old school stationers

Avian Collection


Avian Collection


Romance Collection


Botanical Collection

If you love bright color, graphic birds and the textured goodness of letterpress, I have a feeling you are going to love the Avian Collection of cards and prints by Old School Stationers. And if two birds are better than one, the Romance Collection, depicting two lovebirds on every card, should enchant you twice as much. Old School Stationers, based in Portland, Oregon, uses extra thick custom handmade paper and old world technology to create their beautiful designs. Each card is hand printed four times on their one-ton cast iron printing press, manufactured in 1890.

Although Old School Stationers does not e-tail, their cards are available online on Luxe Paperie, a wonderful card and wrapping resource in itself, stocking many special handmade collections. They also produce ready-to-hang prints, 8" square by 1/2" thick, hand printed by letterpress and mounted on a light wood frame, which are available on RareDevice.com. Alternatively, if you would like see their designs in person, you can visit these stores around the country.

If you are a letterpress enthusiast, it may interest you to know that letterpress -- printing from raised metal type and custom-engraved plates -- began in Europe in the 14th century as an alternative to calligraphy. The appealing tactile quality is achieved by pressing the metal plates into a soft paper. Compared with offset printing of today which is a four-color process, the letterpress process prints one color at a time and transfers more ink to the paper, creating more intense and vivid color results.