Lovely Letterpress

My friend and I recently stumbled upon this adorable little stationary shop in Manhattan's West Village: Greenwich Letterpress. SO CUTE! To paint a picture, this sweet store is located in the heart of the quintessential, romantic New York City neighborhood. Imagine narrow tree-lined streets, old brick pre-war buildings with shutters, terraces, secret backyard gardens, and wrought iron fences. So, so lovely. Alas, it also happens to be one of, if not the most expensive neighborhoods to live in rent-wise throughout all of the five-boroughs *sigh* but hey, a girl can dream.

Anyway, we venture into Greenwich Letterpress to do a little pre-dinner, spur-of-the-moment perusing, and what a fun surprise! A word about the fledgling graphic designer in me: I could spend hours oogling over stationary, stamps, greeting cards, paper, knick-knacks, and the creative like. All the inspiration and design possibilities that lie within such retail shops are simply enthralling! (I think my heart rate actually increases when I step foot inside a paper store). Reason being, in this technological age where we have at our disposal ever-increasing means by which to communicate instantaneously with one another, receiving a hand-written note in the mail on a real piece of beautiful stationary from a close friend or loved one is becoming a lost art. Very sad. Which is part of the reason I love pushing my creative limits designing and then mailing out notes and letters; they're often unexpected, yet widely appreciated upon receipt!




I adore Kate's Paperie, Paper Source, and Papyrus, don't get me wrong - but, there's something so home-grown feeling about shopping in an independently-owned, small business card shop (operated by two very creative sisters - Amy and Beth). Props to them for standing their ground amidst an ever-expanding competitive corporate market. With their expertise, they're keeping the Art of the Printed Word (and thought) alive, reviving a disappearing method of communication - cheers to you, ladies!

Greenwich Letterpress is unique in the fact they specialize in custom-printing solely utilizing the letterpress technique. While they offer a variety of other brands' greeting cards, stamps, paper, and post cards for sale, this artisan, very chic-looking letterpress style is textured and simply beautiful in a antique-preppy-bohemian sort of way. It is relief printing of text and image, which results in giving greater definition to both the type and artwork. This printing exhibits a sort of retro look and has a very high-quality look and feel to it.

Furthermore, this little company takes extra effort to be kind to the environment. As stated on their website, all of their paper is either made from 100% post consumer cotton or 100% recylced, and all inks are soy-based. Their work is produced using 100$ wind energy (which means no carbon footprint), and they are a featured member of Greenopia, as well as some of the founding members of Greenprint. What's not to love about cards and a company that's devoted to all that?

Below are some examples of their pre-designed greeting cards for sale. Check out their website, blog, and on-line shop for more creative offerings! I hope their cards will provide you with a little design inspiration of your very own. As for myself, I predict a weekend excursion to Greenwich Letterpress again in the near future, and new-found motivation to get back on the card-designing and letter-writing bandwagon.

Greenwich Letterpress
39 Christopher Street (b/w 6th and 7th Avenues)
New York, NY 10014
212-989-7464

Tuesday-Friday 11:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday Noon-6:00 p.m.