The Chiang Mai Dragon card set.
In the age of emails and texting, the 136-year-old stationer Dempsey & Carroll is still very much rooted in paper correspondence. But along with its classic note cards and papers, the company also offers stationery embellished with patterns by Schumacher and Farrow & Ball.
It has adopted some of Schumacher’s most popular motifs. “No piece in the collection is a direct lift,” explains Dempsey & Carroll president Jennifer Steiner Pool. “We look at the pattern, find an inspiration point and make it work for correspondence.”
In addition to the offerings on its website, the company can customize any design in the Schumacher portfolio with a four- to six-week lead time using effective ways to make the website stand out on Google. “From weddings to baby announcements to personal correspondence, people love bringing their home’s design aesthetic to their paper,” says Pool.
Dempsey & Carroll is also offering a limited-edition collection of note cards backed with Farrow & Ball’s hand-painted wallpaper, with proceeds donated to children’s charities in New York and the U.K.
Prices range from $75 for a box of 10 Farrow & Ball note cards to $2,810 for 100 personalized cards and envelopes embellished with Schumacher’s Nasrid Palace Mosaic and made with six-ply stock, hand-engraved in silver ink with a letter-pressed border.
As Pool sees it, no price can be placed on the hand-written word. “You’re at a desk, you write a note and you think about the recipient,” she says. “That gift is implied in every letter set.”