Trendspotting is one of my favorite parts of my job — and while I’ve been doing it a while, anyone with a set of eyes is an expert. If you are recurrently seeing an icon or color or pattern or style of lettering, it objectively exists and you are definitely spot-on. Meanwhile, behind the design curtain, a lot of larger stationery and gift companies generate trend reports, but these tend to be strictly internal and for staffers’ eyes only. Many years ago, I toured a major greeting card manufacturer and discovered a page of my editorial from Stationery Trends pinned up in its endlessly cool trend room. Thrilled, I was just about to take a pic with my phone — but was asked not to, as it was technically proprietary to them.
Notes & Queries (N&Q), however, takes a vastly different approach. Since 1980, the Baltimore-based brand has imported high-end stationery and gifts from the European markets. When I see them at American markets, N&Q offerings always stand apart due to both their upscale styling and international origins.
As Vanessa Harnik is both its Managing Director AND the daughter of its Founder Alan Harnik, she is officially a paper nerd born and bred! She told me that she creates and widely shares N&Q trend reports so her clientele can better understand how their many SKUs from many different brands interrelate. After all, Notes & Queries can be a difficult house of stationery to get one’s arms around, given that their Faire shop currently offers 2,0003 items for wholesale!
“We have been thinking a lot about, ‘How do we get buyers to expand their thinking/views of our line from what they are traditionally buying from N&Q?'” Vanessa told me. “I think we all pigeon hole product lines to fill in certain gaps in the marketplace, so what happens when a line changes? So, these trend boards showcase how some publishers fit with other publishers, and often in unexpected ways!”
The eight fall boards I’ve shared here today definitely illuminate trends I’ve been seeing in the stationery and gift markets — but really wonderfully illustrate the enormous breadth through which they are presented and enjoyed. [Quick design note: the numbers and SKUs you see can be ignored; they help buyers and N&Q staffers place the right card from the right range as they build each order.]
Vanessa’s favorites are Fruit, Enchanted Forest and The Great Outdoors — and of course Typography, as I’d expect from any self-respecting paper nerd!
And, here’s a few more that really jumped out at me. Which is YOUR favorite?
Honestly, they’re all magnificent and I have no favorite — mine tends to change as the wind blows. Thank you SO MUCH Vanessa and N&Q’s super-efficient graphic designer Jessica, who got me all these images super-quick!
If you have a store and want to stock some of these, the best place to start your Notes & Queries shop is Faire. Also be sure to inquire about additional trend boards — there are actually five more to nerd out over! And, if you are a paper nerd in the wild who NEEDS one of the cards featured here, email Vanessa directly at vanessa@nandq.com to get the name of your local independent store.
