Howdy folks and happy Friday! I am currently in my new digs, still unpacking boxes and still unburying myself from last week’s incredible jaunt to NY NOW and Shoppe Object. I still have approximately 200 emails gathering digital dust, to say nothing of a shoe collection to organize, so I as I get back up to speed I have a special treat for you.
Today’s guest post comes from my fabulous friend, the utterly inimitable Jason of J. Falkner, who in addition to running his gorgeous stationery and lifestyle range since 2011, is an official paper nerd at large. You can see his most recent TPN posts here, here and here, but personally I really adore this gem on the Thomas Jefferson quote cards Jason created for Monticello in 2015.
Clearly our friendship has passed the decade mark and then some, so when sending me the art and copy for this piece, Jason reminded me that I named him a Stationery Trends Designer to Watch in 2012 — 14 years ago! How time flies as a brand grows, and how gracious is Jason was to underscore that his inclusion all those years ago “gave us the confidence we were on the right track — I’ll always be grateful!”
Since I am currently puzzling over my group of Makers to Watch in 2027 (yes, the department has been renamed it to reflect our changing vernacular), thank you Jason for reminding me how a little well-deserved recognition can work wonders. In this case, I cannot take credit for J. Falkner’s latest lovely product expansion, but what a joy it is to see a brand bloom over time — as well as receive insights (to say nothing of an incredibly generous coupon code) from the creator himself! Take it away, Jason, clearly you have this well in hand.
To mark J.Falkner’s 15th year in business, or — as we like to say — 15 years of sunshine, we’re celebrating the rich colors and modern graphics that we’ve become known for in our greeting cards, and bringing our palette to the world of fabrics. Our collection of tea towels launched last month — just in time for summer and fall entertaining and gifting!
Our easy-peasy gifting tip is to fold the towel into squares, tie with a bright ribbon and — presto! — you have the perfect little hostess gift.
What fun we’ve had designing these towels! We’ve taken inspiration from some of our bestselling for our fabric designs. Our martini birthday card gets re-imagined as a Martini Tea Towel, and our green palm print becomes a Palm Print Tea Towel, with a little monkey hiding among the fronds. And for the holidays, our classic Christmas design makes for a very merry tea towel.
Sourcing and creating these towels took some time, and we’re so happy with the results. As with our cards, we knew we wanted to find high quality materials, and ensure our detailing was full of charm and delight.
They towels are 100% cotton, and a generous 19×28 inches. Each towel has a hang-tag for easy drying. And the colors are non-toxic, water-based inks — but, don’t worry, they still hold, wash after wash.
The designs are screen-printed by hand, by a group of craftspeople based in India. That’s how we achieved the rich, pure colors. It’s a great small company, women-owned, with 90% of the team female — and we love to support them with our business.
We like to think of our tea towels as hand-crafted works of art, so each one bears the J.Falkner signature. And we tried to create happy visual moments for each towel, whether that be a little monkey hidden among the palms, or a pretty striped band of color around the cherries.
See the full collection of tea towels online now at our online store.
To celebrate our 15th anniversary, we have a special discount for all you Paper (and tea towel!) Nerds. Now through to Labour Day (Sept 7th), get 15% off sitewide (cards, notepads, notebooks, tea towels …) — just use the code PAPERNERD15. And bring some J.Falkner sunshine to your kitchen, or writing desk!
