Paper, Place, and a Press: A Small Tribute to Craft

As part of designing my new website with the amazing Kim Klassen, I had a set of letterpress cards made to mark the transition from my old blog.

A little paper gift to myself.

They were printed on Italian-sourced paper by a typographer just down the street—someone whose family has run their vintage letterpress for three generations.

These cards are simple: hand-cut, carefully set, with a minimalist calendar on the back. Like all things paper, they carry a story. They speak of place and continuity, and of analog beauty in a digital world.

Oh paper!

There’s something grounding about holding paper in your hands—especially when it’s been made, cut, stamped, and pressed by hand.

One of the gifts of living in a city like Rome is how many small, family-owned businesses still anchor each neighborhood. Supporting these small businesses is part of the rhythm of living locally. It means that even something as simple as a printed card becomes a way to support a legacy of craftsmanship, and in a small way, to preserve the past.

I’ll be sending a few of these cards as gifts to my subscribers. They’re small tokens that represent where I am — on the page, in this city, and in this season of my writing.

They are a little analog keepsake, and a quiet tribute to craft, care, and the enduring beauty of paper.

Have you given yourself the gift of paper lately?