Monthly Archives: April 2008

more biz

by Erika Firm Posted on April 16, 2008


I saw this Nelson Swag Desk at the Design*Sponge/DWR event last night. I love this grown-up’s school desk!

Also at the Design*Sponge Biz Ladies Meetup:
Billie and Tootie of Reform School were adorable. They have been friends since High School and seem to really be enjoying their relatively new life as Reform Schoolers (the biz is about 2 years old). Someone asked why they continue having a storefront, if their webshop pulls in more money. It was refreshing to hear them say that it’s “not about the money, it’s about doing something we love and being fulfilled.” I admit that sometimes the business part of running delphine can get me down, and I have to remind myself how fortunate I am to be running a CREATIVE business.

Tanya Aguiniga also spoke, although I had a tough time hearing her because my friend Torri kept cracking jokes in my ear! Tanya just finished working on an installation in the new children’s museum in San Diego, which I cannot wait to visit! She has one of the best logos I’ve seen in a long time.

I also ate lots of cupcakes (thanks Sara!) and truly enjoyed a night off with Torri, who kept me laughing all night long. This morning we’re off to show the new Marine Life line of letterpress cards to a few stationery buyers in LA, then we have to head back to San Diego because I am press checking one of my new designs.

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the biz

by Erika Firm Posted on April 16, 2008

Last night I headed up to LA to the Design*Sponge Biz Ladies Meetup at DWR in Beverly Hills. It was inspiring to see so many design lovers and creative people in one space! Grace was a wonderful and, well, gracious, hostess and speaker.


Grace encouraged everyone to submit their work to magazine editors and bloggers via email. A lot of people ask me how I get press, and the simple truth is that I submit photos and/or samples of my work to magazines. When I was working as a writer and editor, there was nothing I liked more than a beautiful story idea to drop in my lap! Editors are very busy people, and they truly rely on press releases and story ideas and product submissions. I agree with Grace that when mailing a physical press kit they don’t have to be super fancy (she said samples often end up in the ‘goody room’). I think they should always be a professional, clean, true reflection of your brand. And never send something that you expect to get back!

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poor little puffy

by Erika Firm Posted on April 15, 2008

This cute little puffer did not make the final cut for the new letterpress journals we are printing in time for the National Stationery Show. It broke my heart but puffy is on hold.

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recycled cotton tote bags

by Erika Firm Posted on April 14, 2008

photo: delphine
I am thrilled…our new recycled cotton tote bags have arrived! Excuse the crappy photo … better ones on the way soon. These bags are amazing: made of 80% recycled cotton and 20% recycled plastic soda bottles. Besides being our favorite color, green is a commitment that we at delphine take seriously. We believe eco-consciousness is fundamental to good design. And who doesn’t need a new tote bag, especially now that so many cities are cutting back on plastic bag usage. The bags will be available to pre-order on our new website–check back in about a week. They will ship first week of July, in time for a beach vacay.

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jessica davis photography

by Erika Firm Posted on April 11, 2008




I caught up with my friend Jessica Davis yesterday at her fabulous new studio in Solana Beach, California. Her specialty is kids photography, but I think she could have a second career as a pet photographer. Check out that cute doggie!

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titus

by Erika Firm Posted on April 9, 2008

photo: delphine

I have been diligently cropping, adjusting and cataloging photographs of our entire collection of letterpress notecards, journals, greeting cards and custom invitations all day. So far, my favorite photograph is this one of our adorable kitten, Titus. He’s such a ham. Every time we set up the photo ‘studio’ he jumps right into the set.

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inspiration: marie antoinette & ladurée

by Erika Firm Posted on April 6, 2008

macaroon photo from laduree
other photos: delphine




I’m usually not one for watching movies again and again (I leave that to my four-year-old). However, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Sofia Coppola’s amazing film, Marie Antoinette, and have watched it dozens of times. Besides being visually stunning, the story is fascinating and heartbreaking. The underlying social commentary about the dangers of a life of excess, and the absurdity of it all, resonated with me. I live in an alternate universe called Southern California, and I could see a lot of my neighbors fitting in quite swimmingly at Versailles. Crazy but true, when J and I saw the movie at the theater, three “Orange County” cougars were seated behind us. Upon leaving the theater they were discussing how “relieved” they are that poor Marie escaped. Um…really? J and I could not believe what we were hearing, so we basically stalked them to their Range Rovers to make sure our ears had not deceived us. None of the three of them had any idea what really happened to Marie Antoinette. They went on to discuss how “scary those peasants were” and how glad they are that Marie Antoinette and her husband Louis were spared the violence. They also mentioned how they are so happy that “society has evolved” and, of course, how beautiful all the shoes in the movie were. (Though I can’t really fault them for noticing how spectacular the costumes are in this film). Wow. Welcome to So. Cal, huh?

The candy color palette of the film is so FUN! The letterpress world seems stuck in a blah pastel nightmare, doesn’t it? I tried to bring some of the upbeat colors into our current Marine Life collection (see the pink & turquoise jellyfish!). I heard somewhere that Sofia Coppola was inspired by one of my very favorite things: Ladurée’s pretty macarons. My mom used to take me there for tea and macarons when I was a little girl and I have always been fascinated by the Parisian patisserie. When I was in Paris last October I snuck a few shots of the fabled teahouse display window between bites of pistachio macarons.

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sweet floral wall mural

by Erika Firm Posted on April 4, 2008


photos: delphine

When J and I were in LA last week we came upon this sweet & simple floral wall mural. It’s so lovely to see public art like this, and refreshing that it was left alone (no graffiti in sight!). The illustrations inspired me to pick up my dusty sketchbook. I love that the painting is inspired by real flowers, but doesn’t look like a horticultural specimen.

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inspired by mother nature

by Erika Firm Posted on April 2, 2008

photo: delphine

photo: salvatore ardillo

I’m in the midst of finalizing the new spring line of letterpress note cards. The designs were influenced by the beautiful wildflowers that are in bloom here in Southern California. Also inspired by Mother Nature, our newest products will be printed on recycled 100 percent post consumer waste paper. We have always used recycled paper and soy-based inks: our cards are printed either on paper that has at least 30 percent post consumer waste content or on 100 percent cotton (tree-free!) paper. But now that it is becoming more popular to go green there are many more options for us to choose from as far as papers go. It’s exciting (and a bit daunting) to have so many choices.

As I’m planning my paper buys I feel like I’m spinning around in the middle of one of those convoluted word problems from eighth grade math class: If you have a press sheet that measures 7 x 10 inches, and parent sheets that measure 26 x 40 inches, and if the pink parent sheets come in cartons of 400 sheets and a carton costs $350, and the blue parent sheets come in cartons of 500 sheets and costs $625, and the blue parent sheets have a delivery charge of $45 and the pink parent sheets have a shipping fee of two percent, and you want to yield 10,000 press sheets of one color, what is the most cost-effective paper color to buy, keeping in mind that printing will waste approximately 15 percent of the press sheets and you many not break cartons? NOW I understand why we had to take math!!!

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trade show shoes

by Erika Firm Posted on April 1, 2008

photo: aerosoles.com

The weeks before every trade show are filled with important to-do list items, such as: reserve plane tickets, order new line sheets, mail booth number announcements, press check new products, and design a fabulous booth display. But one of the tasks on the list that I actually look forward to is to shop for trade show shoes. I stand for 10 hours a day in the booth, so they have to be cute, chic and very very (very) comfortable. I haven’t tried them on yet, but I suspect you’ll be seeing these cool green moccasins from Aerosoles on my feet at the National Stationery Show!

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