HOT STUFF

HOT STUFF

Laura Thomas
Wednesday, February 9, 2005
PEN AND INK /
Custom invitations on 1890 letter press
For Suzie McKig and Serge Vigeant, the path from careers in graphic design and product development in Los Angeles to a fancy paper boutique in Berkeley led from a simple letter press.
McKig received a commission to do a catalog cover on a letter press and ended up purchasing one made in 1890 that had been used in a funeral parlor.
"We found we could do such interesting things with it that we decided to turn it into a full-time focus," she said.
The couple, who were seeking a change from corporate graphic design, moved to Berkeley because of its wealth of boutique businesses and opened Twig & Fig Paperie on Vine Street in August.
They specialize in custom-made invitations (six-piece wedding invitation ensemble with a stitched pearlescent overlay shown upper right; for 100 guests, $2,450), announcements, and stationery that they design on computer and render on their beloved press. "We do a lot of note cards, calling cards and find a very frequent request is personal stationery," McKig said.
Twig & Fig also offers a selection of exclusive pen and paper products that attracts the connoisseur.
For lovers of pens and paints, it has Sennelier watercolor sets with 30 colors, inks, pencils and brushes (shown center left; $35 to $185), and pens from Hawaii's Acme studio, either fountain or rollerball ($30 to $68).
"Pinhead" pencils by Graffiti are holders with a selection of brightly colored leads (shown center right; $12.50 each), while the Duo set has a walnut and aluminum case with a graphite lead for sketching (shown at bottom; $19).
One can't get much finer than the Velke Losiny cotton rag paper from a 400-year-old mill in the Czech Republic ($3.50 to $6 per card with envelope): "People touch it and say they want to sleep with it," McKig said.
Twig & Fig also sells poster tubes that are works of art in themselves, just in case you want to use them for display. They're by Eieio and cost $12 to $24.
New things come into Twig & Fig all the time because, McKig said, "we have quite a few regulars and we do tend to keep things fresh."
Twig & Fig Paperie, 2110-B Vine St. (at Shattuck), Berkeley, (510) 848- 5599. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
-- Laura Thomas

STATIONERY /
Local details influence hand-blocked notecards / suggested deck
Lynne Willis draws on her Pacific Heights neighborhood for inspiration for her handmade stationery.
"I just look outside my window," she said. "And I walk around the neighborhood a lot. I really love the architecture."
A Victorian turret roof, a wrought iron fence or bracket detail, a door with leaded glass all appear in simple hand-blocked colors on Italian paper in her line of greeting cards and bookplates.
After tiring of designing textiles for major corporations, Willis started Spotbear Productions, named after the teddy bear that accompanied her around the country. "It was so businesslike, not very personal. I began to feel distanced from the projects," she said.
The profound interest in textiles that drew Willis from Michigan, where she received a master's in biology, to textile studies in New York finally led her to paper. The techniques used in surface design are similar, she said.
That and an interest in illuminated manuscripts from visits to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Cloisters Museum in New York City. She moved to San Francisco and set up a studio in a 2-bedroom apartment.
Her expanded "Porte-Cochere Collection'' now includes cards with greetings, which are also embellished with Austrian crystal rhinestones (shown below; $3.50 apiece, $21 for six), postcards (set of 10, $11-$12) and bookplates (set of 8, $7).
The cards appeal to Annie Heller, owner of Art & Soul in Alameda, because they reflect the architecture of the island city. "They have a certain symmetry to them and I think the rhinestones just make them," she said.
Stationery by Spotbear Productions is available at Art & Soul in Alameda; Castle in the Air in Berkeley; and Collage, Fog City News, Green Apple Books, Ladybug Ladybug, Lavish, Russian Hill Bookstore, Valencia Street Books, and Books Inc. stores in San Francisco.