the Universal Postal Union tallied in more letters to Santa (Father Christmas) this year than ever before, topping 2006s count of approximately 6 million letters. The majority of letters are addressed "To Santa, North Pole," where assistants in the North Pole (Alaska) help answer his mail and deliver return notes and cards to those who have written him.

Reuters noted, "Text messages, e-mails and social networking are challenging traditional mail but Santa Claus at least is receiving more and more old-fashioned letters, according to the world's postmen." We're glad to know technology isn't deterring kids from contacting Santa the old fashioned way.

Read the full article here.

So we think we're in love with the perfect writing desk.

The Shelby Writing Desk is “A 50’s architectural inspired French modern writing desk. Two drawers with crushed bamboo fronts in the bottom shelf and a hidden writing surface built into the desktop. Antique brass hardware. Desktop features a crushed bamboo inlay to square off the writing surface and a gallery around the back of the desktop and 3/4 up the sides. Flare legs with brass caps.”

We love the capacious leg room, the special writing surface, the combination of bamboo and Mahogany. A new piece of furniture--a writing desk no less--might be a great way to kick off the new year.

Available at Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams.

We here at MLP headquarters are taking off for vacations near and far, so will be back in 2008 with lots more interviews, stationery reviews, and all the letter-writing news, projects, and information we can cover. We're so glad to be able to run this project and excited for our upcoming 1-year mark in March 2008. We've gone from 60 participants in 3 countries to over 215 participants in 12 countries in just 9 short months. Happy New Year and cheers to a great letter-writing '08!