Spread the word with Richele Silva’s custom paper designs

Evites and mass text messages might work just fine when it comes to notices of housewarmings and the casual dinner party, but computer screens and minute BlackBerry fonts don’t ever quite match up to old-fashioned paper correspondence. And that’s precisely what makes Richele Silva’s custom-designed invitations, greeting cards and assorted paper-based miscellany (see: menus and place cards) so enjoyable. Silva, a Long Beach resident and former editor for the lifestyle/design blog Apartment Therapy (apartmenttherapy.com), is the proud owner of “Stella,” a vintage Vandercook Press from the early 1960s that she employs for “letterpress printing, illustration, custom design work and fine art printing.” So far, she’s put it to good use on everything from a custom, Luau-themed doctoral celebration invitation (with pretty, illustrated hibiscus flowers found on the invitation, RSVP and return labels) to a pink and green wedding invitation with a delicate sweet pea illustration and hand-drawn map. Silva’s talent for design even shines with digitally printed works, as evidenced by a daring poster-sized wedding invitation (complete with poster-tube mailer!) styled after vintage ski posters. Letterpress is an expensive process, though, as Silva notes—the doctorate invitation ran in the $1400 range for 70 sets—so you might want to hold off on picking out typefaces until the next Big Moment of your life—like having a baby, or winning the lottery. In the meantime, I suggest purchasing one of her greeting/note cards (one printed “In Case You Didn’t Know…You Are Amazing” in green, plus another fantastic magenta illustration of a pair of killer Louboutins) and sending a note to someone you haven’t seen in a while. Forget phone calls and e-mails—the best way to reach out and touch someone is still to give them something they can hold.

VISIT RICHELE AT RICHIEDESIGN-PAPER.BLOGSPOT.COM OR CONTACT HER AT RICHELE@RICHIEDESIGNS.COM FOR PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

Tags: Buy Curious, invitations, Long Beach, stationery