National Stationery Show 2012 Pt 2 - The Matchbook Notebooks

In a previous post, I talked about my first ever trip to the National Stationery Show (NSS), which is like Mecca to stationery designers and paper people.

Well, as if going wasn't amazing enough, Amber of Flywheel Press, and sponsored by Legion Paper, put together an amazing scavenger hunt for luxurious Matchbook Notebooks. Amber collaborated with 15 letterpress printers with booths at the NSS to create and entire set of mini letterpress matchbooks that, once all collected, go together in a beautiful box.

Tanya and I were like two women on a mission - we had our checklist and booth numbers, and we loved going around and meeting all of the amazing designers and collecting our notebooks. We got all but one book, but Hailey of Hello Hailey saved the day! She was at the show the following day and managed to pick up the last book for us. You rock Hailey!

Designers that participated: Albertine Press, Anemone Letterpress, Bison Letterpress, Blackbird Letterpress, Flywheel Press, Kelp Design, L2 Design, Lady Pilot Letterpress, Maginating, May Day Studio, The Nic Studio, Paisley Tree Press, Paper Boat Studios, Pistachio Press, Sapling Press, Two Paper Dolls

Might I also add that, in general, I LOVE scavenger hunts! If you are ever in New York City, I highly recommend Watson Adventures, which has scavenger hunts that double as city tours. They are SO MUCH FUN! I have done the Grand Central and Little Italy hunts.

National Stationery Show 2012

May 19th-23rd was the National Stationery Show, which is like Christmas for those of us in the stationery world. I couldn't go last year (it was the weekend before my wedding) but this year there was just no excuse not to be there! Besides, it's right here at the Javits center in NYC, just a few subway stops away!

The show was amazing, with tons of booths for different designers, wholesalers, printers, retailers and so on. However, the best part of the show was, for me, meeting all of the Minted designers who traveled from near and far. A bunch of the Minted ladies got together to walk the show, but we got split up and I ended up spending the day with Tanya of Frooted Design - who is awesome! So glad I got to meet and spend time with her!

The Sunday before NSS, Kimberly FitzSimons of Daily Sip Studios organized a little "Minted-Meetup" over cocktails at a hotel in Times Square. I had SO much fun meeting all of the Minted ladies, as well as a bunch of other talented designers. We had a pretty good sized group, and it was so nice to talk about stationery with people who actually cared! It's so funny to put real people to the profile pictures, and apparently all of us are shorter in person, and I have a bit of a New Yawk accent - what can ya say,  I was bawn and raised on Lawng Island!

A few of the Minted designers during cocktail hour. From top left: Meg of Moglea, Kristie Kern, Kimberly of Daily Sip Studios, Lauren of Palm Papers, FRONT ROW: Laura Hankins of Duncan Park Papers, Lesa from Paper Nest by Lesa, Me, and Alston of B. Wise Paper

Once of the really fun things about the NSS is how much fun loot is given away. I ended up with bags and bags of stuff. I also apparently dropped by business card in lots of fish bowls, because I'm still having loot sent to my house. Just a few days ago an incredibly large and heavy box arrived from Neenah Paper - it was an entire set of samples for EVERYTHING they have. Holy crap, I tell you it was like Christmas came early! Now I just need to find some storage space for all the stuff!

Strolling through the booths was so inspirational. There were actually a few Minties that had booths, and man, they blew me away. I've always admired the work of fellow Minted designer Meg Gleason, of Moglea, but after meeting her and seeing her letterpress in person, I am just down right in awe of her. Her booth was amazing, and she's been getting tons of awesome press, it's so well deserved! You go Meg!

After the show closed on Monday, Minted hosted a little party for current designers, interested designers, and a few members of the press. Mariam Naficy, the CEO and owner of Minted (and awesome, awesome person all around) spoke to us for a little to share some Minted insights and future plans. Here's a group shot with most of us:

I cannot wait to go back to NSS in 2013! I've already decided that one day was just too short, and so next year I plan to give myself at least two days to walk to the show!