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April's
Articles for Giftware News:
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The
Importance of Your Written Word
June 11, 2007
News from the Stationery
Show in New York had me thinking about the significance of the
handwritten word. While vendors offered greeting cards and journals,
wedding notes and folios, Post-it notes with charm and museum-inspired
note cards, plumed pens requiring bottled ink or encrusted with
faux jewels—perfect for a girlfriend's handbag—or
handsome pewter finished pens great for cutting checks or signing
legal documents, all of these products and the raison d'être of
the show—all
revolved around the importance of the written word.
Handwriting is as individual as a thumbprint. Upright or slanted,
sloping, bulbous, crawling, cramped, scratchy, loopy or pointy,
our mark is an expression of our schooling, topped off by our
own interpretation. First, we learn to write, and then we learn
to personalize our letters. How many times did you practice your
signature before deciding which one you wanted to be represented
by? I know I had several versions of my signature before settling
on the one I use now. The one that said me.
Like our signatures, what we choose to write on and with what
we write can also reflect who we are, and combined with our words
is part of our message. I know that I love to send cards made
with watercolor paper. I might do a little watercolor on them—and
I like their texture—to
look at and to touch.
The ubiquitous computer—daily
e-mail, Microsoft Word, the Internet—may
be gobbling up a lot of our correspondence, but handwritten communication
is still very much alive.
There is something heart-stopping about recognizing a friend's
handwriting on an envelope, inside a card, or in a colleague's
note on your desk. A file with written notes in the margin gives
a whole world of information—about
the subject, about the individual and about when they were written,
a few words with a pencil or ink, and immediately the personality
of the writer is known.
A letter in the mail, a card, with just the scrawl of a few lines—a
face, in all its uniqueness is staring at you.
Have you ever come across a letter in the handwriting of somebody
who has died? I have. An address book with entries in my grandmother's
hand, an old letter from my father. Their whole self is caught
in their script. It is the DNA of handwriting. We are so lucky
to be literate and so lucky to have so many different ways to
express ourselves. The Chinese made their calligraphy into a respected
art, filled with drama and energy, the Victorians used note passing,
calling cards and sentimental letters to add intrigue and excitement
to their lives. Today we have Post-its and memo pads and fridge
pads to talk about our every day. [See Little Sticky Notes and
Magnetic Pantry Notes for the fridge in Crazy Mountain's new launch
of April Cornell paper products.] The Stationery Show in New York
[May 20 to 23] had such a variety of paper products, that it is
obvious that writing is important enough to support an entire
industry.
Journals, albums, notebooks, agendas, travel books, books with
watercolor pages, diaries inspired by great art, notebooks with
leading phrases, beautiful paper to write on—ranging
from edgy to ornate, simple to elegant, country and cute, or business
stylin'—there
is an abundance of choices available.
Choose your occasion, choose your paper, choose your writing implement
– choose your ink. I love gold ink, don't you?
And communicate.
Write the words you cannot speak.
Choose the card that helps your message,
And send the note that will find its way into somebody's scrapbook.
Don't regret what you didn't say.
Say it in your own fine way.
Remember the good times in your journal—and
just the right time in your agenda!
Share yourself with paper and pen. It can be a visit that need
never end!
April
Burlington, Vermont |
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