It’s been a decade since Emily McDowell shook up stationery with her Empathy Cards. One of the many fabulous things to come from their incarnation is the idea that a greeting card can be a harbinger of healing. The missive in question does more than simply stand in for a farflung sender; rather, the card is curative in and of itself.
Accordingly, every last message in this vein has its own energy and intensity — and that snail mail spell reignites every time that card is reread. Since this could be next week or a decade from now, this power outlives all of us.
Now, new ideas tend to beget more new ideas, which brings us to Shorthand Press. When I had co-founder Rosanna Kvernmo on the Paper Fold, she told me she seeks to write card sentiments that have never been voiced — which is a far bigger challenge than it seems on the surface.
Meanwhile, on a more private level, Molly Bevan, the company’s Wholesale Accounts Manager, told me that Rosanna’s strength in overcoming nearly unbelievable obstacles literally gives courage to those around her, over and over again. Diffuse that magic into stationery, and you’ve got Shorthand’s mighty enCOURAGEment range.
Here’s how Molly explains it. “Cards are a simple and powerful tool. When I was in high school, our cross country coach would write a card to every single runner once a yard (all 100 of us). I still have every single one, and I know why. Each of those cards was an encouragement to me and I kept them because when I re-read them, I have more courage to face life with all its ups and downs.
“A card offers a simple but extremely meaningful opportunity for us to send courage to another human, and with this motivation our Spring release debuts Courage Cards! These new sentiments, as well as some of our existing options, are an opportunity to send courage to other humans, and we can’t think of anything more important at this juncture in history. Cards for occasions are wonderful and important, but we all need courage every single day.”
You said it Molly! Meanwhile, not only are these sentiments particularly prescient, the craftsmanship is positively jaw-dropping, as usual with Shorthand. Let’s all take a moment to appreciate that fabulous letterpress TYE-DYE, and all the other little details that elevate each design into stationery masterpieces.
That last design, stark in its simplicity, offsets the others so perfectly, no? Meanwhile I cannot close out this post without mentioning another marvelous Shorthand April release: the limited-edition mushroom notebook for lefties. This Southpaw has legit trauma from having standard wire-o notebooks forced on me throughout my education and career, so thank you for remembering me and my kind — and incorporating letterpressed mushrooms no less.
For the moment, these card cuties can be shopped within Shorthand’s larger Everyday/Courage category. You’ve heard of liquid courage, well there’s also plenty of card courage to go around!
For my wholesale friends, Shorthand will be exhibiting in Dallas and Atlanta with the famed Daniel Richards Showroom this summer — and can be shopped wholesale 24/7 here. Unsurprisingly, Shorthand is also a Faire Top Shop!
