Flying somewhere on Northwest Airlines this month? Be sure to look in the May 2008 issue of World Traveler, the NWA in-flight magazine, for a brief story on Lunalux. A three-page round-up of must-see shops and restaurants in the Twin Cities (pp. 33-35) includes a picture of Lunalux owner Jenni (that’s me!) and a write-up about our store. An excerpt: “Lunalux gives visitors the chance to see traditional presses in action while they peruse a wide variety of unique greeting cards, notebooks and wrapping paper. If you’re a die-hard letter devotee, this place is for you.” I couldn’t have said it better myself!

Click on the thumbnail image to the right to see the full story. And this is just the tip of the ice berg for us, media attention wise. You can read about more about the press we’ve been getting in our blog archive.

Do you remember how proud you felt when you got your first real business cards? Your name and contact information printed all official – a sure sign of adulthood! That’s why I thought it was so cool when Cathy asked me to work with her to create business cards for her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend as college-graduation gifts. What a great way to congratulate someone on becoming a real live grown up!

Working long distance via e-mail, I developed designs that suited both graduates. Cathy wanted a fish on Rebecca’s card, and an elk on Justin’s. Both simple one-color designs are letterpress-printed on earth-friendly papers (Justin’s on a krafty recycled card, Rebecca’s on a tree-free cotton stock).

Looking for a memorable gift for the soon-to-be graduate in your life? Consider custom letterpress-printed paper goods! Notecards or stationery are a great accessory for someone headed off to college or grad school, so they can stay in touch with friends and family afar. Stationery and calling cards are also ideal for someone entering the job market, allowing the job-seeker to present themselves in a professional manner and write that ever-important follow-up after an interview. If you’d like more information, call Lunalux to schedule a consultation with Jenni!

Mother’s Day is less than two weeks away. Have you found the perfect card and a thoughtful gift for yer mum yet? And/or the mother of your children? The Lunalux studio store has plenty of cards and gifts to tickle her fancy and also say “thanks for giving birth to me, lady!” We have lovely letterpress-printed Mother’s Day greeting cards created here in our Minneapolis studio (including the new “You’re Pretty” card, pictured – click on the image for a larger view), plus beautiful offerings from from Egg Press, Snow & Graham, Wiley Valentine and Bella Muse.

Lots of great gift in stock now too – Kaweco and Xonex pens; stylish French notebooks; floral notecard sets, post-it notes and file folders to bring a bit of spring to the home office; hand-made sparkly glass pendants; and Lunalux exclusives like Notepad Triads and the cigar box notes. We’ll wrap your present for you, if you ask nicely (your good manners make your mom proud!). Not sure exactly what to get for her? Lunalux gift certificates are available in any denomination, and can be used to purchase stuff in the store, or custom-designed letterpress-printed personal stationery or calling cards.

We’ve added a few new cards to our wholesale line. The “There is only one loser in a bacon-eating contest” card, which we created in February, has been such a big hit in the Lunalux studio store that we’ve decided to offer it to our wholesale customers as well. And we’ve also created three new greeting cards, based on the postcard that we mailed out to our store mailing list last month. The same detailed antique flourish has been letterpress-printed on natural white wove-finish card stock, and paired with various greetings. My favorite: “You’re Pretty!” It’s printed in mango and magenta, and paired with a mango A2 envelope – perfect for Mother’s Day, right? There’s also an aqua and black congratulations card, and a lime and sepia thank you note. All of these cards are now available in our studio store, and wholesalers can download a sell sheet of these new products from our catalog page.

The business of letterpress printing is the topic of an in-depth story in the April 2008 issue of NAPL Business Review, a bi-monthly magazine distributed to members of the National Association for Printing Leadership. The five-page story includes extensive comments from “Jenni Undis, President of Lunalux, Inc., in Minneapolis, Minn.” As opposed to the soft-focus ooh-and-ahhh stories about letterpress that you’ll find in popular lifestyle magazines, this feature examines the resurgence of letterpress from a business standpoint – barriers of entry into the field, technical challenges of the process, how print shops can incorporate letterpress into their portfolio of services, etc. A very interesting read!