A fantastic book or film is really a little world you can barely stand to tear yourself away from. As much as you can’t wait to see how it resolves itself, you don’t want it to end, you want to stay lost in that beautiful world. And so it is too, in a way, with a really great product line.
That is the precise feeling I get from the relaunch of Antiquaria — a very creative undertaking between Bailey Amon and Emma James. I only recently became familiar with the company when Bailey kindly responded to my letter-writing campaign. The redesign of both their site & branding just took my breath away, and I know very well from experience that such an undertaking is many things, but an easy process is not one of them.
To me, the most interesting wedding invitations not only give a taste of the event to come (as conventional wisdom dictates they must), they tell a story. So their Vintage West collection — one of their most popular rubber stamp and letterpress collections to date — alludes to romance atop sunkissed, dry vistas. The fact that the collection can be bought as stamps — creating impressions that can have the uneven quality that derives from age — rings very true to the theme’s overall feel, I think.
Calligraphy envelope addressing by Bailey is also offered by calendar availability. I can tell you that receiving one of these gems in the mail, as I did, was a most lovely experience! A well-addressed envelope is definitely the essential icing on the invitation cake these days.
Antiquaria will be starting a calligraphy in-person workshop series in 2014, but and their new (and very popular) calligraphy kit coordinates with their new blog series, Calligraphy Tutorial. As a sufferer of lifelong sloppy penmanship — possibly a requirement of working in publishing — I need this.
A relaunch of a paper company is not complete without paying attention to the actual paper, in this case, what Antiquaria’s clients will find in packages and shipments. How chic is this? I love that rose gold foil!
Finally, that amazing black, salmon, lavender, orange and brown floral — a palette I never would have thought I’d like, but is so enchanting! — is on a thank-you note as well. The Zoe floral thank-you comes in a boxed set of six for $12. That’s very affordable style, especially when the product looks like an Anthropologie dress in paper form.
Congratulations on the relaunch, Emma and Bailey, and thanks so much for letting me share your beautiful work here. I know this is just the latest of many great releases to come from this most dynamic duo, so stay tuned!
Thanks also to Kelly Lynn James & Antiquaria for sharing these gorgeous images.
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