Amy Graham Stigler, Smock’s design extraordinaire and honored design contest judge, chose Urban Coast’s custom letterpress design as the FIRST PLACE WINNER!!! We couldn’t agree more.

Urban Coast in Belleair Bluffs, Florida proudly hosted an event honoring Bryan Rafanelli – a renowned event planner and founder of Rafanelli Events.

As you may know, Bryan Rafanelli’s exquisite sense of style, attention to detail and ability to transform clients’ visions into unforgettable celebrations have made him a go-to planner for the most exclusive and high-profile events. From Chelsea Clinton’s “wedding of the decade” to fairytale-themed galas for Massachusetts General Hospital for Children to celebrations for the inauguration of President Barack Obama –he has produced it all!

And Urban Coast chose Smock to create the beautiful letterpress invitations to this extraordinary event. WE WERE ECSTATIC!!!

The design itself is incredible. Layers of bamboo paper, die-cut into Smock’s new Chesapeake shape, fill a custom letterpress sleeve. The warm summer colors of papaya and taupe feel perfect for a June event. The Everett and Seneca patterns, all letterpress printed, create sophisticated textures as well. This set screams touch me, feel me, love me!

Mr. Rafanelli, I hope we made you smile!

inks: taupe + papaya | fonts: alice + century gothic  | paper 1-ply white | invite size: S-7 | printing: letterpress | die cut: chesapeake | custom sleeve: seneca pattern in taupe and the marsda cartouche in papaya

This design won first place in our Smock design competition for the first half of 2011. This twice-a-year competition recognizes outstanding and inspired designs submitted by our beloved dealers.

This fall Smock, our parent company Boxcar Press and our sister company Bella Figura got a lot larger and took up residence in some sweet new digs. With our expansion (17 letterpresses, 55 employees, 24,000 square feet), we are now one of the largest letterpress shops in the country. For the past few months we have been packing up, building new walls, moving presses, expanding our print shop and moving our operations from one end of an old warehouse in downtown Syracuse, New York to the other. Now we’ve cleaned up our dust and we’re inviting you to come check us out!

Come for shop tours, printing demonstrations, free giveaways, a little holiday shopping featuring our Everyday collection (stocking stuffers! bags! gift boxes! eco gift wrap! gift tags! cards! more!), refreshments, live entertainment and more. Letterpress lovers of all ages are welcome – we’ll have lots of fun activities for kids, too! We look forward to seeing you on Saturday between 10 and 4 – see you soon!