These companies will join hundreds of their Industry peers on the exhibit floor. We welcome their return to the 2010 National Stationery Show

Penny Laine Papers & Gifts ● David Hayward ● Allie Munroe ● Mainio ● Edward Boutross ●  Budd Leather ● Table Tent Trivia ● Seltzer, LLC ● Ellison Educational ● Bear Hug Designs ● Elegant Baby ● Toy Works ● Heatherly ● Breeze Quest Creative ●  Hampton Arts ● Simplyput by Ashley Woodman ● Fridgedoor, Inc. ● Bridal Tapestry  ● LightWedge ● Candy Care ● Studio Olivine

New York City-based industry expert Jolene Turner is the former Stationery Editor for Giftware News, and currently serves as NYC special correspondent for Gift & Home Interactive

The 2010 NSS will mark one year for me living in the best place in the world: New York City. While here, I have encountered more moments of art and artistic inspiration than any other place I have lived or visited, simply because here you can just walk down the street to be inspired. From the option of visiting a celebrated museum, to a stroll in any of the inspiring New York City neighborhoods, art and the essence of independence is everywhere and translating to all faucets of life, including stationery! Along with art, innovation is also a part of the stationery industry, and it’s evident that artists here are creating, while residents are eating it all up.

On any given trip to New York City’s renowned stationery shop Kate’s Paperie (www.katespaperie.com), there are a number of fashionable and savvy New Yorkers mulling over stationery sets, ‘Thank You’s,’ and note cards. Kate’s is spot-on in their inventory, offering couture collections from Kate Spade, Vera Wang, and Christian Lacroix Papier as well as staples Crane and Cavallini. With this, there are also oodles of options for snagging the perfect single greeting from artists based in Brooklyn to the middle of America. Similar stationers can be found throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn carrying the best of the best in stationery and related items. New Yorkers seem to know obtaining such pieces from independent artists and companies, speaks volumes in terms of style, trend, and message.

What I love about the independent artist is that these people are uber aware of not only offering great, distinct product options to consumers, but this is where one can find the beginning of a trend. Humor in cards is nothing new, but the independent artist has highlighted the smarter, quirkier humor often not found in ordinary, run-of-the-mill greetings. These artists know that we need whimsy and wit to get us through tough times. Along with this, independent artists also are fully aware of the importance of the environment and putting out products that will not further harm our Earth.

Ahead are some of my favorite companies that follow the above philosophies of setting trends, offering eco-friendly products, and providing the retailer and consumer with a unique options in greetings and stationery products. Oh, and some of these are of course inspired by my favorite city of the world!

New York Taxi
Bonnie Marcus Collection,
www.BonnieMarcus.com.
Westport, Connecticut-based artist Bonnie Marcus lived and commuted to Manhattan for years while creating and getting inspired to launch her stationery company The Bonnie Marcus Collection. The designs are high-end, inspired, and perfectly fashionable! New York’s elite certainly has a Bonnie Marcus card or two in their stationery collections! Marcus uses recycled materials and often donates a portion of the proceeds from her products to organizations promoting breast cancer awareness.

 
Brooklyn Bridge
Tomoko Maruyama,
www.tomokomaruyama.com
Based in San Francisco, California, and originally from Japan, artist Tomoko Maruyama has taken on New York City for her next collection of greetings to be presented at NSS. Inspired and in awe of New York, Maruyama has done four drawings depicting various parts of the city, including the Brooklyn Bridge.

Birthday Elephant
eeBoo
www.eeboo.com
Working out of a funky studio located in Manhattan’s Upper West side, gift and stationery company eeBoo offers eclectic and sweet products designed by their network of children’s book illustrators. For NSS, the company is introducing its first-ever kids’ birthday card line. Expect sweet designs that are both ‘girl’ and ‘boy’ themed, as well as gender-neutral.


Birthday Fat Cat
Red Cap Cards
www.redcapcards.com
Beverly Hills-based Carrie Gifford of Red Cap Cards has not only been offering the industry her own wonderfully-whimsical artwork in cards, but she has also been teaming up with some of the world’s most innovative independent artists and getting their work to the floor of the NSS. One such artist is German born and London-based Anke Weckmann who designed the sweetly adorable Birthday Fat Cat Card.




Striped Tights
Masha D’yans
www.masha.com
New York City artist Masha D’yans says she is inspired by the constant surprises and contrasts of the city for which she lives in, from the street fashion and energy to the art galleries and museums. Her style is playful and colorful, drawing on inspirations including fashion, Japanese art, nature and her native country, Russia.


Black Apple Series Journal
Hartley & Marks Publishers
www.paperplusbooks.com
There’s nothing more intimate in the stationery world than keeping a journal. Perfect for Tweens, or like me, ‘Tweens at heart,’ is a Black Apple Series journal designed by Portland-Oregon-based artist Emily Martin. The journal covers are saturated in rich color and ready to receive all the best secrets of a young woman’s world. Martin’s work definitely celebrates the spirit of individuality, perfect for an artist-inspired journal.
 

RIP Michael Jackson
Smitten Kitten
www.smittenkitten.ca
We may have had our fill of Michael Jackson memorabilia, stories, and tribute pieces, but this card is so fresh and fun, one can’t deny that a smile won’t be cracked when receiving or giving the special “You Thrill Me” card design by Canadian artist Amy Kwong of Smitten Kitten. The card is not only quirky, but it is also printed using a vintage Japanese Print Gocco machine.

By Patricia Norins
Publisher, GIFT SHOP / GREENRetailer

Going green is the clarion call for consumers today, and eco-friendly stationery is on everyone’s shopping list. Here are some white-hot trends in the increasingly popular green stationery category.

Recycled Rules!
Consumers are now savvy about the true gradations of recycled paper products. They know that 100% post-consumer waste (PCW) products are far preferable to cards marked ‘recycled’ but only made from 30% PCW. When you can push pretty 100% recycled papers, guests load up on their favorite lines.

Beneficial Fibers
Beautiful paper is now made using natural and re-purposed materials, such as hemp, linen, corn stalk, sugar cane, mango leaves, and even leaf and grass fibers. Paper is even made from scraps repurposed from the garment industry, as seen in elegant paper handmade in India.


Nature’s Palette
Consumers express their green side by selecting colors right from Mother Nature’s paintbrush. Consider the blues of a pristine ocean. The tans of a sandy beach. The purples and golds of a sunset. Make your eco-friendly paper stand out by using corals, persimmons, sage greens, butter yellows, bright purples, and silvers and slate grays that are so hot right now. Announce new seasonal shade collections to push rich, jewel tones for fall and winter, then convert to more pastel shades for spring and summer.

A Dash of the Unexpected
As green enthusiasts decorate their homes with products found in nature—such as slate and river rocks—the trend carries into stationery. For instance, Terra Skin creates cards made from stone. Its mineral powder construction requires 30% less ink to make an impression. Night Owl presents several stationery collections—including bridal cards and folksy notes—made from wood.



A Natural Fit
Boost your eco-stationery sales by going literal with the green theme. Cards featuring lush, green trees, leaves, mountainscapes, waterfalls, and playful motifs such as butterflies, ladybugs, hummingbirds, and other wildlife attract consumers. These images call out to eco-conscious consumers, showing them the world they’re endeavoring to protect.

Singles Only
Consumers know that a single-panel card uses less material than a dual-fold or tri-fold card. So you can delight consumers looking for smaller, single-panel cards by stocking up on one-sided stationery.

The Joy of Soy
Traditional inks are being replaced with eco-friendly soy inks. Since they’re made from soybeans, no VOCs are released, and a growing number of top stationery companies and printers have announced that they’re switching to a soy printing process. Consumers are opting for the natural print process as well as its brighter, more vivid tones.

More Than Cards
Grant your green-minded customers’ wishes with collections of recycled notepads, memo cubes, notebooks, and other stationery friendly to the environment. At Galison, the Galison Green line blends several of the above trends to give you hot-sellers in bright shades, natural green leaf designs, and pastel modern graphics to suit gift recipients or shoppers of all ages.
 

To help our brave troops serving overseas better communicate with their loved ones, for the third year in a row, The National Stationery Show has once again teamed with the USO to provide our military with much-needed and much-appreciated stationery products.

Operation Caring Connection collects stationery donations from NSS exhibitors at the end of the show, and ships them to the USO for distribution to troops in care packages sent with all military personnel.

Here’s what our troops need:

• Note pads
• Social Stationery
• Pens
• Pencils
• Travel Games
• Blank Note Cards
• THANK YOU CARDS

Save on shipping costs, get a tax donation, AND make the life of one of our military and their loved ones a little brighter! It’s easy to donate some or all of your Stationery Show booth products! Just pack up whatever of the above products you want to donate, and put them in a box with a special shipping label you pick up from Freeman. Leave it in your booth at move out and NSS will do the rest!

Complete instructions are found in your move out bulletin.