Today we’re highlighting Urban Coast, one of our fabulous Smock retailers! Based in Belleair Bluffs, Florida, Urban Coast specializes in custom letterpress wedding invitations and event design. Owner Soosie Lazenby was kind enough to give us a behind the scenes scoop on this fabulous paperie.
Tell us about yourself & the shop. What was the inspiration behind Urban Coast?
I had a very blessed 20 year career in sports and entertainment marketing. I worked for companies such as IMG and Adidas, and served as the Sports Commissioner for the State of Massachusetts, an appointment by Governor Mitt Romney as the Chair of the Governor’s Committee on Physical Fitness and Sports, and then built my own company which I later sold. A geographical move made me ponder what was next. I decided to create a business that represented all the things I loved about my prior career and the challenges I faced in planning prestigious events. Thus, I founded URBANcoast: marrying the creative side of events and developing a model that provides a one stop shopping experience for clients. URBANcoast offers custom invitation designs, and represents the best in stationery, personalized gifts and accessories, and tabletop decor.
What do you love most about what you do?
Designing a one-of-a-kind look for clients that conveys the style and experience of their event. I also love getting to know our clients – it is such a personal process that takes place over an extended period of time. It creates a special opportunity to form a bond that goes beyond their wedding and carries over into other momentous occasions in their life.
Any predictions for 2012 weddings? What do you think will be popular this year? We are seeing a huge surge in letterpress. History always repeats itself. Additionally, fonts are taking center stage. This is why Smock and Bella Figura [Smock’s sister company] do so well for us. Having your design libraries allows our clients to create a unique look that represents their personality.
What’s the hottest color palette out there right now? Taupe — this color somehow makes its way into a majority of our designs.
What charities does your store support? We support a number of local charities, but the one we champion most is the Morton Plant Mease Foundation. Morton Plant is one of the top 50 hospitals in the country and we are fortunate to have the care they offer in our backyard. We have raised almost 100K and named a hospital suite on the new Women & Children’s floor after my father who has been on staff there for over 40 years, in addition to three other physicians who have made a profound impact on the lives of many in our community. (more…)
Our second place design contest winner comes to us from Shelley at /di’zain/ loft limited in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, a recent addition to the Smock family. The couple chose a dreamy color palette of dusty pinks and greys for their wedding, so invitations in pewter and shell inks on our white bamboo paper fit their theme perfectly and created a soft, sweet feel. The invitation design was modeled after a vintage, “fashionably chic” handwritten love letter, which seems perfectly fitting for Clare-Ann and Joshua as they have had to experience the challenges of an overseas relationship. Shell envelope liners and a pretty script font reminiscent of elegant cursive handwriting complete the look of the invitations.
The couple strove for a sense of romanticism with their invitations, and we definitely think they’ve achieved it! We fell in love – and so did our contest judge, Nole, at Oh So Beautiful Paper, who selected the design as the 2nd place winner. She writes, “The invitation has a clean and modern layout, and I love the use of script and serif fonts that keep the design from looking too fussy. Sweet and simple.”
Congratulations Shelley, and best wishes to the happy couple!
Congratulations again to Di’zain Loft Limited for taking 2nd place in our design contest. This twice-a-year competition recognizes outstanding and inspired designs submitted by our beloved dealers.
We have the lovely Jenny from Jenny’s Paper, Ink! to thank for these incredible letterpress Bat Mitzvah invitations that we recently had the pleasure of printing. The invitations have a sweet, youthful look and feature fun fonts and bold colors. Jenny said the inspiration for these Bat Mitzvah invitations began with a custom sleeve – Sari fell in love with the idea of keeping the entire invitation set together without using a typical folio or bellyband. From there, they created a logo that could be used throughout the event by pairing our Louise font with our Dawson cartouche. Next came the patterns and colors — Sari’s favorite color is blue, so robin’s egg was a perfect choice, and adding black as a second ink color gave the invitation a bold look. The Champlain pattern was used in different ways throughout the entire set, and complemented the playful fonts and bold ink combination beautifully. The finished product was amazing and set the tone for a fabulous weekend with family and friends. Congratulations and thank you to Jenny for sending us such a stunning invitation set!
inks: robin’s egg + black + inkless blind deboss | fonts: percy + louise | paper: 2-ply white | printing: letterpress | liner: custom liner pattern in robin’s egg + black | custom sleeve: champlain pattern with dawson cartouche | size: s7 for sleeve
This design won an honorable mention in our Smock design competition for the first half of 2012. This twice-a-year competition recognizes outstanding and inspired designs submitted by our beloved dealers.
We featured these stunning letterpress invitations back in October and are thrilled to show them off one more time as a design contest honoree! This sophisticated set was sent to us by Darcy at Pearl Beach Paperie in Orlando, Florida, and features charming vintage airplanes and a rich color combination of cherry and black inks. The swirls and flourished fonts set a whimsical tone which balances the chic gold stripes printed on the folios and envelope liners. Congratulations and thank you to Pearl Beach Paperie for sending us such a lovely invitation set!
ink: cherry + black | fonts: custom| paper: 2-ply ivory | printing: letterpress | folio exterior: custom pattern in cherry | folio interior: custom pattern in gold | liner: custom pattern in gold |invite size: 5.125 x 7.75 |
This design won an honorable mention in our Smock design competition for the first half of 2012. This twice-a-year competition recognizes outstanding and inspired designs submitted by our beloved dealers.
Randi, owner of the Printed Page in Atlantic Beach, New York customized a bright and beautiful bridal shower invitation for her daughter, Kelly. We often design small cards for our Smock dealers in order to display our promotions, and the card that we designed for our free envelope printing promotion just so happened to inspire Randi.
Randi had mentioned that the shower would be held in April and would have an “April showers” theme. She explained that the party favors were going to be pink and yellow umbrellas and wanted an elegant invitation to tie everything together. She states, “The inspiration came from one of your designs that reminded me of a modern heart. Since this is a shower invite, I thought it was both feminine and relevant. I bought pink and yellow umbrellas for give away gifts for all of the guests, and I am attaching hang tags with the same design to the umbrellas with ribbon. The tags will be the place cards and the umbrellas will add color and fun to the place card table!”
Randi, congratulations to you and your daughter! These invitations are perfect!
customization = letterpress inks: azalea + yolk | fonts: spence + cooper | paper color: white | paper size: s-6 | edge painting: yolk | envelope liner: sherbrooke reversed in yolk
This design won an honorable mention in our Smock design competition for the first half of 2012. This twice-a-year competition recognizes outstanding and inspired designs submitted by our beloved dealers.
Take a peek at these vibrant and high spirited save the dates! We have Melanie at Salutations in Charlotte, North Carolina to thank for these beauties! We were even able to get a bit of a back story to find out where the inspiration came to create a design so eye catching and brilliant. The bride loved the bold pattern of our Evans design and wanted to use our robin’s egg ink color to truly make a statement. We love to see couples choosing more modern and chic designs for their save the dates, even when they’re planning on sending a super formal invitation suite like these guys are planning. The happy couple said that their save the dates totally matched their fun and bubbly personalities — and we couldn’t agree more! Thanks so much to Salutations for sending us such a fun save the date set — we can’t wait to see the invitations!
inks: robin’s egg + black | fonts: chaplin + carrington + smock harrison | paper: 2-ply white | printing: letterpress | liner: the sinclair pattern in robin’s egg | size: S6
This design won an honorable mention in our Smock design competition for the first half of 2012. This twice-a-year competition recognizes outstanding and inspired designs submitted by our beloved dealers.
We printed these lovely wedding invitations for our friends at Dandelion Patch – Vienna. The letterpress eggplant and lavender inks make this an elegant suite that they will remember for the rest of their lives. This Chasseral design was letterpress printed on ivory bamboo 2-ply paper. Its wrapped up neatly in a Smock pocketfold to give that new age look to a classic design.
inks: eggplant + lavender | fonts: graham + tally | paper: 2-ply ivory | printing: letterpress | invite size: S-8 Folio
We printed these simple, yet elegant, birthday announcements for our friend Linda Chamlin at LS Amster Company. They were offset printed in our Espresso and Heliotrope inks. They are a beautiful way to welcome an 18th birthday.
inks: espresso + heliotrope | fonts: estrella + cooper | paper: 1-ply white | printing: offset | invite size: S-5SQ
We’re thrilled to introduce our new “change the world” letterpress card series, where we’ll donate 100% of profits to a critical environmental issue. The first card in our series is called Sunflower, and will benefit the Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA).
Here’s the problem: Honey bees are in trouble — colonies have been collapsing mysteriously and adult bees are disappearing. The problem started in the mid 2000’s and is known as “Colony Collapse Disorder,” and researchers believe that pesticides, habitat loss, pathogens and immune system damage are factors that may be causing the collapse.
Why you should care: Of the 100 crops that provide 90% of the world’s food supply, over 70 of those crops are pollinated by bees. In the United States alone, the bees’ contribution is valued at over $15 billion, and this vital industry is on the verge of collapse. One out of every three bites of food are dependent on honey bees for pollination, so government action is critical to help the colonies recover.
Take action now:
- Sign this petition to help protect the bees. By doing so, you will encourage the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enforce restrictions (such as not spraying while pollinator-dependent crops are in bloom) and to take action against pesticides that are toxic to the honey bees.
- Get informed: learn more at PANNA.
- Start your own bee-friendly garden: Grow plants (like sunflowers!) to help the bees out. Download this handy brochure from PANNA for some bee-friendly gardening tips.
- Make a contribution: help PANNA continue their program work by making a direct contribution, or purchase our sustainably printed Sunflower cards — 100% of profits will be donated to PANNA to help save the honeybees, and organic, locally grown sunflower seeds are included with the cards for you to plant.
To all of our fantastic letterpress customers and fans — Happy Valentine’s Day from Smock! We love you all and hope your hearts are happy and full of love on this very special day.
Did you get your sweetheart a letterpress love card from Smock? Here are some of our favorites for this year!
