Alkemi Kombucha Artisanal Black Letterpress Business Cards (Magical)

 

Chef Lisa Bower has been busy creating the most spectacular flavored Kombucha recipes ever, which will be available to the public soon. (Lucky me — she let me have some raspberry from a recent batch, and it was so delicious, I must have more, asap!) Her meticulous branding strategy included business cards that made people’s mouths water as much as the Kombucha does, and we just delivered these.

We are in love with these black, two-ply (very thick) cards that bear the logo (a foxy fox or her Shiba Inu foxy dog?), stamped in black gloss foil, and whose tail encircles the alchemical symbol for gold, in gold foil (of course), along with the business name, also in gold foil. These visual puns show up in many places in her concept, and all add up to rich, rich, rich beauty, and something magical too.

Alkemi Business Card Back

The backs have all her contact information in gold foil, but in the subtle black gloss foil, black-on-black, the slogan, “Time reveals truth,” leaves another mystery to ponder. Or at least drops a little tidbit of wisdom as the final fillip. With alchemy, there’s no end to the surprises.

We are eager to find Lisa’s amazing product on the shelves of local bars and restaurants, aren’t you? And we are proud that she chose Studio Z Mendocino to complete the business cards of her dreams. Here’s what she wrote me after receiving the prototypes: “THANK YOU  THANK YOU  THANK YOU!!!!  You rocked my world with the cards today…they are exactly how I envisioned the graphic representation of my product and the energy I wish to convey with my business concept…  Happy smiles!”

Oh, did I mention that Lisa and I “got each other” the minute we met? Yes, it was a great pleasure to work with such a creative and positive client. One of the great perks of my work! That seems magical, too.

 

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Tokyo Luxe — Luxury Concierge Services — A Stunning Black Letterpress Business Card With Edge Painting

A stunning business card carries the day when networking in Hong Kong, or anywhere

 

The backs of the cards are as gorgeous as the fronts. Almost!

Nami Lee, CEO and Founder of Tokyo Luxe, recently contacted me about doing business cards for her Luxury Concierge Services in Japan. She came with most of her logo completed — the design just needed a little fine tuning to adapt it for letterpress techniques. Because Nami wanted something that would stop traffic, we decided to print them on our super-thickest black museum mount paper with three foils: black gloss foil for the “T”, metallic silver foil and metallic gold foil. Then, after some consideration, I’m happy to report that Nami decided to go for the boldness of salmon colored edge painting.

Closeup of edge painting

 

When the cards were finally delivered to her in Tokyo, Nami immediately filled up her purse with them and flew out to network in Hong Kong. She emailed me that she has never had such reactions to a business card before. She says she is so happy we met each other online…one more miracle of modern life…she found this blog, called me, and the rest is history.

 

Tokyo Luxe black business cards with three gleaming foil colors on super-thick black paper

The finished cards have a vibration of something like jewelry, something at once timeless, unique, and somehow managing to seem contemporary yet also classic. Incredibly thick, luxurious paper foil stamped in gleaming metals, and flicked with the understated-but-ever-so-THERE salmon color along the edges are a force of marketing to be reckoned with. You will not be forgotten when you leave behind something this amazing and beautiful.

This is the photo Nami sent to me from Hong Kong:

Photo Nami took when her business cards were delivered to her in Tokyo

 

 

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Platinum Soirees: Black Square Business Cards with Silver & Royal Blue Foil for New York City Event Planner

This is the business card we produced for New York City event company, Platinum Soirees. Nacole Powers designed the logo herself and wanted the major wow factor of a matte black, ultra-thick card with platinum and royal blue foils. I had adapt here existing logo into a two-color image that would work for letterpress. As you probably know, not every design is letterpress-friendly. The original design was not specifically created for this techniques; drop shadows had been applied to make it look like letterpress (kind of). Instead, Nacole got the real thing and no drop shadows were needed. The deep impression of letterpress achieves a little shadow around each image and letter — very beautiful, don’t you think? The registration of the two foils was extremely minute and required a great deal of skill to print properly.

The outcome, as you can see, is nothing short of spectacular. The message is clear, from the name of the company itself, to the execution of the intricate design, choice of paper and colors, the shape and the treatment: this is luxury, this is beauty, this is attention to minute detail and it adds up to a big communication.

 

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Z Quest: One of the most Amazing Letterpress Business Cards Studio Z Mendocino Has Ever Created

Over the years, Studio Z Mendocino has created a lot of amazing business cards and letterpress printing, so you have to know we are not kidding when we claim this as one of the MOST amazing of all. Australian developer and general genius, Nathan Orbach, became one of our favorite clients, too, in the course of this very, very long process that involved quite a lot of Skyping in odd hours and quite a lot more, how shall I say, “translation” or “instruction” of the letterpress vernacular and techniques so he could really understand better and his designer could prepare the files properly. It was a tremendous and very fun-filled effort with a tremendous result.

After having discovered us online and subsequently receiving a big parcel of samples of our work in Australia via FedEx, Nathan had definite ideas about how he wanted the cards to look. Very specific about every detail, but without knowledge of the various ins and outs and weird limitations of what we do, his decisions made it necessary to work around numerous obstacles.

For instance, he wanted the paper to be exactly THIS dense black, but that exact paper only comes in eighty-pound weight, which was MUCH too thin for what he wanted. He wanted extra-extra thick cards with red edge painting. To accomplish this, it was necessary to print two separate pieces of the black paper and laminate them with something like chipboard sandwiched between them. This was just one in a lot of various negotiations that kept us in conversation pretty much the better part of six months. Or more.

In the end, we were all over the moon about the resulting cards.

The backs are as stunning as the fronts.

It all proves that we are always willing to go the last ten thousand miles. If a business card is going to represent you in the world, it really should say everything about you that can be said in two dimensions. In this case “Q” (Quest) to the Zed Power says exactly that: stop at nothing for the sake of perfectly what is wanted and needed in the situation. Plus, letterpress actually adds a third dimension of tactile depth and visual texture. Nothing more need be said.

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Wedding Photographer Susan Stripling: Ultra Less-Is-More Business Cards and Stationery by Studio Z Mendocino

Susan Stripling is a wedding photographer whose astonishingly beautiful images, skill, inspired imagination and devotion to the craft have landed her in the midst of some of the most amazing nuptials ever. She just had Studio Z Mendocino do her new business cards and stationery. Susan has photographed weddings throughout the US, the Caribbean, South America, Finland, France, and the Bahamas. She’s been published in Inside Weddings, Martha Stewart Weddings, Grace Ormonde Wedding Style, Bride and Bloom, Modern Bride, The Knot, Professional Photographer Magazine, The New York Times Style section, Rangerfinder Magazine, Capture Magazine, Elegant Bride, in Trade Publications for Nikon USA, and Town and Country Weddings. Susan’s teaching career has developed as well; she has been seen at past Digital Wedding Forum conventions, gives private and group workshops throughout the USA, and has spoken at WPPI. Busy Susan, had Infinet Design devise her double-S monogram and we foil stamped it in gold onto her lux stationery wardrobe: business cards on very thickest Cranes Lettra 600 gram cover stock, and script cards in the same ultra-thick paper (think thank you notes, quick messages accompanying samples, etc., etc.) that fit into spectacular Cranes number ten envelopes with rather monumental square flaps. This is the blockbuster envelope we love to stuff:

Here is the script card:

Because it is foiled in a single color, with the monogram/logo on the front of the business card and only the website address on the back, overall costs were kept to a minimum, but the finished pieces carry all the gorgeousness and panache anyone could possibly desire.

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Maas Modern: Sleek, Sexy, Ultra-Moderne Black Business Cards With Gold Foil for Interior Designer

Dallas interior designer Sheryl Maas is best known for her perfect, inspired interiors, sleek lines, stylish furnishings and polished, contemporary combinations. She is one of Dallas’s top designers for both residential and commercial properties. We helped her decide on the name Maas Modern and designed her new logo, which, of course is very chic and simple and less-is-more, with sans serif font letterpressed in gold foil on super-thick black paper.

 

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STUDIO TRAN meets STUDIO Z — WoW! Black, Silver and Hot Pink Business Cards that Cannot Be Ignored

Corine Tran of Studio Tran, in Louisiana, called me before Christmas with a vision and a hope to get some awesome business cards made up for her photography business. After a couple of emails she casually mentioned, “I can’t believe you’re in Fort Bragg.” Mystified, I asked her why that was amazing to her — had she been to Fort Bragg?? — and she answered that she’d lived and gone to high school here! The Small-World connection and her warm personality made this one of those jobs that seems a little bit magical the whole way through. Right off the bat, she won me over completely be sending us a King Cake — the most scrumptious, sweet, way-too-tempting Louisiana Mardi Gras confection we ever tasted. OMG is all I can say. Also, YUM. I never even heard of a King Cake before and could not believe she did that!

Corine had to be veeerrrrry patient with us because, as some of you know, we were in the throes of moving out of our shop after twenty-seven years (more on this later, I promise), which took the better part of two months, but the upshot for the Transes was that it took a ridiculously long time to get the cards done despite the cake. Honest, we are not usually like this, but that move was taxing even our most angelic customers!!! Luckily, she was not in a huge hurry. We did send a few to her after they were printed but before they got the final embellishment, hot pink edge painting, so Corine and Beebe could attend a convention with some cards in hand (which, we hear, went over big anyway).

Her husband Beebe had already designed the truly inspired and beautiful “BC”monogram for their logo, and the vector files for the cards were all ready to go. All it needed was what Studio Z Mendocino does so well: letterpressing colored foils onto super-thick black Museum Mount paper and turning a lovely dream into an even lovelier reality.

The hot pink edge painting finished them off in the spectacular way that that one small detail can. The cards are completely off the charts in terms of beauty, charm, WoW factor and amazingness. Corine says, “We absolutely love the business cards. They are everything I wanted and had in my mind when I first set out to find someone who could make this happen! Thank you Thank you Thank you!  Everyone just ooohhs and ahhhs over them and asks where we got them.”

It was, may I say, my very great pleasure to work with Corine and Beebe and to produce these amazing little pieces of art. I am sure that anyone who works with them will feel that same way. I know the cards will bring you new and exciting clients. They are kind of magical like that.

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Black & White & Edgy: Brookstreet Pictures Letterpress Business Cards with Black Edge Painting

Brookstreet Pictures, Ottowa and LA movie company, had designer Chad Harber design their new business cards, and Studio Z Mendocino printed them. They are amazing: Black gloss foil on the front of the extra-thick 600 gram Lettra white card stock for the logo — so that got a little shine — and matte black ink on the back for the contact information. We finished them off with round corners and black edge painting.

Fabulous, edgy, chic and professional, deluxe business cards for a very edgy movie company.

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Torch Jazz and My Baby’s Love Letters Exhibit and Moving and Graphic Design and Letterpress Printing and New Real Estate Magazine and Me

Sheesh. Am I a dilettante or just diverse? So, today’s post is about many topics and me me me, I guess. But I have all these things going on right now that are so exciting and fun that I want to tell you about, and, after all, this is MY blog, right?

First: My beautiful, amazing, virtuoso piano playing friend-accompanist Ira Rosenberg and I will be playing Torch Jazz at the Westport Hotel on Saturday, November 19th, starting around 7 pm. The last time we played there it was so packed that there was LITERALLY no room at the Inn. Every room upstairs was booked and every chair in the dining room and back rooms full of at least one person. Ira and I have been working on a bunch of new material and having our usual blast together getting ready for this gig. So please, if you want to come and hear some of the most beautiful songs ever written in the history of the world, songs that take you to another time and place, make reservations asap!!! Here is the number: 707.964.3688. (I gratuitously also mention that we made their website, just so you know we also do that.) Here is us at the September performance:

Second: My show of my new project, My Baby’s Love Letters, has been extended through the month of November!!!!! The opening is on Second Saturday, November 12, from 5 pm. I may or may not be able to be there to tell you about it, but really it doesn’t matter so much. The display tells all:

They make the most love-fest Christmas presents and unparalleled wedding gifts too, not to mention bar and bat mitzvah gifts, baby shower gifts and just about whatever event you can think up. Don’t wait to get that shopping list out! Bring it to the Highlight Gallery and make your orders now. I just made a fabulous initial for a wedding gift from an aunt to her niece. It had the bride’s and groom’s names (which both started with the same letter), their wedding date, the name of their favorite song (You and Me), and a few secret messages from the Tia and Tio. The report was that they LOVED their Love Letter and were so, so surprised. Of course!

Well, listen, I have to go for a walk in a minute. Loving these last warm Indian Summer mornings along the headlands. The tides are so high right now that the waves are sloshing right up to the cliffs. It’s exciting to watch them crash up against the rocks so closely that spray travels right up to me.

So, Thirdly: The November issue of Real Estate Magazine comes out TODAY and it is SO fabulous I can’t even believe it. You can pick it up all over the county over the weekend or read it online at Real Estate Magazine. The magazine is packed with all things real estate in Mendocino County and our feature story, which, this time, is about Maureen Gealey’s experiences in adopting  and helping others adopt orphaned children from China, and her missions there on medical teams that do cleft surgeries on little kids from the poorest villages out in the countryside. I was crying half the time as I designed the layouts for the cover and the story.

And finally, (sorry this is so long! It’s like four posts in one.) I just want to encourage you to call with your ideas and questions and dreams about our graphic design and printing services. The end of the year is a great time to rebrand or freshen up your present image with a new logo or breathtaking business card or thank you note or website, all of which we can help you with. And don’t forget that we have lots of boxed Christmas and Holiday cards now, all at, as they say, rock bottom prices.

I will have some new business card posts here very soon and also law firm announcements and wedding invitations.

You should also know that we will be vacating our building on Main Street in Fort Bragg very soon. After twenty-seven years, we are ready to make things smaller. But we will continue to provide our same amazing printing and design work from a littler venue. We hope there will be very little interruption in our services during the move but if you need something soon, this is the time to make your order.

OK, must get cracking! I hope your Thursday if full of fabulosity and music and fun and creativity.

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Fabulous and Chic Letterpress Business Cards for Meier Ferrer, LA Furniture Designers

Meier/Ferrer designs contemporary, modernist furniture that has been featured in a slew of national and international magazines. Their look is clean, hip and ultra-chic, which matches perfectly the design Andrew Cinnamon did for their business cards, and which Studio Z Mendocino printed on our venerable 1952 Heidelberg letterpress. It’s that meeting of the centuries that I love so much: the Twenty-first to the Fifteenth, to be exact — Thank you, Mr. Guttenberg for giving us the means to impress all these five hundred years.

We printed deeply the hard-edge typeface Andrew adapted for this purpose onto super-thick 600 gram Lettra paper. Dense black ink. One side only. And let the typography tell its own story with no fanfare other than its own audacity. We also made script cards for them. Four by nine cards that fit into a #10 business envelope or can be paper clipped to a sheaf of design mock ups with a little note. Love love.

 

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