Keeping Up With Trends

I’ve been thinking a lot about trends as I prepare for NSS. I truly believe that consumers count seeing trends in their favorite stores. They want to know what’s new, what’s now, what’s fresh, what’s fantastic in the market. Today’s trends are turning over faster, and more than ever are tied to current events, lifestyle demands, and most importantly, fashion. What’s hot in fashion – from polka dots and embroidery, to retro-60’s mod, from eco-chic green fabrics to affordable luxe and bling on a budget – will be reflected, interpreted and designed for products to please the current crop of fashion-savvy consumers.

The National Stationery Show (NSS) is a treasure trove of information and products that showcase the latest fashion and lifestyle trends. Paper products are relatively inexpensive to produce, attracting some of the most talented designers, who are on the cutting edge, to get into the business. Many of the trends that have dominated fashion and home décor over the past few seasons –such as oversized black & white damask designs – were first reflected in paper. The social stationery industry was offering recycled and environmentally responsible products long before “Green” appeared on everyone’s radar. NSS was the first show to blend fashion with function for today’s expanding home office product demands, and its exhibitors were earlier innovators in the lucrative, ever-changing ‘tween market.

Stationery has become so important to the lifestyle market I recently learned that internationally acclaimed designers Vera Wang, Lilly Pulitzer, Martha Stewart and Kate Spade are debuting social stationery collections at the Show!


Here’s what I’ll be looking for this year:

 The evolution of “green” products which combine great design with cause-related consciousness

 Humorous or caring cards which uplift the spirits and cause a chuckle in these challenging times

 Executive accessories and leather goods which dazzle with vibrant colors and on-trend animal prints

 Designs which interpret world-style motifs in a fresh and exciting style


As a veteran trend-tracker, I’m so excited about the upcoming NSS. See you on the aisles!!!

- Deb Gold

We’ve got that After Show Glow

Though a couple of weeks have passed since the conclusion of the National Stationery Show, this team still has that “After Show Glow!” On Wednesday, the last day of the Show, I think we would have meant the glow that comes from hard work (packing up boxes, just like the exhibitors – all that stuff we hauled in – phones, files, etc. had to be packed back up). But today, I mean that kind of glow that comes from knowing that the Show was incredible – “a triumphant Show” to quote a source!

As Jess said last week, we have loved reading the blogs being posted by exhibitors and attendees alike. The many members of this stationery-loving, design-oriented community clearly enjoyed – in fact, couldn’t get enough of – all the offerings at the Show.

We didn’t have enough time to blog from on-site once the NSS was open (we promise, we’ll work it into the schedule next year!) but here are some highlights:

I was beyond thrilled to meet Leslie Moak Murray, creator of Murray’s Law, the funny, funny line of cards, books, and other products she whips up for (and with) Design Design. Here I am with Leslie (center) and Don Kallil, president of Design Design at the Show’s Opening Night Party at the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center.



It was a whole lot of fun to present the Best New Product winners with their awards on Sunday afternoon! Here’s a photo of Melissa and Brad Foster of Elum. They won for their Wood Grain Desk Set, a complete collection of varying sized letterpress note cards and custom envelopes, each designed with the latest interior design color trends and packaged in a custom-printed fabric box. I’ve known Melissa and before they’d ever exhibited in a trade show. It really was a thrill to present this award to them.



This year, our operations team came up with a great way to help attendees figure out where the line ended for each shuttle bus route. The start of the line is indicated with a big sign, but often lines can get so long, it’s hard to tell where, say, Route 1 ends and Route 2 begins. Here are our intrepid on-site staff members demonstrating the signage for the “end of the line!”

That’s Scott Kramer (#1), Mike Ruberry (#2) and Randi Mohr (#3). Note that Arque (bottom right) thinks this is pretty funny!


I also got to meet the “lips lady” at the Show this year. “Who is the ‘lips lady’?” you might ask. Well, if you’ve attended the Show, I’m sure you’ve noticed our big blue banner at the entrance. The design is of a back of an envelope, and it bears the Show name at the top, and then has this big “S.W.A.K.” (sealed with a kiss….) mark on the bottom and reads “P.S. we’re glad you’re here.” The banner was designed by the talented Cliff Doenges of Freeman, and it debuted at the 2007 Show. We love this banner, but had to know where the lips came from. Story is that he asked his colleague, Anita Moreano Zales to put on some red lipstick and kiss a piece of paper a few times. The rest is history. It was fun to meet Anita. Here she is under her big smooch!



By now you’ve seen some awesome booths at the Show from the pics posted on these various sites. Kudos to all those great companies who spend their year working on designs for paper, but for the Show, diverted their attention to designing for walls that are 8’ high and of various depths and widths. This is no small challenge, and we applaud the creativity that was so apparent.

Every year, I wonder what the color trend will be in booth design. To get a hint on this, I ask Lloyd Stone, of Manny Stone, to tell me what color of foam board was most requested. This year, not surprisingly, the color was brown (BTW, last year it was green). Check out all of these brown booths!



Abby Jean line by Fontaine Maury – sleek and stylish. I love the white carpet and those “ghost” acrylic chairs.


Always a Girl’s Girl – I like that she’s brought in the pink lilies that match the pink border.


9SpotMonk – very inviting booth, Vivian! Great job! The side walls were a different shade than the back wall. Check out that sofa - I bet the buyers were happy to have a chance to sit.


Marsupial – I like the different colored dots at the top, and the clever creation of an extra short wall inside their booth.


That Sky Blue - An unpredictably brown back wall, with great shelving used to display their designs.


Here’s the new team photo, taken during the Show…

Rosanne, Jess, Arque, Kelly, Patti

I know you’ve seen and heard lots more than this, and I am just scratching the surface. We plan to give you more pics and insights from our perspective of the 2008 National Stationery Show in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

- Kelly

Across the Pond - Spring Fair 2008

This industry is just so energizing, isn’t it? I recently attended Spring Fair at the NEC in Birmingham, England. What a show! I love attending Spring Fair – for the networking, (with old friends and new), seeing the creativity in the industry “over there,” and hearing about business in general.

One of my first stops at the Show is always at the stand of Progressive Greetings. Progressive Greetings covers the National Stationery Show each year, and you’ve “met” the editor Jacquie Brown and the advertising director, Warren Lomax in Patti’s blog after attending the Henries this past fall in London. Now here, please also meet Angie Bryant, who is also with Progressive. She’s actually waving to everyone! She and I met several years ago (we thought it was probably 2003) when she last attended the NSS. She is a blast, and she loves this industry. (How can you not?)



Greeting cards are a huge part of the British culture, and Hall 3, which housed the greeting card section of the Fair had about 500 companies exhibiting – almost all of them showing greeting cards!

As it turns out, the British send more cards than those of us in the States. According to information on the UK’s Greeting Card Association website, the average number of greeting cards sent there is at 55 per person per year. In the US, according to our Greeting Card Association’s stats, the average US household purchases 30 greeting cards a year, and the average person receive 20 cards per year. Wonder what we’re doing with the extra 10? Saving them, perhaps, like me, for an unexpected occasion? (It’s always good to have a few baby, birthday – and sympathy – cards on hand).

One of my goals of attending Spring Fair was trend-spotting. I have to say, I think that both sides of the ocean are on the same page, mostly! Again, black design – like a black damask pattern over another color, or a silhouette look – was strong here. I saw some great examples of this at Nella and at the booth/stand of a new company called Over the Moon. (And I was over the moon about some of this company’s products – little thank you cards specific to any occasion!) I thought about getting the one about the cat for my cat sitter! See cards from Over the Moon below.



I also got to talk with David Faraday, the Director of hiPP., a gift wrap/packaging company, whom Patti and I met at Spring Fair last year. This company will be exhibiting at the National Stationery Show for the first time this May, and I’m so excited. They have great gift bags and packaging – some with beautiful flocking. Look at these blue bags, below. Who wouldn’t want to receive a gift in one of these bags!



At Roger LaBorde (they’ll be back in the NSS this year!) I saw so many beautifully layered color combinations. In their “First Press” line I especially liked the “salon floral” grouping which featured bright flowers in pink and raspberry and a greenish gold with black silhouetting. The colors were layered on top of one another – a very lush look.

I also talked with Sarah Watts, the business manager of Penny Kennedy. Sarah brought Penny Kennedy to the National Stationery Show last year with its own booth. This year, the line will be at the Show, with certain products being distributed by the Nelson Line and others by Calypso Cards. Of course, Sarah will be at the Show, and will be found hopping from booth to booth in support of both her distributors!

I asked Sarah if she’d seen a trend in what her buyers were ordering at the Show. She told me that their metallics are really strong sellers, and the blue with silver papers always do well.

I also talked with a new company showing letterpress products. In the whole hall there were only two companies with letterpress – a hard concept for those of us in the States, I know, but letterpress (a process only some 500 years old) has not caught on in the UK the same way it has in the States…yet! I should say that one of the two companies with letterpress was from the US. The other was this new British company, Blush Publishing. I’m hoping Blush will join our Show, but if not, I plan on checking in with the owner from time to time to see how he’s doing with getting the British to love letterpress the way we do here!

One of the nights I was in town, I had dinner with Eli Nelson, of the Nelson Line. Eli has been a distributor in the industry for 20 years – in fact, his first NSS was in 1988! Eli has a good eye and has a lot of great lines as a result! After dinner, we met up with the 2 sisters behind the company desertRose – Vicky and Sandra Daniel. They’ve been in business for a number of years, and most notably, they have this fantastic white design on color – for example, their winter berry design on blackberry colored paper or their holly brand design on platinum – this look is different and beautiful! Here’s a picture of the group of us (that’s Sandra, on the left, Eli, Vicky and me). I hope we’ll see them in NYC this May!



Finally, thanks to the good folks at TPS for hosting me as an attendee of Spring Fair this year. It’s always nice to see the industry in action! I can’t wait for our Show this May!

PS – Did you know that Mother’s Day is not in May in the UK? It precedes Easter there! This year, it will be on March 2. Who knew? If anyone reading this knows why the dates are different, I’d love to know!

Kelly

On the road again

It’s Show season! The winter markets are going strong, and our team is and will be out and about these next several weeks! I’ve already logged in my first winter trip of the season, and headed south. Attending Shows is one of the ways I get to spend time (even if just a few minutes) with the great people who exhibit in the National Stationery Show – or who want to exhibit in it; as well as talking with permanent showroom reps (invaluable!) and buyers. It’s also a great way to see trends.

Speaking of trends…what did I see? Still lots and lots of damask patterns out there, in all kinds of colors. Pinks and browns are still going strong. But I did notice a lot of black overlay looks. So take a color and then layer over it an intricate lacy, or tree branch, or flower, or bird pattern. Lots of this going on. One cool example was Wellspring’s Flipnotes. So far, we’ve seen these small metallic notepads in a single metallic color (pink, blue, a kind of gold, red…) but I just saw them with a black design on top, this is new, and you can’t even find it on the website. One of the reps in the showroom where Wellspring has a nice space told me they were selling like mad! There’s plenty of cards and stationery with this kind of look, and you’ll just have to wait to see it all at our Show. Believe me, it’s hot!

Another thing I saw a lot of was layered, or overlapping, colors. By this I mean that maybe there’s a red design with some orange layered color over color (not as distinct separates) and then one more time with a third color – a brown, or a deep green, or a blue. I felt like I’d not seen this kind of layering with a printed product before. I’m used to seeing it where the colors are next to each other, but not layered. Often the look used a branch and leaf motif. I think you’ll see lots of this in May. I wish I could show you an example!

I talked with a number of companies who have always been “green” –by nature of their product, or by diligence in design and printing processes – who were saying that now they are feeling the need to promote the fact that they are green, and always have been. Our collective growing concern about the warming of the planet has led to much discussion in our industries (lots others, too) about green products, and green manufacturing. In fact, there will be 2 seminars on this during the National Stationery Show in May. One for buyers, and one for exhibitors and other manufacturers. Stay tuned.

Of course, personalization is still going strong, and lots of companies are working hard to keep up with this strong trend. Anything with an initial or a name, or the ability to personalize seems to resonate.

I could go on and on! I am excited for my next trip – which is next week – out west, and then off to England to another show, and some trend-spotting. Patti is in Frankfurt right now visiting with customers and also trend-spotting there. Wonder what we’ll hear about that market! Can’t wait. Until next time…

- Kelly

Trend Talk with Kelly and Jess

It’s that time of year – the time of year we can’t wait for – placing new exhibitors into the Show. All summer long, the applications come in over the web, by fax and in the mail. This week we excitedly began unraveling the future of the National Stationery Show – our newest exhibitors! Now, the real excitement begins as our team starts finding booth space for all of these companies.

Here’s Jess with the more than 300 companies wanting to come into the Show!



We live and work around these applications – representing real people, with great product – throughout the summer and right up until the beginning of November, when we can begin placing these companies onto the floorplan.

Every application goes in a folder, and is organized by date of application and requested booth size.



Here’s Kelly checking off a booth for someone.

It’s a fun time of year, because as we work with each application, one right after the other, we start to see trends. And, we are seeing a few notable trends right now. First off, remember last year’s HUGE polka dot trend? We have to tell you, we did not really see polka dots. Seriously, almost none. This is interesting, as polka dots have been so strong for a number of years.

So what have we been seeing?

Most surprisingly, the combination of blue and orange – we don’t remember seeing this color combo last year! The blue is a lighter shade (sometimes turquoise-y) and the orange is usually straightforward, or leaning toward orange-red. We can’t show you any pictures (we have to protect our new companies and their brand new ideas) but we can tell you that these colors have been seen on many different types of products ranging from greeting cards to office products to personalized plates.

Another trend that is continuing is florals and flourishes. The flowers are big and bold, and we’ve seen them as photography, watercolors, and graphic design – and always with very strong, vibrant colors. The flourishes are often just that – swirly designs, but also still lots of damask patterns.

Ribbon embellishments are still big - solids and patterns both; letterpress is going strong, and (as if you couldn’t tell by entering ANY clothing or home furnishings store) brown is still hot.

We’re so excited by the creativity in this industry! We can’t wait to meet all of these new exhibitors at the Show. (May seems so far away right now).

If you are someone who’s been thinking of applying to exhibit in the Show, you should apply now, as space is definitely limited, now that we are placing all of these great companies on the floorplan. And on that note – if you have already applied to the Show – you will be hearing from us within the next few weeks regarding your space.

If you are a retailer, make your plans to attend now! You can register today, and make your hotel and travel (link) arrangements for the May Show. Take our advice, plan now; your favorite hotel will book up fast! You will want to spend 2-3 days at the Show in order to explore the entire Show floor, have great conversations with the new exhibitors, and place your orders for your stores.

Perhaps May isn’t so far away after all!

Well, it’s time to get back to the floor plan! Until next time…

Kelly and Jess