For seven years, Nole Garey made careful decisions as a foreign affairs officer for the State Department, where she helped form policy related to Somalia. The stakes could be high; failing to properly evaluate countless variables could set back diplomacy.
It was with similar attention to detail that she recently assessed 40 versions of hologram foil before settling on a flat silver foil with a rainbow hologram overlay.
Ms. Garey, now 34, left the State Department in 2010 to focus full time on “Oh So Beautiful Paper,” her stationery blog. On a Tuesday night in May, she hosted a party for the 71st National Stationery Show, which took place at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. About 220 partygoers took a break from the rigors of a long day at the fluorescent-lit hall to sip gin cocktails, snap selfies in front of a wall of pastel paper pinwheels and barter for bags filled with greeting-card swag.
It was the party to be at for those in the stationery world, and yes, there is one.
Paper, obviously, is not the main medium for messaging these days, but increasingly it is one that can transmit like none other wry pop-culture commentary about the digital age and the odd connected-yet-disconnected dynamics it has created. Wedding announcement cards exclaim, “They Swiped Right!” Romantic cards extol the promise of a night of “Netflix and Chill.” Congratulation cards may combine a heavy stock of paper, letter-pressed printing and a Twitter-friendly hashtag, “#Instablessed.”
“Creativity is the thing that rose to the top when the internet screwed up stationery,” said Melinda Morris, who has attended the show since she was little, then alongside her mother. Ms. Morris now owns a paper-goods store in Park Slope, Brooklyn, called Lion in the Sun.
At the convention center, if only for four days a year, paper is king. More than 750 booths are set up, most of them resembling small gift shops, one with lavender linen-covered journals stacked high against a pale pink background, another with its company name in gold script against floral wallpaper. On display is more than just paper: yards and yards of ribbon, iron-on patches channeling Instagram’s original logo, giant pool-float flamingos and enamel pins made to look like Anna Wintour’s head.
But cards and stationery are the main draw as slips of paper commemorate every occasion and emotion from pet death condolences to Feeling the Bern. Some 10,000 retailers, suppliers, event planners and other paper hangers-on representing every state and about 70 countries attended, said Patti Stracher, the longtime director of the National Stationery Show.
The inaugural show was held at the New Yorker hotel on Eighth Avenue in 1945. It was an era when greeting cards were sold on the first floor of department stores and a woman spoke of the design of her monogrammed stationery in the same breath that described her favored bridesmaid dresses.
The trade show moved to the New York Coliseum on Columbus Circle in 1968, and it was one of the first events at Javits after it opened in 1986. Then, large stationery makers were flying high, hosting gatherings for top retailers in suites at the Plaza. But what was once a high-end, fancy industry has been democratized. Today the stationery show is less of a refined get-together for those in service of ladies who lunch and more of a showcase for small-time artisans, tattooed and ink-stained printers, and iPad stylus drawers alike. Now “there are more young start-ups that are artists,” said Solange Messelian, the owner of Lee’s Specialty in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., whose attendance at this year’s show was her 30th.
As is the case at any trade show, darlings break through each year. There was Paula & Waffle, whose whimsical greeting cards and wrapping paper are designed by Paula Cheng-Mehta of New York, and the Good Twin designed by Katie Wilson, as well as Inklings Paperie, a newcomer touting scratch-off cards. Inkling’s founder and creative director, Lindsay Henry, won a Louie Award, which is an Academy Award of paper.
Tay Ham, a company in Wilmington, N.C., was a crowd favorite. Its creator, Taylor Hamilton, 31, was working in 2012 as a special-effects purchaser for “Iron Man 3” (she would shop for explosives and 10 truckloads of ice) when she decided to make a change. “I’ve always made cards for friends and family,” Ms. Hamilton said. “They always encouraged me to do this for a living.”
Her brightly colored cards feature pop-culture icons and clever catchphrases: Freddie Mercury is illustrated above the message “Yas Queen!”; another depicts Kim Kardashian’s backside with the message, “This Years Gonna Be Huge for You.” (Ms. Kardashian shared the card with her Instagram followers, and the exposure nearly broke Ms. Hamilton’s corner of the internet.) One best-selling card shows a drawing of Iris Apfel and the message, “Think big!” Ms. Hamilton created it after watching a documentary about the nonagenarian fashion figure known for her massive round eyeglasses.
Clever cards have become something of a special-touch accessory, and there are obvious connections between the stationery world and the fashion industry. Bonnie Marcus became enamored with invitation design when she worked in marketing for Diane von Furstenberg and helped create invitations for the 1995 wedding of the designer’s son. Her ultrafeminine designs are now featured on custom invitations, American Greetings cards and mom-focused agendas. Just as in fashion, Ms. Marcus said, “You have to keep up with the trends, and you’re only as good as your next collection.”
Grace Kang was once a buyer at Bloomingdale’s, Saks.com and Barneys New York and now owns four New York City gift stores called Pink Olive; she’s one retailer whose attention cardmakers hope to attract. Ms. Kang searches the stationery show for new talent. “It’s always good to grow and find people who are in the same boat,” she said.
The warm and fuzzy feeling that there’s room for everyone is helped, of course, by the fact that the real competition for customers is with the smartphone screen, said Allison Nadeau, an owner of Ink Meets Paper. A postcard that the company featured at its first stationery show four years ago has resonated so deeply that it now has envelopes to match. Both are stamped with the message: “Text Less. Write More.”
