NSS 2012

Almost there. Come to visit us booth #2042 and I hope to see you soon!

In the press: Studios

Happy to see the studio featured in Studios magazine. Thank you Hillary for taking those great photos of the studio and working with me the rest of winter. Back to NSS preparation, more soon.

Spools of 100 meters ribbons

During the winter, I worked closely with the manufacturer in Italy to create some small spools of cotton ribbons in the thin, 6mm width to launch at the NSS. They are now available in 100 meters, card board spools and fourteen, vibrant colors. After showing a few previews of the product, you can follow some steps of the process on FB, they are now ready for wholesale and online retail. It was a bit of challenge to design the rubber stamp, small enough, with all the information, to stamp each spool, but I'm happy with the result. Before I pack the samples and ship them to NYC, I took lots of photos of each color, to make sure you can see them before the show. I designed them mostly considering the use for packaging and gift wrapping, but I'm sure more ideas can arise. Love to hear your opinion and thank you all for your constant inspiration!

Spring 2012 wholesale catalogue

Take a look! our updated Wholesale Catalogue is ready, to preview and pre-order the new products to launch at the National Stationery Show. Free delivery for wholesale orders only, within the US. Offer valid until May 11th. Thank you and I hope to meet some of you very soon!

 

Cobalt blue

Launched already on FB the day the new spools arrived and now officially available in the shop and for wholesale orders. The Cobalt Blue is bright and bold, if you are a bit bored with the cotton twine in light, pastel colors for your packaging. For some reason, this new Cobalt Blue reminds me of Cole Haan using the NYC subway line for their new collection.

Vittoriani recipe book

This accordion book of twelve Italian recipes is something Silvana and I designed and printed in 2006 for Edizioni Almenodue, after a bride requested it as wedding favors. We printed 100 copies in Italian (the original recipes are from the bride's family) and worked with a translator here in the US for having an English version of the same book. It sold out soon after and never have been reprinted again. Now, I'm thinking to revive this book, love accordion structures and this one even have round corners all the way through, and I might be able to convince Silvana to print it again in Rome and have available for the holidays. I hope my plan will follow, but for now, it was nice to pull it out from the shelf and photograph it with a linen thread closure, instead of the old baker twine it originally was made with. White on white, I think, suites better!

Giveaway winner

Thank you everyone that takes the time to leave comments and following what we do here at the studio. I love to hear your opinion on new products and ideas. In case you are wondering, in my very low-tech giveaways, I write down all the names from the comments on the blog, combined with the likes and comments on the Facebook page and randomly I pick one from a cotton bag. Instagram has been helping lately in the process. The winner this time is Liberal Sprinkles! Please contact me directly with your mailing address and I will ship the set of cards and the notebook asap this week. Thank you!

In the press: Domino

Maybe some of you already know that Domino Magazine is back. I bought my copy the other day and I was really excited to see rolls of cotton ribbons as a way to "dress up your desk"! Mixed with a lot of other great inspirations, I'm happy to be included in their first re-edition! Giveaway continues until tomorrow, if you haven't had the chance to submit. Thank you.

New notecards and giveaway

The new line of notecards, made in collaboration with Moontree Letterpress, are now ready in the shop. We designed and letterpress printed a new line of notecards, to expand our collection of the Leaf and Straw hand-bound books we launched last fall. And this meant I had to design the patterns completely from scratch, when we realized that we preferred them to be on the smaller scale, compare to the books. But it was all worth the time, we really like the notecards in this petite size.
The folded cards are available as single or set of six cards and the stationery set is packaged in a glassine envelope with a circle label. They will launch at wholesale, along with the hand-bound books, at the National Stationery Show.
I'm very excited about the news and would like to run a giveaway for one set of cards and one copy of the notebook, until April 24th. Winner to be announced on the 25th. Today is Nael's seventh birthday and we have a lot to celebrate. Please, let us know what you think on Fb, or simply like the page, where I posted a lot of previews of the work in progress and wish us luck for the show!

Letterpress stationery

Sneak peak on the continue collaboration with Moontree Letterpress, soon to launch!

Weekend in Vermont

The last few weeks have been very busy launching the new shop and getting ready for the stationery show. I know I won't be able to take a real break for the next months, so we decide to go to Vermont over the weekend. Very beautiful up there, though the mountains were not yet green and no white anymore, we enjoyed being there so much. More relaxing than city life, with many places to discovered. My only regret, not making a reservation head of time to one of the most amazing restaurant I have ever seen, hidden by the water fall, in Waterbury. Thank you Emily for suggesting the Hen of the Wood to us, and is it also the name of a kind of mushrooms? I hope to be back to VT soon!

Announcing.....

.... our new online shop. It took me a while to design, to work on the details, to retake a lot of product photos, to rewrite some text, but I'm ready for the launch today! During this mild winter, I was contemplating about a new look for the shop. Not really because bigcartel was not working for me, but mostly because, after a few years, I felt I needed a new appearance. I was looking for an e-commerce that will allow larger photos and more options on the layout and overall design. I found Shopfy that offers many different free themes to chose from and with a little knowledge of coding I was be able to personalized the shop the way I wanted to be. I'm sure there is still room for improvement. Please let me know what you think and any feedback is more than welcome. One more thing.....enter code "studio carta" at checkout and you will receive free shipping anywhere within the USA, until April 19th (my son's birthday). Thank you!
Photo by Hillary Deane.

More preview

The new shop online will launch by the end of this week, I apologize if the shop has been down for a few days. Lots of deliveries in the last week and I bought a shelf unit to only storage the new spools of cotton ribbons of 100 meters, that will launch at the upcoming Stationery Show. Bright new colors for spring and more new products on the way!

A preview

The new online shop is still under construction. Of course is more work that I have anticipated, but I'm very excited about the new look. Once I started, I realized that I needed new photos for each product and here is a quick preview of the work that has been done. In the last few weeks I have received so many new rolls of cotton ribbons, new colors and spools size, ready to launch at the Stationery Show. I'm sure to have good news to announce soon. Happy weekend everyone!

Moments of the last weeks

Instagram....what a brilliant invention! working on a new online shop to launch soon. More news to come...

Colette Bream

It was a beautiful surprise, when I realized that behind the regular orders of Cotton Ribbons by the same client, there were such an amazing work with fabric, colors and that adorable little girl in the photos, all by Collette Bream. I had no idea, until Lynn of Satsuma Press twitted about her shop the other day. I went though every single photo, read the interview and discovered even more about her work. I have sent so many orders of cotton ribbons over the years, but I almost never know what people will make with them and when I can see their creations it truly makes me happy. Thank you Colette for designing, photographing and sewing (all by hand) such a dreamy children's world!

Giveaway winner

My giveaway are very manual, I have to say. I wrote down all the names from the comments on the blog, combined with the likes and comments on Fb, cut the paper into strips and pick one name from a fabric bag. I don't know what I will do when the comments will be a high number, there must be a more technical way to do the drawn, but for now, I really enjoy the hand-made touch. Having fun with Instagram, the blue table looks so dramatic in this way, I like to announce the winner: Sally Govey. Please let me know your mailing address and I'll send you the Red and Black spools of Wrapped Cotton right away. Thank you for everyone that participated and for your support. It really means a lot to me! and happy weekend!

The weekend

A great weekend with friends in Concord and a long walk around the Walden Pond. Ready for a productive week, warm and bright as spring in Massachusetts. The giveaway is still on until the 22nd, so please submit. Happy Monday!

New window and giveaway!

A gloomy day in Brookline this morning, but I received a new, large box of Wrapped Cotton to bright my studio and to keep me inspired. I placed some on the front window and I like to run a giveaway to share a spool of Red and a spool of Black string with you, to try for wrapping or new ideas for packaging. If you like to partecipate, please leave a comment or like this link on FB. There is time until March 22nd, winner to be announced on the 23rd. I will ship anywhere in the world!
I also would like to add a little note on the new window display, I'm very happy about. If you remember the post on Design Sponge about the studio makeover, I had a few people commenting on the curtains on one of the windows, that really made me think to improve it. It was pretty easy, but it took me a few months to find the time to get it done. We moved the curtains a bit away from the window, hang them with metal pins from Ikea, to leave space for the blue table and a shop display, while still keeping my working area private, with lots of light. Come to visit and you will see...