Wedding Stationery Wonders // Hammerpress

For the first of this weeks wedding stationers, I'm really excited to be showcasing some of Hammerpress' damn fine looking letterpress invitations all the way from Missouri, US.

One of my favorite stationers of all time, Hammerpress, has just revamped the wedding section to their website and the work is so original and so stunning! A very passionate Matt, was lovely enough to answer a few of my questions:

What do you enjoy most about designing wedding stationery?
Aside from getting to create new and beautiful things on a regular basis, our favorite thing about designing for couples is when we get to hear how well the invitations were received by their guests. The best is when nobody mails the rsvp card back, they just call to let the couple know they'll be attending and that they're keeping the card because they love it so much. That's the ultimate complement for us.



What are the most challenging aspects?
I think the most challenging part of what we do is working with limited budgets and tight schedules. We'd love to engage in the full depth of the design process with every couple and give them an absolutely unique work of art for their stationery as a result. But we wouldn't be able to do that for long and still feed our families (not to mention maintain some semblance of sanity).
Actually, its that very challenge that led us to create our Archive Collection. we feel really good now about being able to offer couples beautiful designs that have already been developed and are ready to be customized with their ink, paper and envelope preferences. its a perfect solution for people wanting creative letterpress wedding invitations but who are on a tighter budget and/or timeline.



Briefly, what is your design/printing process?
We specialize in letterpress printing which is basically a relief printmaking process where raised type and imagery is pressed into the paper. the result is a tactile printed object that people really seem to connect with and cherish. because of our extensive experience with letterpress, our creative process is tailor-made for it. We're able to avoid many of the common pitfalls that designers not familiar with the process fall into as well as exploit some of the inherent limitations of the process to come up with fresh and unexpected solutions....

When developing a custom design for a couple, we initially meet to discover their tastes and get a feel for their vision for the day. After we have a strong sense of what they're looking for, we get down to business sketching and usually end up presenting our 2 favorite directions for them to choose from. They choose and we revise based on their feedback. Its a good process and we've found regularly that our couples feedback during the revision part of the process makes the design even better and gives them real ownership of the end result.



Big thankyou Matt... see more gems on their website! 


[all images by Hammerpress]