A few months ago, a lovely woman I met on twitter asked me to design a set of notes to be used after a concert featuring Ms. Natalie Cole and the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra to thank all of the benefactors and special people whose hard work made the show a reality. I was incredibly honored to be asked and I’m so incredibly proud that Mrs. Tate loves the finished product. Now I want to share with you the process we took to get there. I’ve written posts before about my creative process but here’s a chance for you to see it in action.
Mrs. Tate allowed me a lot of latitude in working out the design but she asked that I draw inspiration from the event flyer.
From this flyer, I chose to focus on the metallic feel and the red of Ms. Cole’s lipstick and dress to accent. After consideration, I developed this first mood board.
moodboard created using Olioboard
As you can see, this board provided several options for envelope color, liners and note paper styles. The reaction to this initial board allows me to have the best information to narrow down the final pieces.
We moved on to the the second moodboard based upon the feedback from the first.
Board created using Olioboard
In this incarnation, you can see that we decided to go with the light chartreuse envelope and red metallic paper liner. The card has shifted from a folded note to a flat note. We were still making decisions as to whether we’d go with a linen or cotton note. On this board, I included an image of Coral Reef from the Bella Collection to show how a lined envelope and flat cotton card would look.
For the final moodboard, we decided to take a different look at the envelope liners before the final selection. We’re moving closer with the chartreuse envelopes finalized. Despite the board representation, we did stick with flat notes instead of folded.
created by Olioboard
And finally, in the end, the final product . . .
I absolutely love the end result. One of my biggest concerns was to marry green and red without it reading Christmas. I believe I have been successful. It’s a sophisticated color combination and using the chartreuse makes it perfect for spring!
The screenprinted Japanese chiyogami paper lined envelopes paired with Italian cotton note cards are so beautifully textured as to make me swoon with delight. As I stated in my reasons for lining envelopes, I believe that stationery should be as beautiful to hold in the hands as it is to look at. It should excite the sense of touch and and sense of sight in order to ignite the soul of the receiver. I believe stationery ultimately is a vessel to carry gratitude, to carry love, to carry joy and it should reflect that in order to honor that.
I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to create this stationery. And I’m so over-the-moon happy that Mrs. Tate informed me this afternoon that she was, at that moment, writing a thank you note directly to Ms. Cole on MY STATIONERY. It’s not because Natalie Cole is a celebrity; instead, it is because I spent many Saturday afternoons when I was a kid playing her records in my living room, singing loud and finding joy. It warms my heart to know that through following my passion, I was able to create stationery that will be given to someone who was such a lovely part of my growing up without her even knowing my name.
And that little coincidence of fate, made possible because I chose to follow my dreams, makes this project one Unforgettable experience.
